I have always loved Near Dark. The vampires aren't glitter boys, and the violence seemed more realistic to me. The Western vibe of the movie fits in well and resonates with me. Of course with a Western styling, there is a showdown scene, and the hero does ride off with the girl. The music selection was apt, in particular in the bar scene,(Lionsgate, 1987). The bar scene is a must-watch.

This is a gritty movie, not a flashy movie, and I tend not to like flashy movies (although Jamie Goertz did sell me on Lost Boys (eye candy works!). Vampires are this combination of sex and death, and that's the what that public likes them.

Me? Death sucks (literally, in the vampire's case), and I don't want it near me. Underneath the charm of pretty-boy and sexy chick vampires (Interview with the Vampire, Lost Boys, Twilight, etc) is a stinking corpse, and we shouldn't forget that! I have already told my friends if they come floating around my windows a la Salem's Lot to expect a few rounds of buckshot to come flying out the window.

"Wild Bill" Paxton (of Fishheads fame) puts in his usual over the top performance.
FINGER LICKING GOOOD!!

The movie flopped at the theater, although it got good reviews for cinametography. It is a beautifully shot movie, but I think it flopped because of the grittiness.

This is a sequence from Near Dark that was deleted from the final film. In this scene, Caleb (the hero) sees the world at night the way that Mae sees it for the first time

factoids

• No one uses the word vampire at all in the movie.
• The kid that played Homer is half-brother to Jason Patrick, who played a vampire in Lost Boys
• Jenny Wright, who played Mae, was in Pink Floyd's The Wall as the groupie in the hotel room
• the entire main vampire cast did some Method Acting by living the way their characters would (i.e sleeping in a van, only going out at night, staying with their costumes, hanging out together) during the filming.