Near Dark (1987)

“There's a ghastly humor in all this, and Bigelow brings it out without overindulging it. Faced with a nearly repulsive subject, she makes the blood flow inside it, stream out over the cuts.” – Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times

In this genre-bending neo-noir vampire western, Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) uses small town Oklahoma as the backdrop for an allegorical exploration for moral conviction and American disillusionment.

When our cowboy protagonist, Caleb, falls prey to the mysterious and beautiful Mae, he unwillingly becomes part of an outlaw band of vampires. Leather-clad and caked in desert dust, ranging from an elder vampire trapped in the body of a child to a vampire patriarch and his trailer trash wife, they give Caleb an ultimatum: join their murderous nomadic lifestyle or die by sunlight.

Festival Appearances/Awards
Toronto International Film Festival 1987 – Official Selection

Screening as part of Vampire Weekend.