Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Near Dark (2002) |
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Review of Near Dark
- The word "vampire" is never mentioned in Near Dark, but that doesn't stop this 1987 cult favorite from being one of the best modern-era vampire films. It put then-unknown director Kathryn Bigelow on Hollywood's radar and gave choice roles to Aliens costars favored by Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron: Lance Henriksen is the leader of a makeshift family of renegade bloodsuckers, nocturnally seeking victims in rural Oklahoma; his immortal gal pal is Aliens and Terminator 2 alumnus Jenette Goldstein; and Bill Paxton is the group's deadliest leather-clad ass kicker. Fellow traveler Jenny Wright lures Okie farm boy Adrian Pasdar into the group with a love bite, and he's soon turning toward vampirism with a combination of frightened revulsion and relentless desire. With Joshua Miller (River's Edge) as the youngest vampire, Near Dark is Bigelow's masterpiece of low-budget ingenuity--a truck-stop thriller that begins well, gets better and better (aided by a fine Tangerine Dream score), and goes out in a blaze of glory. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com
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Comments for Near Dark
- Posted on 2008-08-30
Fantastic movie
Near Dark is the ORIGINAL vampire movie -- lots of action, gore, and blood. Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton out do themselves.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-07-26
I got two names for you, Mr. Pig Knuckles!!!
Near Dark is a very intersting horror movie in every sense of the word "interesting", and "horror". It's a vampire-western crossover film, combining the charm of Western movie characters with the violence and midnight adrenaline of vampire horror. Here's the skinny:
-Caleb, a likeable Southern guy falls for Mae, a newcomer to his town. While on a "date", a kiss turns to a bite that turns Caleb into a vampire. Now he's kidnapped by Mae's vampire clan, featuring the sinister leader, played by Lance Henriksen, alongside the hilarious, rough, vulgar-mouthed and pretty much all-around AWESOME Bill Paxton. And I'm not just worshipping his role because I share first names with him, Bill Paxton dominates in this movie.
-Now, one of the "interesting" facets of this movie is the twist. Horror movies are about what happens to people, and while the events in the plot of Near Dark are crucial, the character development is just as vital in this movie as in a comedy or drama movie. You step inside the world of the vampires, learn to love them, or hate them, your pick.
-General Info about the movie:
VIOLENCE AND TERROR: Well, there's no shortage of action in this movie. Just look at the whopping eight and a half minute roadhouse scene to get what I mean. As far as vampire horror goes, there isn't any, real horror to speak of, it's more like an exploitation sorta thing going on as opposed to something chasing you in the desert.
LANGUAGE: Oh man, is this where Bill Paxton comes in. I think there's a good 55 profanities dropped in this film. And it's often used towards the comedic side of everything. As far as comedy goes for slitting a guy's throat with your spurs (yes, the roadhouse scene)
SEX 'N' NUDITY: No nudity or sex to speak of, although those scenes where Caleb's drinking Mae's blood for food will make you go "Hubba hubba!", as they are presented rather erotically, shall I say.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
"Near Dark" possesses a very strange atmosphere to it. There's a very surreal tone to the whole movie, and it's a lot more mystical than you'd expect from what sounds like a Dracula-John Wayne crossover, even though that's technically not what the film is. The ambient music from German band Tangerine Dream only adds to the dreamlike mood. The way the movie's presented in all its surreal glory, makes you feel like you're missing something, even if you've seen the movie several times.
Fortunately, the movie's ending satisfies, and though I won't give it away, made me feel good. Also, there's a bonus disc full of extra features, that offers even more bang for your buck.
Well, if you want a surreal, violent and fast-paced horror movie with odd, "interesting" characters that brings something new to the horror table, check this item off the menu. It's a horror movie that offers a main course you'll want to feast off for quite some time! Thanks for the time, and peace.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-07-03
Boy, what a dissapointment!
I liked Lost boys and I am a big fan of vampire stuff, books and movies. I really was looking forward to this but what a dissapointment. I fail to see why anybody would like this movie!? Somebody called this a horror movie... there is absolutely no horror what so ever.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2008-06-04
Didn't receive the correct Disk 2
I'll let others review the movie itself. Disc 2 was not the listed Bonus Features at all: I received a pilot episode for a TV show titled "Profit."
The only thing this show has in common with "Near Dark" is the lead actor, Pasdar.
This is a first for me: a completely different disc substituted within a DVD package. I'd replace it if I could be sure I would get the intended Bonus Features disk, but Amazon wouldn't want to open a DVD to check before mailing it to me, and it hardly seems worth the hassle if I should end up with the "Profit" disk again.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2008-04-06
Inmortal and violent at night, burning dust at day. Controversial twist of the vampire genre
Existentialist in an original different twist of the vampire genre, Kathryn Bigelow's "Near Dark" is one of the moxt exciting and controversial achievements in horror cinema, a tour de force in action and suspense, a new style for the night creature aesthetics with a ground-breaking, poetical and human portrayal of the struggle of the undead.
The story is a renovated statement : The main character-victim Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is infected by cute and innocent drifter Mae (jenny Wright), descents to the lowest levels of indignity and basic desires, desperatly fights the moral battle over the lost humanity, and finally rises from hell to protect his loved ones against his adoptive new "gang": Portrayed as dusty outlaws and renegades criminals reunited as a dysfunctional family drifting the southern deserts in a van , the badass evil creatures can't actually be more human, not only in looks but in the most darkest and contradictory side of sociopathy. They hide from the painful burning damage of sunlight during the day with desperate ingenuity , and prey for human blood at night using both clever and brutal methods depending on each character. They despise society and only care for each other, as it shows in the disturbing and bloody "Pub" massacre.
So why such a deep, conflictive, disturbing and outstanding piece of work, a nightmarish soulless story of hellish mayhem didn't succed with audiences like its inferior nemesis and paralel 1987 release, Joel Schumacher's "Lost Boys"? The answer seems obvious: The almost total lack of vampire imagery on "Near Dark", with a new non-gothic asthetic that emphasizes in the devastating symptoms of the disease instead of abusing the usual graphic standard of wings and fangs. "Lost Boys" vampires are way cooler, haunting from the air with their incredibly creepy Salem's Lot morphing faces with colorful and atractive biker teenage style. That graphic impact trascended more on collective imagery than the more mutant humans running scared of the incinerating sun. Ask Buffy or Blade. The publicity, cast, and soundtrack did the trick too. Regardless, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton are creepier superior night creatures in other most shocking aspects, and the Tangerine Dream haunting score prevails over other FM hits.
This most shocking and provoking ultra-violent vision of K. Bigelow is way more stronger, but somehow less efective for the average fan. The diversity of character-creatures using weapons and dressing like western outlaws, vicious and evil but constantly and desperatly struggling against time and sunlight, along with "food" issues, was the greatest but at the same time most dissapointing theme. The dramatic quest for safety during day is the more original, astonishing and graphic factor, but the expected imagery is unavoidable. Besides that point, this movie prevails as a monumental force in the vampire genre, in wich darkness and blood are the agonizing fountain of a condemned life.
In this movie, the price to pay for inmortality is way too overwhelming and cruel, transforming the human soul in an indifferent, alienated, and needy killing machine that has no alternative but to become in a self-aware monster, in order to bear and endure the terrible curse of vampirism throught every excrutiating and "deadly" day. Night is coming, beware of this shocking, raw and sadistic nightmare, the finest epic portrayal of moral struggle and redemption, fear of the light and torture, a claustrophobic chapter in history of vampire cinema.
Score: 5
