Near Dark

Near Dark [Kathryn Bigelow, 1987]:

A propulsive soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and director Kathryn Bigelow's natural affinity for visceral action sequences are the standout elements of this revisionist neo-western vampire movie. Lance Henricksen, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein, reunited after Aliens (1986), provide great value as the nomadic bloodsuckers, but are let down by the two young leads, who are like beautiful models with nothing behind the eyes. Some strong individual scenes, but not much beneath the surface.

The casting definitely does a lot of heavy lifting here. So much so that most people don’t seem to mind that none of the characters are in any way defined or developed. We learn nothing about who they are, what they want, or where they come from. Any sense of who they appear to be comes from the personality or charisma of the actor. We connect with Severen, not because of anything inherent to that character, but because he’s enlivened by Bill Paxton, and this is true with other casting decisions here as well.

Near Dark [Kathryn Bigelow, 1987]:

This is the type of film where I suspect a lot of people love it because it has two or three stand-out sequences (the kidnapping of Caleb, the massacre at the bar and the shoot-out at the motel) but the connective tissue joining these scenes together is almost non-existent. Likewise, the consistency with which characters are presented. In one scene we’re supposed to be horrified as the vampires’ slaughter innocent people, then in the next scene we’re supposed to be concerned for their survival. Are they unrelenting monsters or misunderstood anti-heroes? Bigelow can’t decide.

There was a lot more the filmmakers could’ve done with the concept here. Nomadic vampires travelling across smalltown America at a time when these communities were being ravaged by Reaganomics (failing industries, social and economic decline and the dissolution of the traditional American family), but Bigelow isn’t interested in the politics of the American western (neo or otherwise) only in the aesthetics of the genre. As such, the early emphasis on lost youth and marginalised characters in search of connections soon gives in to scenes and images (striking as they are) that feel purloined from Mad Max movies.