Alternate titles : On the Edge of Dawn.

Tagline : "Blood is our life, darkness our feeding ground, and sunlight our eternal damnation"

Near DarkIn a small country town, in the American southwest. A young farm boy named Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) picks up a girl named Mae at a local bar. Driving out to a remote spot in the countryside, just as things start to get interesting, she turns and gives him something a bit sharper than just a love a bite on the neck, before disappearing into the night.

Somewhat bemused, he heads for home. But as the breaking sun starts to rise, he is alarmed to find his skin blistering and burning in the rays of light. Staggering out of his truck, to limp the last few yards to his farm, he then finds himself being grabbed by a group of strangers who roar up behind him in a camper van.

It turns out his abductors aren't just any group of outlaws, but a modern day vampire coven (played by Lance Henricksen, Jeanette Goldstein and Bill Paxton from "Aliens"), and Mae (Jenny Wright) is one of them. Thanks to Mae's bite, Caleb is now a vampire too, and so has no option but to join them.

But after seeing the brutality they are capable of, he decides a Vampires life is not for him and so splits from the group, leading to a series of deadly encounters with their leader Jesse (Henricksen) and the rest of the vampires who want him either back, or dead.

Directed by Katherine Bigelow, who went onto greater success with the action film "Point Break" and the critically acclaimed "The Hurt Locker", this might not be as well known as other vampire pics from the 80's (such as Fright Night or The Lost Boys), but is certainly pretty damn entertaining, which also introduced the concept of cowboy vampires to the cinema.

Some of the more interesting scenes include a vampire face-off in a redneck bar and a police shootout with a difference. Lookout for Tim Thomerson (Trancers) who plays Caleb's father and James Le Gross (Phantasm 2) as a young cowboy.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

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Buy the UK BD  [Amazon UK]

Buy the UK DVD  [Amazon UK]

 

Buy the US BD  [Amazon US]

Buy the US DVD  [Amazon US]

 

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