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Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir
Posted by Notcot on Jul 17, 2011 in Noir
Near Dark
Posted by Notcot on May 7, 2010 in Cult Film
Amazon.co.uk Review
The word “vampire” is never mentioned in Near Dark, but that doesn’t stop this 1987 cult favourite 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 favoured 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 T2 alumnus Jenette Goldstein; and Bill Paxton is the group’s deadliest leather-clad ass kicker. Fellow traveller 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 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