Near Dark is the third film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, although the first one to gain wide attention. It’s a smart, creepy, violent, funny, and modern vampire movie that benefits from some wonderful performances, a stunning visual texture, and music by Tangerine Dream. Near Dark established Bigelow as the creator of stylish, inventive work that looked great and imbued the old formula with new life. Near Dark focuses on an itinerant vampire clan whose family security is upset when a newcomer enters their group. Pasdar plays an Oklahoma farmboy who gets more than he bargained for when he hassles the new girl in town for a kiss. The story, written by Bigelow and horror specialist Eric Red (Body Parts), locates the luridly erotic undertones that are intrinsic to the vampire myth and successfully obscures the comfortable lines separating normal from abnormal. Familial loyalty and love between a man and a woman are the dominant motifs that underscore all the movie’s bloody mayhem.
This article appears in June 22 • 2001.
