Caleb Cotlton (Adrian Pasdar) is a young man living an unspectacular life in the dusty wilderness of Oklahoma. One night he encounters at lusty femme fatale vampire and this small town boy is changed forever... or at least for the next 80 minutes.
Near Dark has garnered a reputation as the thinking mans Lost Boys. Over the years it has attracted a cult following and retrospective critical plaudits. There is no denying that the film has many strong elements that are worthy of considerable praise but as a whole this film falls flat when faced with closer scrutiny.
The first thing that strikes you when watching Near Dark is the thick atmosphere that the dusty twilight generates. The numerous low angle long shots help carve the inhuman creatures into the scorched landscape and the moody, tension building score just about manages to avoid that oh-so 80's feel.
The ensemble cast, featuring Bill Baxton and Lance Henriksen amongst others, is a delightfully perverse and diverse bunch of freakish and menacing killers. But they are given neither back-story nor the exposition of time and space in which to grow or develop.
Kathryn Bigelow is a filmmaker comfortable with directing action. In fact she excels at it. A sequence in a redneck bar where our motley crew of vampire desperados massacre the patrons is expertly done, the sense of grotesque fear and hopeless desperation is emphasised with a series of fixed shots on straddled limbs and open wounds when most directors would flinch after a few seconds and point the camera elsewhere. Similarly the shootout with the police at the motel is a fantastic and gory adrenaline fuelled piece of slightly soggy popcorn entertainment.
While Adrian Pasdar's Caleb is both bland and one dimensional, Bill Baxton shines are the psychotic Severen. Paxton's wild eyed portrayal of a cowboy killer is one of the highlights of the film.
As the end of the movie approaches it becomes clear that all the promise is slowly being squandered alongside any sense of plausibility. The bad vampires burn up in the sun after only a few seconds, the good vampires last for weeks, Caleb blows up a truck but pulling a handbrake, a simple blood transfusion administered by a farmer cures our hero of his carnivorous tendencies and the once powerful uber-vamps cannot seem to kill a little girl and her teenage brother no matter how hard they try.
Overall Near Dark deserves praise; the evocative atmosphere is second to none, the action is brutal and stylish. But there is complete lack of plausibility in terms of plot. The lack of motivations for the characters and an unwillingness to grant even the most prominent with a back-story make Near Dark a near miss. More money and a longer running time and this could have been something very special indeed.
Near Dark has garnered a reputation as the thinking mans Lost Boys. Over the years it has attracted a cult following and retrospective critical plaudits. There is no denying that the film has many strong elements that are worthy of considerable praise but as a whole this film falls flat when faced with closer scrutiny.
The first thing that strikes you when watching Near Dark is the thick atmosphere that the dusty twilight generates. The numerous low angle long shots help carve the inhuman creatures into the scorched landscape and the moody, tension building score just about manages to avoid that oh-so 80's feel.
The ensemble cast, featuring Bill Baxton and Lance Henriksen amongst others, is a delightfully perverse and diverse bunch of freakish and menacing killers. But they are given neither back-story nor the exposition of time and space in which to grow or develop.
Kathryn Bigelow is a filmmaker comfortable with directing action. In fact she excels at it. A sequence in a redneck bar where our motley crew of vampire desperados massacre the patrons is expertly done, the sense of grotesque fear and hopeless desperation is emphasised with a series of fixed shots on straddled limbs and open wounds when most directors would flinch after a few seconds and point the camera elsewhere. Similarly the shootout with the police at the motel is a fantastic and gory adrenaline fuelled piece of slightly soggy popcorn entertainment.
While Adrian Pasdar's Caleb is both bland and one dimensional, Bill Baxton shines are the psychotic Severen. Paxton's wild eyed portrayal of a cowboy killer is one of the highlights of the film.
As the end of the movie approaches it becomes clear that all the promise is slowly being squandered alongside any sense of plausibility. The bad vampires burn up in the sun after only a few seconds, the good vampires last for weeks, Caleb blows up a truck but pulling a handbrake, a simple blood transfusion administered by a farmer cures our hero of his carnivorous tendencies and the once powerful uber-vamps cannot seem to kill a little girl and her teenage brother no matter how hard they try.
Overall Near Dark deserves praise; the evocative atmosphere is second to none, the action is brutal and stylish. But there is complete lack of plausibility in terms of plot. The lack of motivations for the characters and an unwillingness to grant even the most prominent with a back-story make Near Dark a near miss. More money and a longer running time and this could have been something very special indeed.