Near Dark

Ah, Near Dark. My first exposure to Kathryn Bigelow (that’s right – the woman who directed The Hurt Locker also directed a bloody, gory vampire flick).

If you’ve never heard of this, I wouldn’t be surprised. I feel like it flies well under the radar – probably because it came out the same year as more popular The Lost Boys, or maybe it’s just that people hate the ending as much as I do. But despite the stupidity of that last scene (trying hard not to spoil anything here), this film is pretty damn sweet, and way more badass than TLB.

A traveling van of vamps made up from most of the cast of Aliens (Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson) lands in small town America, where their newest member Mae (mmm, Jenny Wright) “accidentally” turns farm boy Caleb, causing them to go on the run when Caleb’s family won’t give up the search for their missing son/brother.

Turns out these vamps are particularly ruthless, and do things like slaughter an entire bar for sport. Also, the youngest one is harboring some serious resentment about being stuck in a 10-year-old body. It all makes for one fun, bloody, excellent horror film. I’m particularly fond of the way the vampires burn when they get caught in the sun.

Totally recommended! I honestly think this is one of the best vampire films ever made…if I could just change that ending a little bit, it would be perfect.