Near Dark (1987)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1987
Running Times: 94 mins
Length: 8,450 ft
Format: colour 35mm
Ratio:
Sound: Ultra Stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: F/M Entertainment / Near Dark Joint Venture
Executive Producers: Edwards S. Feldman, Charles R. Meeker
Producer: Stephen-Charles Jaffe
Co-Producer: Eric Red
Associate Producers: Diane Nabatoff, Mark Allan
Production Manager: Mark Allan
Unit Production manager (Arizona): Joe Dishner
Production Coordinator: Karen Altman Morgenstern

SCRIPT
Script: Eric Red, Kathryn Bigelow

DIRECTION
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
1st Assistant Director: Guy Louthan
2nd Unit 1st Assistant Director: Ian McVey
2nd Assistant Director: John J.C. Scherer
3rd Assistant Director: Chuck Williams

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Adam Greenberg
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Chuck Colwell
Assistant Photographers: Vance Piper, Alicia Craft
2nd Unit Assistant Photographer: Derek Scott
Time Lapse Footage: MacGillivray-Freeman Films, Energy Productions

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Howard Smith
Post Production Supervisor: Brent Sellstrom

MUSIC
Music: Tangerine Dream
Songs: John Parr (Naughty, Naughty); D. Woody, P. Simmons (Morse Code); John Davenport, Eddie Cooley (Fever); Sonny Throckmorten, Casey Kelly (The Cowboy Rides Away)
Songs Performed By: John Parr (Naughty, Naughty); Jools Holland (Morse Code); The Cramps (Fever); George Strait (The Cowboy Rides Away)
Music Editor: Jim Weidman

SOUND
Sound Director: Leo Chaloukian
Sound Designer: David Lewis Yewdall
Sound Recordist: Donald Summer
Re-Recordist: Ryder Sound Services, John 'Doc' Wilkinson, Richard Rogers, Grover Helsley
Supervising Sound Editor: R.J. Palmer
ADR Mixer / Dialogue Editor: Steve Rice
Sound Effects / Foley: F. Hudson Miller, Kelly Tartan, Ted Goodspeed, Holly Davis
Foley Artists: Joan Rowe, Jerry Trent
Sound Engineer: Jonathan D. Evans

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Davida Simon
Costume Designer: Joseph Porro
Wardrobe Supervisor: Leslie Weir

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Effects: Gordon Smith

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Coordinators: Steve Galich, Dale Martin
Special Effects Assistants: Ray Beetz, Al Broussard, Joseph Sasgen
Body Smoking Effect: Image Engineering

VISUAL EFFECTS
Rotoscoping: Bret Mixon
Fire Opticals: Fantasy II
Titles / Opticals: Pacific Title

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Stephen Altman
Art Director: Dian Perryman
Set Dressers: John Bucklin, James Monroe, Findlay Bunting, Brett Palmer, Jennifer Pray
Scenic Designer: Tom Wilkins
Scenic Artists: Eileen Winterkorn, Jay Burkhart
Storyboard Artist: Alan Munro

MISCELLANEOUS
Assistant Production Accountant: Lisa Etherington
Production Assistants: Thomas Schellenberg, MarkSilver, Scott Williams, Darrell Mirkin
Set Medic: Bundy Chanock
Researcher: Jenny Mead
Horse Wrangler: Stevie Myers
Dog Wrangler: Gary Jero

LOCATIONS
Locations: Coolidge, Arizona, USA; Oklahoma, USA
Location Managers: George Herthel, Wallace Uchida

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Everett Creach
Stunts: Mickey Alzola, Everett Creach, Bob Ivy, Mike Johnson, Steven Leeds, Mike McGaughy, Stevie Myers, Lee Poppie, Mike Raden, Kristen Suzanne, Jim Wilkey, Jerry Wills, William L. Yarbrough Jr

CASTING
Casting: Karen Rea
Casting Associate: Glenn F. Haines
Extras Casting: Complete Casting Service
Location Casting: Bobby Ball Talent Center

