Near Dark: The Battle Between Light and Dark

Near Dark is a late 80s flick, made by the superbly talented Kathryn Bigelow that boils down to 2 C’s: cheese and charm. It’s a cheezy soap opera, adventure, mild horror film, with an odd love story and a circus cast of characters.

But it brings charm with its original concept and great visual storytelling. Give me a second to riff on this. The concept works as a vampire neo western and the visuals shine.  “Near Dark”  is metaphorically shown through the rising and the setting of the sun, which becomes the key theme of the battle between dark and light. Some characters are all about the dark, some are all about the light, and some are stuck in between the light and the dark. The sun/light exposes the darkness/evil. Most people remember John 3:16 in the Bible, they don’t realize a few verses after Jesus says “darkness hates the light because the light exposes its evil deeds.” If there’s a Bible verse that ties in with this movie, it’s that one. Oh yeah and it’s love and sacrifice that overcomes evil. The great visual storytelling conveyed these ideas and I love that! This blend of cheese and charm definitely made it a cult classic. 

Ps. I think Chris Nolan may have taken a scene from this as inspiration for a scene in the dark knight.

Pps. I’m convinced the casting director of this movie saw Aliens and wanted Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson in their vampire crew.