October 29th, 2010 - Near Dark

This is going to be a short one, so all apologies. It's rather late, and I've got to be up early and then have a ZWA screening to attend, and then a Halloween party, a wife to kill and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped. This is another classic one, which is a bit boring to read I know but not to worry. Rather late tomorrow night, I've got something no one here has seen, guaranteed.

Near Dark is what Twilight wishes so hard it was. A heartfelt vampire love story with cool characters, loads of action and some great cinematography. It's not quite as good as Let The Right One In, but it tries damned hard. And it reunites 3 of the best actors from Aliens, so bonus.

Caleb is a nice, regular teenager living in a tiny Southern town with a truck and only stop traffic light to slow him down. One night, he spies a new girl in town and decides to work his magic. They hit it off, and she too, decides to work her magic. With her teeth. Caleb tries to bolt, but doesn't get too far in the rising sun. He gets picked up by the clan of vampires and is slowly shown their ways. Along the way, Caleb and May fall in love, and Caleb's father and little sister go looking for him.

This is a damned good looking film. Gorgeous shots of the Southwest are the order of the day. Probably because this wasn't quite the movie the director set out to make. Most people know Kathryn Bigelow for last year's Hurt Locker or maybe Point Break, but this may be her finest work. She set out trying to make a Western, but when funding fell through, she reworked the project to include vampires, which were in high demand in the late 80's.

She also gets great performances from everyone involved. And I'm not just talking about Lance Henrickson, Bill Paxton and Jeanette Goldstein. Even Adrain Pasdar, as Caleb, does stronger work than Heroes would lead you to believe. The child actors are the weakest link, but I never wanted to stab any of them, which is a step in the right direction.

Man, it seems like every time I say I'm going to write a short review I ramble on and on. Near Dark deserves to be talked about though. It respects the vampire mythology, adds some twists of its own, has fun, and looks fucking amazing doing it. And it has Bill Paxton in full-blown psycho mode. Bonus.