Near Dark [Blu-ray]

This is a masterpiece of a film from director Kathryn Bigelow. It has been described by Ms Bigelow as a story of two families, a daylight family and a night family; others have called it a cross between a horror film, an action film and a western. It is a recorded fact that Ms Bigelow had wanted to make a western, but because westerns weren't popular at the time, it was decided to turn it into a horror film with a basic western feel.The story starts in a backwater Texas town where Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) meets a young woman called Mae (Jenny Wright) outside the quiet town's ice cream parlour. Mae tells Caleb that she needs a ride home and Caleb, fancying his chances, agrees to give her a ride. Things, however, don't go his way when she nibbles his neck. Come morning and Caleb starts to feel sick in the sun.He is staggering across the fields near his home when the occupants of an RV grab him and drive away, all this is witnessed by his little sister Sarah (Marcie Leeds). Caleb's father, Loy (Tim Thomerson), tires of waiting for the local police to do something to find his son, so decides that he and his daughter will go out and look for Caleb themselves.Caleb has been taken by Mae and her vampire family - Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen), Severen (Bill Paxton), Diamondback (Jeanette Goldstein) and Homer (Joshua Miller). He doesn't want to kill, but his body now needs blood to survive and we watch as Caleb's internal fight what he knows is wrong and what his needs tell him to do.As the film builds to its climax Caleb must make the decision between his two families, between day and night.Whether James Cameron had an influence in the casting of the main characters (he was at the time that the film was made married to Ms Bigelow).The vampire family consists of Lance Henriksen (Aliens' android Bishop), Bill Paxton (PFC Hudson from Aliens) and Jeanette (Vasquez) Goldstein all give excellent performances, but, once again, it is Bill Paxton who delivers the most memorable performance of the entire cast.Having watched the film, both with and without the commentary I have to say that I would have preferred the ending that had been planned, rather than the one that we ended up with, but the one that we ended up with is satisfying all the same.The two disc special edition is exactly that - special. The extras include interviews with the cast and crew, deleted scenes and behind the scenes stills gallery.This film is thoroughly enjoyable. One of the greatest vampire movies ever, though interestingly the term vampire is never used in the film itself.---UPDATE - it has been announced that they are to remake near dark

Near Dark is, bar none, my favourite vampire film and has been since I saw it on late night TV years and years ago. The only film that comes close is Fright Night and that movie's just fun. This one changed how I saw films! I recognised in it some of the same dreamy dustry atmosphere as in the excellent 1986 film, The Hitcher. This was before I found how these two films were linked (both written or co-written by Eric Red and sharing producers Feldman and Meeker).This Blu-Ray, while it isn't the best I've ever seen, is considerably better than every review I've read of it would have you believe, especially at the jaw-dropping price it's currently offered it (£3). The only serious downside is that there are NO extras, just the film. For that reason alone I will not part with my region 1 Anchor Bay disc.The picture is a lot sharper and detailed than the DVD. The film was always intended to have a soft, dreamy look on it - it seems that this is the reason some people are complaining. It doesn't look the sharpest blu-ray out there, but look carefully and there's a stunning amount of detail revealed - in exterior shots of the camper van down the road, the horizon is now sharply in focus. In nighttime scenes, the gravel and contours of tarmac are sharply brought into focus, as is the beautifully backlit hair of May in the early scenes. The only downside in the visuals here is that motion sometimes blurs a little. It's really not that big of a deal and I worry some people are just spoiled.The soundtrack is also considerably more detailed - now I can hear parts of the score unnoticeable on the Anchor Bay DVD, let alone previous home releases of the film, parts I had only heard on the soundtrack CD. The music has always been one of my favourite parts of the film and it's well served here.If you own a blu-ray player and have never seen this film then snap this up, but if you're a fan you're going to want the DVD as well - it was one of the first "special editions" I bought and it's thorough service to the film impressed the hell out of me, then and now.

Great movie. One of my top 3 favorite vampire movies.Near DarkLost BoysFrom Dusk Till Dawn

Le plus beau film sur les vampires de tout le cinéma ! La dernière scène "sara, sara" avec un vampire sous forme de gosse est juste Sublime ! Kathryn Beglow est une Grande Maestro ! Tous ses films nous laissent voir son monde et le monde à l'envers de tout ce qu'on aurait vu jusque là ! Merci

Took almost 2 months to get, then I find out I can’t play it because it’s region 2. Didn’t see that in the product description when I bought it. So I had to use my laptop. Did work, just not the same as on the big screen.But the price was right so no major loss.

A pesar de la información que consta en Amazon, este DVD no tiene ni subtitulos en inglés ni en castellano.

Kathryn Bigelow hat mit diesem Film den Vorreiter für alle Vampirfilme geschaffen, bei denen die Vampire nicht in dunklen Särgen hausen, sondern mitten unter uns sind. Natürlich merkt man, dass der Film aus den 80ties ist, da die Story langsam beginnt und nicht im heutigen MTV Stil (schnell, schneller, noch schnellerer Handlungsplot)gedreht wurde.Heute würde der Film wahrscheinlich mit FSK 16 durchgehen, damals allerdings mit FSK 18.Absolut sehenswert!