USA, 1987
94m, 8,450 feet
35mm film, colour
Ultra Stereo, English
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review
An American horror film directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
Plot Summary
Small town cowboy Caleb Colton meets the young drifter Mae one night and after spending some time driving aimlessly around the town, she bites him and runs away. Caleb starts to feel ill and having been forced to abandon his car when it breaks down, tries to get home to his father Loy and young sister Sarah. But as the sun rises, his skin begins to burn and before he can reach the family farm, he’s abducted by a rag-tag “family” of vampires who are drifting the desert in a blacked-out Winnebago.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
© MCMLXXXVII [1987] The Near Dark Joint Venture
F/M Entertainment presents a Feldman/Meeker production. From F/M Entertainment, A De Laurentiis Entertainment Group release
Executive Producers: Edwards S. Feldman, Charles R. Meeker
Produced by: Stephen-Charles Jaffe
Co-producer: Eric Red
Associate Producers: Diane Nabatoff, Mark Allan
Written by: Eric Red, Kathryn Bigelow
Director of Photography: Adam Greenberg
Film Editor: Howard Smith
Music by: Tangerine Dream
Sound Mixer: Donald Summer
Costume Designer: Joseph Porro
Makeup Artist: Davida Simon
Hairstylist: Daniel Marc
Hairdresser: Linda Nottestad
Special Effects Makeup: Gordon Smith
Special Effects Coordinators: Steve Galich, Dale Martin
Body Smoking Effect: Image Engineering
Production Designer: Stephen Altman
Casting: Karen Rea
Cast
Adrian Pasdar (Caleb)
Jenny Wright (Mae)
Lance Henriksen (Jesse)
Bill Paxton (Severen)
Jenette Goldstein (Diamondback)
Joshua Miller (Homer)
Marcie Leeds (Sarah)
Tim Thomerson (Loy)
Kenny Call (deputy sheriff)
Ed Corbett (ticket seller)
Troy Evans (plainclothes officer)
Bill Cross (Sheriff Eakers)
Roger Aaron Brown (Cajun truck driver)
Thomas Wagner (bartender)
Robert Winley (patron in bar)
James LeGros (teenage cowboy)
Jan King (waitress)
Danny Kopel (biker in bar)
Billy Beck (motel manager)
S.A. Griffin (police officer at motel)
Alternative Titles
Aux frontieres de l’aube – France
Blisko ciemnosci – Poland
Il buio si avvicina – Italy
Natten har sitt pris – Sweden
Near Dark – Die Nacht hat ihren Preis – Germany
Pimeyden läheisyys – Finland
Los viajeros de la noche – Spain
Links
Extracts included in
The 50 Best Horror Movies You’ve Never Seen (2014)
Facts and Fiction in the Life of Mr. Henriksen (2012)
Living in Darkness (2002)
Touched by the Hand of God (1987)
Trailer Trauma 3: 80s Horrorthon (2017)
References
Periodicals
- City Limits no.326 (31 December 1987) pp.11-12 – article
- City Limits no.327 (7 January 1988) p.27 – review
- City Limits no.333 (18 February 1988) p.27 – note
- Empire no.162 (December 2002) p.147 – illustrated DVD review (DVD of the month)
- Empire no.171 (September 2003) pp.150-151 – illustrated DVD review (Rwd by Mark Dinning)
- Empire no.213 (March 2007) p.141 – illustrated DVD review (At Home/DVD Reissues: Near Dark by Helen O’Hara)
- Entertainment Weekly no.495 (23 July 1999) pp.25-30 – illustrated article (25 Scariest Movies of All Time
- Films and Filming no.400 (January 1988) p.31 – review
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.299 no.15 (7 October 1987) pp.3, 26
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.302 no.15 (6 May 1988) p.3 – note
- The Listener vol.119 no.3044 (7 January 1988) p.30
- Midnight Marquee no.49 pp.44-46 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.55 no.648 (January 1988) pp.3-4 – credits, synopsis, review
- Premiere November 1988 p.19 – review (by Stella Molitor)
- Premiere no.310 (December 2002) p.184 – illustrated DVD review (DVD imports by Gérard Delorme)
- Quarterly Review of Film and Video vol.25 no.5 (2008) pp.395-403 – article (Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos: The Vampire as Embodied Heterotopia by Ann Davies)
- La Revue du Cinéma/Image et Son no.443 (November 1988) pp.27-28 – interview with Kathryn Bigelow)
- Screen vol.35 no.2 (Summer 1994) pp.136-156 – illustrated article (Blood on the borders – Near Dark and Blue Steel by Anna Powell)
- Screen International no.587 (14 February 1987) p.10 – credits
- Screen International no.623 (24 October 1987) p.404 – review
- Sight and Sound vol.17 no.3 (March 2007) pp.84-85 – DVD review (Reviews: Near Dark by Geoffrey Macnab)
- Sight and Sound vol.13 no.10 (October 2003) p.74 – illustrated DVD review (Home movies: reviews: DVD of the month by Matthew Leyland)
- Starburst no.301 (August 2003) p.67 – illustrated DVD review (Near Dark by David Richardson)
- Starburst no.347 (March 2007) p.85 – illustrated DVD review (Reviews: DVD Reviews by David Richardson)
- Studio November 1988 p.19 – review (by Denis Parent)
- Time Out no.907 (6 January 1988) p.28 – review
- Variety 23 September 1987 pp.13
- Video World April 1988 p.33 – review
Books
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.421-422
- Cinematic Vampires by John L. Flynn pp.280-283
- Elliot’s Guide to Films on Video (3rd edition) p.557 – credits, review
- Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death by James Marriott & Kim Newman pp.261, 263
- Horror and Science Fiction Films IV by Donald C. Willis p.346
- Horror Films of the 1980s by John Kenneth Muir pp.599-603 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- Terror Tracks: Music, Sound and Horror Cinema by Philip Hayward (ed) pp.172, 173, 174, 180, 182, 183, 184
