Near Dark (1987)

A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers:

Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Red

Stars:

Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrian Pasdar	...	Caleb Colton
Jenny Wright	...	Mae
Lance Henriksen	...	Jesse Hooker
Bill Paxton	...	Severen
Jenette Goldstein	...	Diamondback
Tim Thomerson	...	Loy Colton
Joshua John Miller	...	Homer (as Joshua Miller)
Marcie Leeds	...	Sarah Colton
Kenny Call	...	Deputy Sheriff
Ed Corbett	...	Ticket Seller
Troy Evans	...	Plainclothes Officer
Bill Cross	...	Sheriff Eakers
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Cajun Truck Driver
Thomas Wagner	...	Bartender
Robert Winley	...	Patron in Bar

Storyline

A mid-western farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of southern vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars. Part of his initiation includes a bloody assault on a hick bar.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | rooster crowing | vampire clan | cure for vampirism | road movie | 

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Taglines:

Blood is our life, Darkness, our feeding ground and sunlight, our eternal damnation.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Horror | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1988 (Peru)

Also Known As:

Cuando cae la oscuridad

Filming Locations:

Eloy, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$3,369,307

Company Credits

Production Co:

F/M,Near Dark Joint Venture

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 86 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lack of almost any material relating to traditional vampire mythology (at least as it related to how vampires were common represented in movies up to the 1986 time when this film was in production) except for their vulnerability to being burned to death by sunlight or common fires was intentional on the part of Kathryn Bigelow. She wanted to make the vampires into a cross between traditional horror villains and Western gunslingers, because that would make them characters who could drive the narrative--not least because of the also-deliberate denial of a traditional heroic role to Caleb Colton--but who were able to be, through great effort and sacrifice, destroyed by the film's conclusion.

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Goofs

When Mae first meets Caleb she points out a star and observes that the light from it "might have been traveling for a billion years." No star visible to the naked eye is a billion light years away. In fact our entire galaxy is just 100,000 light years across, the stars actually visible in the sky only a tiny fraction of that.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Caleb Colton: [crushing a mosquito] Dumb suck.

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Alternate Versions

In 2003 the BBFC waived all the above mentioned cuts.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Mao Game (1999)

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Soundtracks

FEVER
Performed by The Cramps
Written by Otis Blackwell (as John Davenport) and Eddie Cooley
Courtesy of I.R.S. Records

User Reviews

"We keep odd hours."

Near Dark is the definitive vampire road movie. It's the most realistic and non-traditional portrayal of vampires in my mind. They're cruising the country...you know, just bored. And wouldn't they be bored? I mean if you live forever, wouldn't you run out of things to do? They spend their time getting in and out of trouble. And that's all they do. I love it. The cast (Aliens anyone?) is top-notch. Adrien Pasdar is as underrated as they come. He plays our likable hero who gets involved with our gang of vamps by accident. Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein (all from Aliens), Jenny Wright, and Joshua Miller are all perfectly cast as the nocturnal family. Miller, oddly enough, is Jason Patric's half brother and Near Dark was released just a few weeks after The Lost Boys. Henrikson is appropriately evil and Paxton's Severen character is highly quotable and memorable. Tim Thomerson and James Le Gros also put in an appearances. Eric Red's script is every bit as cool as his earlier road movie, The Hitcher. Kathryn Bigelow will go down in my book as having directed the best vampire flick that I can think of.

Note for genre buffs: The word vampire is never used in the film.