Rating: 
Summary: "we keep odd hours"
Review: Kathryn Bigelow(Point Break, The Loveless, Strange Days) pulls you into a movie that truly is great. Adrian Pasdar(Top Gun, Mysterious Ways) plays Caleb, a family man who on one dark night meets the blonde, sexy, icecream licking Jenny Wright(Lawnmower Man, Pink Floyd's The Wall) and she lures him in for a quick nip of his neck...so Caleb is then kidnapped by Wrights gang of blood craven fiends..led by Jesse, played by Lance Henriksen(Aliens, Scream 3)...Diamondback, played by Jenette Goldstein(Aleins)....Homer, played by Joshua Miller(River's Edge) and the crazy and fun loving member of the gang Severin, played by the wonderful Bill Paxton(Tombstone, A Bright Shining Lie)...not once does this movie mention the word vampire...because its just so exciting and it just pulls you in....I can see why it would seem like a werewolf movie too....running in packs and hunting at night. atmosphere, story and performances make this one a masterpiece of a movie..clever and the killings are beautiful, especially the ones at the bar. James LeGros(Drugstore Cowboy, Tv's Ally McBeal) appears in the bar sceen unbilled
Rating: 
Summary: Happily Mesmerized
Review: I do believe what helped me appreciate this film was that I saw it a second time--on DVD. The re-released special edition, no less. And I could clearly see the beautiful and amazing photography that was displayed as a unique picture in every scene; almost as if each shot deserved a picture frame hanging around it. The film is shot in what seems the middle of nowhere; and those types of pictures are always attractive. The acting is quite subtle (except from Bill Paxton, but he had just got done doing ALIENS, what do you expect?). But this almost silent acting brings a new level to the idea behind vampires. The Undead, as it were, are characters we enjoy watching and actually root for; despite us knowing too well how the film will inevitably end. Jenny Wright sets the mood for this film right off the bat. As innocent and sensual as blond-haired women go--you can't help but want to be bitten by this temptress. She gives the film a feeling of an unsatisfied hunger and a lonely sadness, which will never be fulfilled. She has no enjoyment feasting on pathetic would-be victims, which are mostly "hicks" that audience members would enjoy seeing torn apart. The film focuses on human qualities, romance, humor and tragedy. With Tangerine Dream's music pulsating behind each movement and each glance of someone's eyes as they look up at the stars...human or non-human, every character and every lost "vampire" is full of an amusing look on the importance of human life, with an innocent reality that all of us can relate with.
Rating:
Summary: Best. Vampires. Ever.
Review: Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)1987 saw the release of two defining modern vampire films. One got a whole lot of press, a huge marketing budget, and made over thirty million dollars in theatrical release (remember, this was 1987, when those were big numbers). The other was Near Dark. Not to say The Lost Boys isn't a good movie. It's amusing, albeit looking somewhat dated these days. But the rapid-fire mix of horror and comedy that marks The Lost Boys had been done a million times in the previous decade, in pretty much every horror film since Halloween. It was safe ground. Near Dark was anything but. Kathryn Bigelow, in her second big-screen film (the first, a Willem Dafoe movie called The Loveless, has faded so far into obscurity even I haven't been able to track down a copy), wanted to make a good old-fashioned action flick with horror elements. She borrowed about half the cast her then-husband James Cameron had used the year before for Aliens, added in some folks whose stars looked like they were on the rise, took the script from Eric Red (who had penned the similarly chilling screenplay for The Hitcher the year before), and made movie magic. Caleb (the highly underrated Adrian Pasdar, recently in Secondhand Lions) is a small town boy living a small town life, until he meets Mae (Jenny Wright, whose bit part in Pink Floyd: The Wall is unmistakable). Mae is something like he's never encountered before, but he doesn't find out just how much that's true until it's too late. She nips him while they're making out, and Caleb has no choice but to join Mae's family of vampires (the word "vampire" is never used in the film, by the way): Jesse (Lance Henriksen, recently in the TV series Millennium), Diamondback (Jennette Goldstein of Aliens and T2 fame), Severin (Bill Paxton, whose career skyrocketed soon after this), and Homer (the similarly underrated Joshua John Miller, such a treat to watch in both Class of 1999 and River's Edge). Caleb, however, isn't entirely happy with the idea of drinking blood for a living... Aside from the plethora of names above you either know or should know, if you keep a sharp eye out, you will also notice James Le Gros, a year away from his big break in Drugstore Cowboy; Theresa Randle, an integral part of the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence Bad Boys franchise; Marcie Leeds, who later that decade would make the whole world cry in Beaches; Thomas Wagner, who's become a major character actor (Sea of Love, My Blue Heaven, True Believer, etc.), and many more. The influence of Near Dark has extended far, far beyond its box office gross (it took in about ten percent of the money The Lost Boys did). Snappy, scary, and speedy, Near Dark is the finest modern vampire film in existence. It has been on my all-time 100-best list as long as that list has been around, and it's not going anywhere. **** ½
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT Film, Terrible, TERRIBLE DVD Quality
Review: That is why I give it only 1 star, because of the quality of the DVD. I have this film on VHS and when compared to the DVD the VHS copy comes out on top by a longshot. In the DVD the widescreen is nonexistent, the black bars are just giving the illusion of widescreen. In the VHS copy you get much more picture. In the DVD the picture is dark and the colors are bleached. Again, the VHS comes out on top with a vivid picture in color and brightness. I wrote to Anchor Bay about the DVD quality and guess what they did- they sent me another one! I think that they miss the big picture here (no pun intended), I was complaining about the quality of the DVD and didn't need to get another one in its place that was just as bad!
