[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 18th November 2009
Bolstered by a tremendous documentary and a reasonable commentary track, Near Dark remains an essential release despite not looking or sounding all that grand on Blu-ray. For those with the earlier Anchor Bay two-discer, this still represents an upgrade, it is just that the improvements made aren't all that impressive.

Kathryn Bigelow's bold production is one of the quintessential horror films of the 80's. It doesn't do anything that is particularly new to the genre beyond a few tweaks here and there to remould and relocate the legend, but its magic lies in its forbidden allure, its love letter to the lawless frontier, and its wonderful evocation of a blighted way of life that is, at once, erotic, violent and vital. Hardly an fx-extravaganza, the movie is surprisingly light on gore but still grisly enough to promote a squirm or two. Adrian Pasdar acquits himself well as the boy who has fallen in with the wrong crowd, even if Jenny Wright, as the reason he falls so heavily, is woefully bland. But the film belongs to the dark trio of Paxton, Henriksen and Goldstein, who literally scoop it up like a road-kill, bag it and carry it off into the sunset with them.

This is an excellent thriller that strikes out in, what was then, a less-travelled direction. Nowadays, vampire-flicks are ten-a-penny, but Near Dark keeps its unnerving atmosphere and hard visual poetry with style to spare. Plus this US edition has much more bite than the poor UK release, despite that truly awful Twilight-cash-in cover art!


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[24 P]

Such a shame as this is such a good ole movie, left of centre..
Tangerine Dream soundtrack, Bigelow direction, (Strange Days, really enjoyed that movie, was also unaware she was James Camerons ex wife!!), all adds up to something quite different.
Deserves a better release.
From Dusk till Dawn is another of this genre and also JCs Vampires, all good in their own right.
Might rent this 1 for nostalgic purposes..

Still a good review, thx..

[simonblue]

Hi have the UK copy

In places,close ups of faces seem to melt before your eyes,the whole face seem to take on a waxey appeares.

I think this is the first that i perfer the dvd to the blu ray,as you say they is more detail,but after compareing the two i think this is one blu ray that going up for sale.

[24 P]

Giving this 1 a big miss..