Finger-Lickin’ Good: The Vampires of Near Dark
The 1980s proved to be an excellent decade for vampire horror films due to the release of The Hunger, Fright Night and Fright Night Part II, The Lost Boys, and Vamp. Yet out of the decade, Near Dark (1987) will always be my favorite. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow in her solo directorial debut and co-written by her and Eric Red, Near Dark exists as a combination of a vampire film, a neo-western, a biker film while being full-on horror. Near Dark works so well due to the fusion of different genres and a fantastic cast coming off of James Cameron’s Aliens (1986).
Caleb Colton (Adrien Pasdar), a small-town farm boy, enjoys life with his dad and little sister until he meets a mysterious woman named Mae (Jenny Wright). After flirting with her all night, Mae bites Caleb before the sun rises and leaves. Caleb begins to burn in the sun after the bite when an RV pulls up beside him and grabs him. Inside, he sees Mae and meets the rest of her “family,” consisting of Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen), Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein), Severen (Bill Paxton), and Homer (Joshua John Miller). Now a part of the family, Caleb must either hold his weight and kill people to drink their blood and survive or die from hunger.
What makes Near Dark initially stand out is its setting. The rural, dusty west provides a great location that dramatically contrasts the more European castles and towns of traditional vampire fiction and even the urban locations of 1980s vampire films. The characters have layers of dirt and sweat on them from living there, highlighting the imperfection and hardship. We associate an isolating and American nature with the setting within fiction and media. Due to the environment, the families of vampires dress like bikers or cowboys with leather jackets, western/late 19th-century clothing, and boots with spurs. The biker/outlaw imagery melds together and makes them into modern-day outlaws. It mythologizes them into something more than murderers and punks. The world feels lived in, which helps draw the viewer in. Aside from the west, the presence of small towns adds to the film’s relatability. They’re ghost towns that barely hold on until something blows them away or sucks them dry. Often, the RV only sees nothing at night, and they hope to find a town soon.
As for the cast, you have a knockout team of performers portraying the vampire “family.” Quickly the standout is Bill Paxton as Severen. Aside from being one of my favorite actors, Paxton nails that cruel and playful nature as he taunts Caleb and his victims before exploding and engaging in violence. He lacks the sophisticated character of Dracula and embraces being the predator with a good smile and sharper teeth. One memorable moment involves teasing a bartender and slicing his throat with his spurs. What could easily just have been a one-note character, Paxton’s talent as an actor understands the chaos his character represents and does so with gleeful energy.
Outside of Paxton, Henriksen’s performance as Jesse sticks with me. An initial quietness to his character hides his much darker nature. As the oldest, he exhibits more weariness and weight but exudes cockiness based on his vampiric age while acting as the father figure of the “family.” An interesting aspect of his character is that he fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Compared to the typical vampire being centuries old, the notion of the oldest vampire only being a fraction of it is fascinating. In a way, his presence highlights how young America is compared to other countries. He haunts America’s highways acting as a leech feeding off victims in the dark, sustaining himself.
Interestingly enough, no one in Near Dark says or uses the word vampire. Similarly, the vampires have the essential elements of sunlight killing them and needing to feed on blood; the movie ignores other components like holy water, crosses, and solely using fangs to feed. The film makes the vampires unique and different than other adaptations. They’re a hungry pack of predators creeping through the night to find their food and moving on to their next target. One choice that highlights its uniqueness is how bloodletting can cure vampirism. Both Caleb and Mae heal through bloodletting and replacing their unclean fluids with clean blood. The only way to cure vampirism is by removing it externally from your body.
Finally, it’s interesting how both Near Dark and The Lost Boys were released during the same year and seem to be in conversation with each other. Outside of one being set in rural America and the other on the West Coast, they tend to view the eternal nature of vampires differently. The Lost Boys present the glamorous youthful idea of immortality while Near Dark shows the longer aftereffects of a “gift.” The vampires in Near Dark only want to hunt and drive during the day and not do much else. They’ve become aimless and no longer have a place in society and exist as outsiders. They don’t have the time to ride motorbikes and party, only to feed and experience some excitement through murder. They’re relics of another time holding onto survival as the world continues ahead of them.
Near Dark exists as a unique take on the vampire and is a favorite of mine. Despite not being accessible over the years, it’s become a cult classic and left a mark on the subgenre for a reason. According to Severen, “it’s finger-lickin’ good.” I highly recommend trying to find a copy and watching it.
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My reviews of Studio 666 and Umma for Slay Away should be dropping soon.
Continuing “Monster March” I will be talking about Shin Godzilla on Sunday.