Anyway, buy the VHS version if you want a much better picture. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: good without any of the bad normally associated with HORROR
Review: EXCEPT FOR ,[BILL Paxton] AS YET ,undiscovered ,theres not a bad MISGUIDED OR dumb moment in thIS little nugget of a very fine FILM.[ puLLMAN manaGES to YUK IT UP [SO IF YOU LIKE HIM] [I CANT STAND HIM] , FINE; FOR YOU ; his heavy handed comedy? does provide some light hearted levity.. as your heart bleeds for YOUNG LOVE blossoming IN ALL ITS GLORY BUT TAINTED BY you guessed it HORROR, HE Paxton] ALMOST does RUINS THE FILM. HE WOULD HAD TOo if everything else in the film WASNT SO Nasty or GooD BRILLIANT,HIDDEN WITHIN this love, theres mini movies,THAT DONT DISTRACT IN THE LEAST.its an ole story good versus evil THE PACK OF VAMPIRES WITH BAD ATTITUDES BURN RAPE AND PLUNDER KILL WITH ABANDON IN RARELY SEEN SCENES OF GLEE, ITS ALMOST TOO DETOXING TO DEFY OR TRY, SCENES STICK INSIDE THE MIND ,like picture postcard gothic horror western HOMAGE, THE FILM IS BAUTIFUL, SHOt at NITE OR DURING THE DAY..,you feel like your there.
Rating:
Summary: this movie was awful!!!!!
Review: Are the reviewers who gave this crap several stars and great reviews insane??The Lost Boys was much better than this boring waste of time junk!! I rented it thinking I was going to be really surprised and scared, I ended up watching most of it in Fast forward mode just to get through it and not totally wasted my money. Thank God I only spent a dollar to rent it. Avoid this movie at all costs.
Rating:
Summary: Near (Dark) classic
Review: This is a satisfying, well-made film, if perhaps not quite the "classic" so many casually refer to here. There's an excellent vision at play here...Bigelow manages to make the life style displayed almost plausible, certainly more than most vampire sagas we've seen. In fact, without the "V" word ever being spoken, it's almost possible to imagine these people as more conventional outlaws...the supernatural aspect is downplayed for the most part in favor of an emphasis on their simple bad attitudes. If vampires did exist, you could see them acting a whole lot like this. Why not 5 stars? Well, I would have enjoyed being scared a little more. That's not entirely fair, because I think Bigelow made the movie she wanted to make, and "terrifying" probably wasn't near the top of her list. More troublesome are a few things that undermined that air of plausibility. Like -- do they EVER remember to find shelter before daylight? After all these years? Even that could be bought, if we equate vampirism with extreme substance abuse -- i.e., these people have some problems thinking straight. What can't be bought is the idea that everyone in the region doesn't know all about these guys, and live in constant fear of them. I mean, they commit heinous acts every night...subtle, they ain't. And yet apparently they remain beneath the radar of authorities and public alike. And that ending. Come on. We all know exactly how this film should have ended, and it shouldn't have been upbeat. The "classic" everyone is talking about here would not have entertained this resolution. Still...outstanding vision, excellent execution. If you're a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to see it. Just don't expect to be terribly frightened.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Greatest Vampire Movie Ever Made
Review: This movie is ok only if you are bored and looking for something vampire-ish to watch. Otherwise, forget it. Watch The Lost Boys or From Dusk Til Dawn, unless you happen to be a major Adrian Pasdar fan. 2.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Artistic Vampires On Fire
Review: I thought I'd seen all I needed to see of vampire films but Bigelow's "Near Dark" surprised me. She set it in the American Southwest, among cowboys, ranchers and vagabonds. She also came up with some of most visually stunning images of vampires ever put on film, especially of them catching on fire. Amazingly, she even comes up with a way to redeem the protagonist in the film who was unwillingly made into a vampire. Writer-director Kathryn Bigelow was a very talented painter before she went to film school to become a movie director. It shows in her work which is very artistic for someone primarily known to the action-adventure genre of filmmaking. She is a breath of fresh air in this genre, investing it with literate scripts and haunting imagery. Her most frequent producer is James Cameron (the action wonder king, "Titanic," "Terminator"), who is also her ex-husband. You can see his influence on her work as well.
Rating:
Summary: Let's face it, it's not scary.
Review: But it is hysterical. The acting (if you can call it that) is pathetic. Lots of gore and killing, and alot of stupid one liners from Bill Paxon. see it to laugh.
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