31 Days of Halloween: Underrated Vampire: Near Dark: The Best Neo-Western Vampire Film You Are Ever Going to See

 Near Dark - Kathryn Bigelow - 1987

 

★★★★★-Day 13 of the Nightmare on Film Street 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge. Underrated vampire movie night. An ultraviolent vampire movie with neo-western elements and some serious acting chops directed by Kathryn Bigelow and penned by the guy that wrote The Hitcher, Eric Red. Plus you get a fan-fucking-tastic atmospheric synth soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. This is one of those best movies no one has ever seen deals. 
 
Gist is a small town Oklahoma bumpkin, Caleb Colton, gets himself entangled with a nomadic family of vampires after being bitten by mysterious drifter Mae. As Caleb deals with his transformation and the group’s extremely violent lifestyle, the film explores themes of loyalty, survival, and identity. 
 
The group of vampires has a True Knot from Stephen King’s The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep, quality to them. Vagrants in an RV. Sort of feels like a Clive Barker movie. Not going to complain about that. 
 
Some of the people they kill sort of deserve it. Some don’t. Guys hitchhiking that immediately talk about rape, yeah, they have some shit coming to them. The truck driver just trying to drop a load. Not as deserving of death. His only crime is picking up hitchhikers, which is mad dangerous. He is super likeable and you hate to see him go. 
 

Directed by one of my favorites, Kathryn Bigelow. She has some real bangers with Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker (which also earned her an Academy Award for Best Director), Zero Dark Thirty, and one of my personal favorites, Point Break. Hell, my senior yearbook quote, “Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true,” was from Point Break. It’s the best surfer bank robber movie you are ever going to see. 

Adrian Pasdar from Heroes plays Caleb, the lead. He is pretty sleazy. A lot of the plot has to do with whether he will choose to live this violent, vagabond, outlaw lifestyle. The lovely Jenny Wright plays the love interest vampire that turns him. This is her largest and best roll. Somewhat forgotten, Wright carved out a nice little career but retired in the 1990s. Had a bit part in the Robin William/Glenn Close film The World According to Garp in 1982. She was part of the so-called “Brat Pack”, check out the documentary Brats to see how the moniker impacted all of their careers and mental health, because she worked with Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Loew, Eric Stoltz, and so on, and appeared in the film St. Elmo's Fire. She was also in the totally bananas The Lawnmower Man from 1992. She does do the horror convention circuit, signing autographs for a reasonable $25. It appears that she will also sign photos for free if you write to her, which is pretty freaking cool. Their relationship goes from a creepy guy practically whipping it out to them being tied together in what appears to be 15-20 minutes of driving around and trying to get laid.

Something of an Aliens reunion. You have Jenette Goldstein who play fan-favorite Vasquez. Bill Paxton who dropped “game over, man.” And Lance Henriksen, who was the android Bishop. One of the few to make it out “alive”. In Near Dark, they play Diamondback, Severen, and Jesse Hooker, the leader, respectively. All three of them are incredible.
 
Rounding out the cast are journeyman actor Tim Thomerson as Caleb’s dad, “that guy” actor Troy Evans in a bit part, and Joshua John Miller. Miller is a legit great for a child actor playing a several hundred-year-old night walker. He is, IMO, the creepiest vampire I’ve seen in any movie, by far. He is actually 100s of years old but trapped in this preteen state for eternity. Really fixates on the protagonist’s little kid sister. Giving off real molester energy. 
 
The ending is outrageously convenient and unbelievable. I’m not going to give it away, but I will say it does some shit that is definitively not how being a vampire works. These made-up creatures have rules! Only other knock is that some of the effects are cheap/dated, but are by no means the worst I’ve ever seen.
 
It was considered a box office bomb, bringing in $3.4 million on a $5 million budget, but has gained a bit of a cult following for its refreshing take on vampire lore and its atmospheric, gritty wild west style that is beautifully shot. Every shot is framed amazingly well as all the best westerns are. Plus, it is perfectly acted and super tense. 

Killers of the Flower Moon: Fucking White People - A Harrowing Tale of Greed and Racism

Killers of the Flower Moon - Martin Scorcese - 2023

Fucking white people. Based on a nonfiction book, which, fucking great.  

Gist is people of the Osage Nation discover oil on their Oklahoma land and make it rich. They are given money as part of a “headright.” Money for nothing, as the whites who move to the area say. The richest among these white folk hatches a plot to kill the Osage off, one by one. The law doesn’t care, with the sheriff basically telling him to quit making it so obvious. But the FBI comes to town and unearth all the bullshit. Real feel good Christmas watch, this one.  

De Niro’s character is the worst kind of racist. Acts like he is racially sympathetic and is meanwhile killing the Osage for money. Saying they are “getting money for doing nothing” behind their backs. The basic sentiment for people then and now, though inherited wealth (if you are white) is collectively fine.

Really important flick that is super infuriating. This would be my top film almost any other year. Might be after a few rewatches. I’m coming in fresh.  

Lily Gladstone is amazing and should and will win Best Actress. Love the reservation chic look, by the by. DiCaprio and De Niro are stellar as well, though they playing some real fuckers. Martin Scorses is still coming in hot after all these years. Masterful filmmaking.  

Bad Day at Black Rock is the greatest movie of all time

Bad Day at Black Rock. "This town's wrecked, just as though it was bombed out. Maybe it can come back..." "Some towns do and some towns don't. It depends on the people." Directed by John Sturges in 1955, I loved this proto-neo-western. On my western Mount Rushmore. 

Stars Spencer Tracy as a guy who goes to this tiny desert town of seven or eight buildings and a bunch of assholes. He pulls in on the train which hasn’t stopped there in four years. Shows the whole town buzzing as it travels down the line. It’s a phenomenal opening. As he gets off the train, he tells the conductor “I won’t be here but for a couple of hours.” Guy replies “in a place like this, that can be a lifetime.” 

Gist is Spencer Tracy is looking for a Japanese man whose son saved his life during the war. Wants to give him his purple heart. Takes place in 1945. The townsfolk tell him he went to an internment camp after Pearl Harbor. But they obviously murdered him. No big mystery there, but Tracy is stuck there for a day and it doesn’t look like he’s going to make it. Immediately people are threatening his life and so forth. 

Big bad is played by Robert Ryan. The only female in the movie is Anne Francis. Ryan’s goons include Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. Quite an all star duo there. 

Favorite line is when Spencer Tracy is talking to the sheriff. Sheriff is basically like, “I don’t care what you have going on, you made a mistake coming here.” Tracy replies, coming out hot, “The thing I like about Black Rock is everyone is so polite, which really makes for gracious living.” Amazing flick.