Near Dark

press release: USA | 1987 | 35mm | 95 min.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton

Bigelow’s fresh take on the vampire genre mixes and matches an atmospheric summer romance with ultra-violent set pieces to great effect. Decades before the Twilight franchise drained the lifeblood out of the concept, Near Dark cast the extremely photogenic Pasdar and Jenny Wright as a star-crossed couple - he’s a cowboy, she’s a vampire - and their love means being forced to choose between life or undeath, between his family or hers. Since her family consists of a good chunk of the cast of Aliens (including Paxton at his all-time greasiest/nastiest) sparks and blood are bound to fly. Filled with images both horrifying and gorgeous and propelled by a lush Tangerine Dream score, Near Dark was an early career highlight for Bigelow.

Halloween Horror: On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before Halloween, three fabulously scary programs: a double feature of restored 3D horror movies presented in-person by Bob Furmanek of the 3-D Film Archive; a 35mm screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s '80s Western-vampire mashup Near Dark; and a family-friendly matinee of Laika’s stop-motion thrill-ride Paranorman (also part of our Chicago Film Society series).