In her 1987 film, Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow pulls off a neat trick.  She combines a western with a romantic fable and a violent, bloody vampire tale, and she makes it work.

Written by Bigelow and Eric Red (best known for Body Parts and the original version of The Hitcher), Near Dark is the story of two star-crossed teen lovers, Caleb and Mae.  Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is a good ol boy from Oklahoma, a roper and a rancher.  Mae (Jenny Wright) is a sweet young thing that also happens to be a vampire.  They meet one night and are so taken with each other that Mae almost doesnt bite Caleb&almost.  After a passionate goodbye kiss, she decides to nip himthe life of a vampire can get mighty lonely and she thinks shes found her soul mate.  As usual, trouble appears in the form of Maes "family."  Whats not usual is that they kidnap Caleb and take him to see if hell fit in.

Near Dark is a different take on the vampire experience.  Maes family is basically a roving gang of sociopaths.  The word "vampire" is never uttered, though there is talk of "turning" people and feeding.  They dont fly, they travel by stolen car.  Also, they carry guns, but dont have fangs.  When they bite someone, they just rip their victims throat open with their teeth and drink the blood.  Although they can take a shotgun blast to the belly and seem to have superhuman strength, they do have weaknesses.  Sunlight is the enemy, as is fire.

Bigelow got lucky with her cast.  She chose wonderful actors whose careers were just beginning to take off.  Lance Henriksen plays Jesse Hooker, the patriarch of the family.  Hes been living the night life since the Civil War and wears a dirty old duster, not a cape and tux.  Bill Paxton plays Severen, the hell-raising "brother" who loves to kill, and has a great time doing it.  Paxton definitely gets the MVP award here.  He steals every scene hes in.  The family is rounded out by Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback, the mother figure, and Joshua Miller as Homer, the little brother.  Miller is very good as the grown man trapped in a childs bodyevil yet pitiful.

The script for Near Dark is not quite as good as its cast, though.  It seems as if Eric Red wrote the first draft and Ms. Bigelow did the subsequent rewrites.  And knowing Reds past work, its pretty easy to pick out which scenes are his and which are Bigelows.  The big action set pieces, filled with bullets and explosions, have Reds fingerprints all over them.  All the quiet talk between the two young lovers must belong to Bigelow.  You know the actors are good when they can pull off the howlers that are sprinkled throughout this movie: "The night has its price;" "You havent met any girls like me;" and, of course, the classic "See you in hell."  And it all boils down to a showdown on a deserted street in town.  To Ms. Bigelows credit, she handles it all with aplomb.

Tonally, this film is all over the place, but Bigelows steady hand ensures everything flows and plays just right.  She is aided by one of Tangerine Dreams most effective (and least dated) scores.  Moments of romantic bliss bump up against gory violence and dark humor.  And the film is filled with several striking images.  Bigelow definitely knows how to handle a camera.

Over the years, Near Dark has acquired a cult following, and deservedly so.  Any flick that contains lines like "Normal folks, they dont spit out bullets when you shoot em, no sir," and "Listen to the night, its deafening," but then actually makes you want to say "Awwwww, that was sweet" when its over&well, pardner, that movies all right in my book.