Near Dark

I'm loving this weather right now. We had an unusually hot start to October, but I am enjoying this hoodie and shorts weather. It's a lot colder than I would like coming to and leaving work, but the afternoons into the evenings are perfect for me. Once the leaves start changing, I'll be on Cloud Nine. I absolutely loved living in Tampa, but I got very homesick during the fall. There was only like two weeks' worth of Becca Weather. Maybe we'll go back one day, but first we have to talk about...

Near Dark (1987)

We start with Caleb Colton driving around town in his beat-up truck during what looks like a hot summer night in Texas. He stops at a gas station, and the first thing he does is almost get into a fist fight with his friend. After that, he meets a pretty drifter named Mae and offers her a ride home. During the ride, they get to know each other, and he tries to kiss her multiple times, including turning off his car and telling her she has to kiss him if she wants to continue the ride. This is after she starts panicking and screaming at him that she has to get home. At this point, I'm thinking, this is our hero?

Still, it works! Sort of. While making out, things get a little too intense, and she bites him on the neck before leaving the truck in a rush. Unfortunately for Caleb, his truck won't start, and he's forced to walk home as the sun rises. As he's struggling in the sunlight, a Winnebago drives up and yanks him inside in front of his sister and father. Inside, he finds Mae and a group of vampires who aren't happy with her or with him. Eventually, they decide to let him live, but he'll have to prove he's one of them or they'll kill him.

Before I get into the movie itself, allow me to talk about how much I miss Bill Paxton. This movie was made by Katheryn Bigelow, and her future husband, James Cameron, suggested she use the cast he used for Aliens. I'm so happy she did because Paxton is great as Severn. He spends every second he's on camera chowing on the scenery so hard he had to have been picking it out of his teeth for days. Everything about him is over the top, the way he talks, the way he moves, how he's dressed, it's just a lot of fun any time he's on screen. While the vampires see people as food and are pretty business-like when it comes to hunting, Severn is just a madman, clearly enjoying himself as he slaughters those unfortunate enough to get in his way. He's easily the best part of the movie.

When I did my review for Sinners, I mentioned something that bothers me about vampire movies: that when someone turns, they keep their entire personality and their memories, but they immediately try to murder their loved ones. While I liked Sinners more, I liked how Near Dark handled its vampires a whole lot more. In this movie, Caleb tells Mae that he's not a killer and he refuses to participate in the bloodbaths. Even though he's a vampire, he never changes who he is and protects the people that he cared about while human. I much prefer the route this movie took.

You don't get to know much about the group of vampires except that most of them are very old. The only actual information is from Jesse, played by Lance Henriksen, who says he fought for the South in the Civil War. At one point, Severn alludes to them causing the Chicago fire, which happened in 1871. Because they're so old, you can see how they would lose their humanity over the years. Centuries of seeing them as nothing but food, they lost who they used to be. But, while watching, you get the sense that each of the vampires has some reservations about what they are and what they're doing. They're monsters, but there's a speck of humanity in all of them buried somewhere way below the fangs. Except, of course, Severn. He has no remorse or regret, he loves being a vampire, and he loves watching his prey squirm before he kills them.

It's not great, but it's a solid vampire movie. I liked it for the most part, but it does drag in some parts. When the writer and director set out to make the movie, they originally wanted to make a western. But because westerns weren't exactly hot at the time, they decided to make it a horror western because horror was hot at the time. Watching this movie, you could take the supernatural stuff out, and the story would still fit. It's probably why the vampires are all packing heat, and there's even a tense shootout between them and the police later in the movie. As I think about it, I love the idea of the vampires getting into a shootout with law enforcement, and I'd like to see more movies featuring vampire gunfights.

It's a solid vampire movie that's carried mainly by Paxton. I didn't care much for Caleb or for Mae. His younger sister was a good character, though. She's the one character who at no point seems ready to give up on Caleb and loves him for who he is, no matter what. It does some cool things, and I liked the idea of a roving band of vampires traveling across Texas, hiding out, killing and then hitting the road again.

One other thing I want to mention before I head out. This movie doesn't use the word "vampire" once in the entire movie. It's strange. Like, if you squint, you can kind of see why they do that for zombie movies. It's easier to have a world-turned-to-shit if your population is ignorant about what it's facing, but I don't understand that for this one. There's no movie reason that ignorance from the characters would help tell the story. I can't think of a single thing that would change, except for some conversations if vampires were common knowledge. These vamps aren't interested in taking over or even turning people; they just want to eat and stay ahead of the law. Also, vampires have been in our culture for more than 200 years, so it's doubly weird to never say the word.

Still, it's enjoyable and Bill Paxton rules.

7.5 Dr. Chainsaws!