Near Dark (1987)

[Robert W]

Originally Posted by porcupine

Heh heh, cheers! The Hunger's a peach, exquisitely shot and the first ten or so minutes are some of the greatest in all of film - barely any dialogue, just pure visual and aural cinema, with great use of music. Weird to think of it as a Tony Scott film, it's so different from his other stuff - who'd have thought he'd follow this with Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II?

I agree. The use of Bauhaus is exceptionally well edited, imo.

Up until the time of Near Dark there really hadn't been that many vampire westerns. Actually, I think there was only one before it, 1959's Curse of the Undead.

One of the other things I really liked about Near Dark was that it was never the victim of an embarrassingly bad sequel(s).

[SocialNightmare]

Just ordered Near Dark from Sainsbury's Online (which is fast becoming my favourite place atm for picking up dvd's relatively cheep) £3.99 bargain , looking forward to having a watch, will pop back and let you know what i think of the film, this is what i love about this forum , finding little gems i never heard of before

[Vampix]

I've still got the old ABUK 2-DVD edition of Near Dark in its original shrinkwrap.I've seen the film two or three times in the past (on TV and video), but will have to watch the DVD and its extras at some point.I'm not sure if I enjoy it more than The Lost Boys - I think it's probably on a par with that film.The actors (Henriksen, Paxton, Goldstein, Thomerson) are cooler though imo, and the bar scene is brilliant!

[porcupine]

Originally Posted by Robert W

I agree. The use of Bauhaus is exceptionally well edited, imo.

Up until the time of Near Dark there really hadn't been that many vampire westerns. Actually, I think there was only one before it, 1959's Curse of the Undead.

One of the other things I really liked about Near Dark was that it was never the victim of an embarrassingly bad sequel(s).

I loved that version of 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' - I was disappointed with the proper studio version when I got round to hearing it.... The Hunger version is available as part of a Bauhaus compilation somewhere (it wasn't on the original soundtrack sadly) and is a beauty!

On the DVD documentary there is talk of a potential sequel, and it all sounds fun, the idea of being reunited with the old gang, but I'm very glad it never happened.

Will have to investigate Curse of the Undead, there aren't enough vampire westerns in my opinion!

[porcupine]

Originally Posted by SocialNightmare

Just ordered Near Dark from Sainsbury's Online (which is fast becoming my favourite place atm for picking up dvd's relatively cheep) £3.99 bargain , looking forward to having a watch, will pop back and let you know what i think of the film, this is what i love about this forum , finding little gems i never heard of before

I usually refer to Find DVD as a quick price comparison resource, but Sainsbury's isn't included in their results so I always check them out separately and yes, they do boast more than the odd surprise bargain! Sadly, I thought I'd struck gold finding Q - The Winged Serpent for three quid a few weeks ago, only to get an e-mail a few days later saying the supplier had run out of stock....

[porcupine]

Originally Posted by Vampix

I've still got the old ABUK 2-DVD edition of Near Dark in its original shrinkwrap.I've seen the film two or three times in the past (on TV and video), but will have to watch the DVD and its extras at some point.I'm not sure if I enjoy it more than The Lost Boys - I think it's probably on a par with that film.The actors (Henriksen, Paxton, Goldstein, Thomerson) are cooler though imo, and the bar scene is brilliant!

I really, really love The Lost Boys - it's probably the film I've seen the most thanks to an obsessive period when I was about 13/14 years old where I'd watch it every other day. I do rate Near Dark as the stronger film, but there's plenty of room in my life for both of them! Saying that, for sheer fun I do rate Fright Night over both of these films!

The bar scene is probably in my Top 10 scenes of all time. It is legendary.

[Hawkmonger]

No Mantis? No for me then.

[Robert W]

Originally Posted by porcupine

I loved that version of 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' - I was disappointed with the proper studio version when I got round to hearing it.... The Hunger version is available as part of a Bauhaus compilation somewhere (it wasn't on the original soundtrack sadly) and is a beauty!

On the DVD documentary there is talk of a potential sequel, and it all sounds fun, the idea of being reunited with the old gang, but I'm very glad it never happened.

Will have to investigate Curse of the Undead, there aren't enough vampire westerns in my opinion!

Curse of the Undead is a great flick, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. There hasn't been an official release of the film on dvd yet, but there are plenty of VHS rips of it out there.

[SocialNightmare]

Originally Posted by porcupine

I hope you like it - it can divide opinion as it does abandon a lot of the vampire rules and regulations. There are no garlic, crosses, stakes, fangs or even the word 'vampire', though I find these are key to the film's success rather than a detriment. Also, the method of 'curing' a vampire is probably the film's most controversial element, though I myself have no problems with it. Finally, the soundtrack can be known to put people off, though I love it.

I think the film's got more beauty, sensuality and emotion than any of the other eighties vampire films, and if you like bad-ass vampires, they're here too, as well as some tasty gore and even a cracking shoot-out!

Well i have been away for a bit and thought it was about time i popped back here, I loved the film btw, i loved the fact that there were no sparkles no garlic no stake's and all the other cliche that have been way over used in other movies, OH was demented by the soundtrack pretty much from the offset lol but i didn't mind it in fact i hadn't really noticed it until he started moaning Definitely one of the best Vampire films iv'e seen if not the best so thank you if i hadn't seen your post i would still be unaware of it!!! xoxox

[porcupine]

Hello, you're very welcome - it's great that you liked it and yes, it really is one of the best vampire films out there!