Near Dark
(UMD)

Reviewed by Jeremy Gonzales
March 1, 2006

Director: Kathryn Bigelow Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment, Inc. MPAA: Rated R Review Rating: 7 out of 10

Near Dark is about a country boy named Colton (played by Adrian Pasdar) who falls in love with a mysterious girl named Mae (played by Jenny Wright). Once Colton offers Mae a ride home, he finds that Mae is not like any girl he has ever met. He tries to stall Mae from going home so soon, even though Mae insists that she must be home before dawn. Colton is puzzled by her urgency to get home and stops his truck, takes the keys out of the ignition, and tells Mae that the only way she is going home is if she gives him a kiss. Desperate to get home, she gives him a nice passionate kiss followed with a bite. Colton is in shock, and Mae flees from Colton's truck. Colton, now bleeding from the neck, tries to start his truck, but it won't start. He ends up staggering back to his farm house. When the sun comes out Colton begins to feel the effects of being a real vampire. Colton's little sister named spots him and tells her father that he looks sick. Before the father reaches Colton, a mysterious R.V. camper pulls up and snatches him. Colton is now forced to be with three cold heartless vampires: Jesse (played by Lance Henriksen), Steven (played by Bill Paxton), and Diamondback (played by Jenette Goldstein). With nowhere to go, Colton must learn the ways of the vampire before Jesse decides that he is not one of them. However, the only way to do this is to give in to the evil and kill for food.

Although Near Dark was filmed in the late 1980s, it wasn't as cheesy as most of the horror films back then, and some of the gore in Near Dark still surprised me. The dialogue wasn't cheap for the most part and did have some moments. This movie seemed more of a dark Romeo and Juliet story than a horror film. It was also different from other vampire flicks that I have seen in that there was no vampire slayer, no garlic, nor holy water or crucifix. However, if you buy this film don't expect a movie like the The Lost Boys ; this movie has its own style.

I give Near Dark a Medium Evolution Factor because you can never get tired of classic horror films, yet some can only stay around for so long before the new generations move on. The only people I see purchasing Near Dark as a DVD or UMD are classic horror film nuts and people who are already a fan of this film.