Near Dark

A young man becomes a member of a scavenging vampire ‘family’, in Kathryn Bigelow’s hugely entertaining genre mash-up of horror and western tropes.

  • Director

    Kathryn Bigelow

  • With

    Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton

  • USA 1987. 94min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    18

Caleb, a cowboy in rural Oklahoma, falls for a mysterious drifter, only to discover she is a member of a roaming ‘family’ of vampires. Seamlessly blending western, noir and road movie tropes with teen romance and a strong gothic tinge, Near Dark established Bigelow as a skilful manipulator of genres and a storyteller attuned to moral ambiguity. An instant cult classic, the nocturnal scenes, popping with cool neon lights, play out to a pulsating Tangerine Dream soundtrack that, like the film, is moody, elegiac and thrillingly tense.

The screenings of Near Dark on Sunday 22 February and Monday 23 February will be introduced by actor Joshua John Miller, who plays child vampire Homer in the film.

Film on Film