[Editorial] Keeping Odd Hours: A Retrospective on Near Dark (1987)

For a movie that doesn’t even mention the word “vampire” once throughout the length of the film, Near Dark (1987) is a unique entry in the vampire film genre. Largely overshadowed by more financially successful and mainstream The Lost Boys (1987), Kathryn Bigelow’s take on vampires is thrilling and brutal, presenting the viewer with a band of nomadic blood-suckers who give every reason to be afraid of things that go bump in the night. These vampires, who count Bill Paxton, Lance Henrickson, and Jenette Goldstein among their ranks, terrorize their way through the Deep South and dusty Western deserts of the United States.

Near Dark opens with a clever shot, young cowboy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) swatting a mosquito that’s landed on his skin before he’s enraptured by the beautiful Mae (Jenny Wright), standing innocently enough outside of a shop with her ice cream cone. She’s a girl-next-door type of charming, and Caleb doesn’t hesitate to offer her a ride. On their impromptu date, she bites him, and when he struggles to return home at sunrise, Caleb’s swept up in a rundown RV filled with a ragtag group of what he learns to be vampires, who reluctantly take him in after discovering Mae turned him. He’s given a limited amount of time to assimilate to their monstrous lifestyle, all the while Caleb’s family goes searching for him in light of his sudden disappearance.

As Caleb struggles to embrace his vampirism, showing a strong reluctance to feeding on people, the viewer’s shown the savage ways each member of Jesse’s (Henrickson) clan take to feeding. Homer (Joshua John Miller) fills the trope of the child vampire, dozens of years old yet trapped in the body of a kid. He uses this to his advantage, preying on people’s goodwill to lure in people looking to help a seemingly poor child in need. Mae took to reeling in young men like Caleb with her charm and good looks. Jesse and Diamondback (Goldstein) usually let trouble find them, using a highway robbery attempt as a free meal ticket. Last but certainly not least of the group is Severen (Paxton) the wild one of the group who kills indiscriminately and wears razor-sharp spurs on his cowboy boots for the express purpose of slitting people’s throats.

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Though Caleb is the protagonist, fans of Near Dark find Jesse Hooker and his clan far more interesting. These vampires aren’t inexplicably wealthy or act like nobility with knowledge and wisdom that comes from their decades of existence, they’re dirty and crass, which makes them all the more fun. Bigelow gives only vague rules for vampirism in the film, instead focusing on the merciless violence that keeps the close-knit group together. This couldn’t be more evident in a particularly infamous scene wherein the clan terrorizes and feeds on patrons at a dingy, small-town roadside bar in an attempt to get Caleb to finally kill and feed for himself instead of relying on Mae to kill for the both of them and he feeds from her. 

Bill Paxton especially stands out in this scene as he gleefully insults locals, instigates fights, makes backhanded quips, and openly feeds in front of the humans who quickly realize the drinks in their hands may be their last. Paxton’s enthusiasm for the role includes his own personal backstory for Severen, a Wild West cowboy turned into a vampire by the older vampire Jesse, the first addition to the clan that’s introduced by the movie’s start. His origin is evident in some of the phrases he uses and his general swagger, especially when the bartender attempts to shoot Caleb, who, to his own shock and Severen’s amusement, is unharmed by the bullet. Severen leaps on top of the bar and taunts the bartender’s now unsteady hands as he tries to load his shotgun. Finally bored of playing with his food, Severen slits his throat with his spurs.

Another iconic scene involves a shootout between the clan and local police after they pillage the bar. Caleb let one survivor go, unwilling to kill him and putting his status with the clan in jeopardy. Daylight is fatal to these vampires, contact with the sun setting them ablaze, and as bullets pour through the walls of the crappy motel room they’ve taken refuge in, smoke and ash fill the room as sunlight makes its way in, singeing their skin. In an attempt to redeem himself to the clan, Caleb rushes out of the motel room to get to the van, crashing through the wall and allowing for a dangerous escape.

There’s a different kind of thrill in watching Near Dark, one that’s familiar to fans of Westerns but unfamiliar to horror fans, especially in the vampire genre. There aren’t elaborately choreographed fights that highlight vampires’ inhuman strength and agility or some mysterious vampire hierarchy beyond what’s shown. It’s primal, a simple, almost ordinary violence that’s a gruesome combination of sadism and survival. Even unapologetic vampires like the eponymous Count Dracula or Lestat from Interview with the Vampire have an elegance about them despite their brutality, while there’s none of that in Near Dark. There’s no decorum, no justification for or softening their lifestyle. These characters would have been killers even if they weren’t vampires.

Near Dark’s strength in its uniquely vicious and charismatic vampires eventually becomes an Achilles heel by the climax of the movie, where Caleb reunites with his family and tries to keep the clan from turning his sister Sarah (Marcie Leeds) into a vampire too. Mae sides with Caleb, and it’s almost disappointing as one by one, Severen, Homer, Diamondback, and Jesse meet their ends, Severen by an exploding oil tanker and the rest by sunlight exposure. Caleb’s father (Tim Thomerson) miraculously figures out a way to turn Caleb and Mae back into humans, and the two embrace after their transformation. The happy ending is a let down because it doesn’t exactly feel earned, especially making the antagonists more interesting and fun to root for than the protagonist and his love interest.

Near Dark is unfortunately somewhat difficult to access both digital and physical copies of, regularly jumping on and off streaming services, and DVDs and BluRays inconsistently stocked online. As a result, it’s something of a specter in the vampire genre, nevertheless achieving cult status among horror fans who aren’t afraid to venture outside of the mainstream. 

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