Near Dark. 1987. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

(12/11/99)

I am sorry to be writing about this film about two weeks after seeing it.

This is a fascinating film. I regret that I couldn't hear all of it. I was very much impressed by the photography.

They were certainly the ugliest, grimiest bunch of vampires I have ever seen. But they are also believable. These are characters that we can both relate to and fear, I think. Lugosi's Dracula and Max Schrek's Nosferatu seem to belong in some far-away fantasyland. The midwest of Near Dark might still actually be a fantasyland--but its a little too close for comfort.

The way I read this film, it contrasts or opposes humanity and vampires. The vampires are predators--motivated by survival. The distinguishing characteristic of humanity is compassion. So when a young man is bitten by a vampire and kidnapped by them and told that his only hope to survive is by killing--he can't do it. In two episodes, under enormous pressure, he can't bring himself to kill a human being, even though it will mean a horrible, bloody fate for himself. Both of the people he is supposed to kill--a truck driver and the boy in the bar--seem nice, likable people. When he jumps out of the truck the driver stops and asks if he's sick and needs help--showing true human concer. He is too much of a human being to ever truly become a vampire.

And then there is the female vampire who "turns" him. She is the only one of the vampire clan that we really like and there is enough chemistry between her and him that we feel sad when she comes to him after he has been made human again. We feel sad that this relationship can never be. Or so we are led to believe.

The ending of the film is beautiful with a capital "b." The vampires kidnap the hero's sister and he goes after them to get her back. In addition to compassion he has courage. And as events reach their climax, the female vampire turns on her clan and runs out into the rising sunlight with the little girl, fully believing (as I understand it) that she is sacrificing herself. She chooses compassion over survival. In other words, she chooses to be human.

And then the miracle happens. She does not burn up as the other vampires do. (This part is never explained.) And then we see her in bed and tyhe hero comes in and opens the drapes and she can face the light. She is a human being again in body as well as in spirit. Her sacrifice has been rewarded.

The male hero sets a moral example which inspires her. He affects her behavior through his inability to kill in order to survive. She has surrendered her humanity in order to survive--as many do--and is finally inspired to reclaim it.

The sad thing about this film is that such sacrifice is not always or even often rewarded in the real world. Aye, there's the rub. But my feeling is that it should be--which is why Near Dark is such a satisfying film.

(12/19/99)

One scene which particularly impressed me was when the vampire Homer approaches the little girl Sarah at the soda machine and invites her back to his motel room to watch TV. That was really chilling. Homer is a particularly interesting and grotesque character. I think he was "turned" when he was a child and even though he has grown up and aged on the inside, he still seems about eight or nine years old on the outside. He is obviously bitter about the situation. It does make me wonder somewhat about the effects and value of anti-aging techniques and therapies.