CAST
Adrian Pasdar (Caleb Colton)
Jenny Wright (Mae)
Lance Henriksen (Jesse)
Bill Paxton (Severen)
Jenette Goldstein (Diamondback)
Tim Thomerson (Loy Colton)
Joshua John Miller (Homer)
Marcie Leeds (Sarah Colton)
Kenny Call (Deputy Sheriff)
Ed Corbett (ticket seller)
Troy Evans (plainclothes officer)
Bill Cross (Sheriff Eakers)
Roger Aaron Brown (Cajun truck driver)
Thomas Wagner (bartender)
Robert Winley (patron in bar)
James LeGros (teenage cowboy)
Jan King (waitress)
Danny Kopel (biker in bar)
Billy Beck (motel manager)
S.A. Griffin (police officer at motel)
Bob Terhune, William T. Lane, Gary Littlejohn, Paul M. Lane, Eddie Mulder (State Troopers)
Don Pugsley (2nd truck driver)
Neith Hunter, Theresa Randle (ladies in car)
Tony Pierce, Gordon Haight (highway youths)
Leo Geter, Gary Wayne Cunningham (Caleb's friends)

In the mid-west, farm boy Caleb Colton meets and falls for a young woman who turns out be a member of a roaming gang of vampires roaming the highways and back roads in search of victims. Colton is infected by the girl and drawn into the "family's" violent lifestyle while his concerned family try to save him.

A dark, brooding and stylish vampire movie, the likes of which are simply not made any more in these post-Buffy days. The original script is directed with real panache by Bigelow and the cast are uniformly excellent. The excellent Tangerine Dream score is just the icing on the cake, though the pat ending is a disappointment. Sadly, it was Near Dark's contemporary, the far less impressive Lost Boys (1987) that proved the most influential in the long run, and Near Dark remains a mature, intelligent artifact of a time when Hollywood horror could still make film about and for adults.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Entertainment
Video Distributor: Entertainment in Video

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Dino De Laurentiis DEG
Video Distributors: Cinema Classics; HBO Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: Image Entertainment (ID 6585 HB)

Australia
Rating: R

Finland
Rating: K-18

France
Rating: -12

Sweden
Rating: banned; 15
Initially banned, but released on video in 1989 with many significant cuts.

UK
Rating: 18 (with cuts)

USA
Rating: R

West Germany
Rating: 18

AWARDS

1988
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, USA
Saturn Award: Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) - nominated

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film, Belgium
Silver Raven (Kathryn Bigelow) - winner

1989
Young Artist Awards, USA
Best Young Actress in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture (Marcie Leeds) - nominated
Teenage Favorite Horror / Drama Motion Picture - nominated

1987
October
2: USA - theatrical release

1988
November
9: France - theatrical release

1989
April
28: Sweden - theatrical release

1992
November
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on Sky Movies)

1996
April
22: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1997
December
22: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1999
December
4: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

2001
March
10: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

Killing you would be easy, they'd rather terrify you...forever.

...pray for daylight.

Near Dark - Die Nacht hat ihren Preis - German title
Los viajeros de la noche - Spanish title
Pimeyden läheisyys - Finnish title
Aux frontieres de l'aube - French title
Il buio si avvicina - Italian title
Blisko ciemnosci - Polish title
Natten har sitt pris - Swedish title

MAGAZINES

City Limits no.326 (31 December 1987) pp.11-12 (UK)
article

City Limits no.327 (7 January 1988) p.27 (UK)
review

Films and Filming no.400 (January 1988) p.31 (UK)
review

Midnight Marquee no.49 pp.44-46 (USA)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.55 no.648 (January 1988) pp.3-4 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Premiere November 1988 p.19 (France)
review (by Stella Molitor)

Screen International no.623 (24 October 1987) p.404 (UK)
review

Studio November 1988 p.19 (France)
review (by Denis Parent)

Time Out no.907 (6 January 1988) p.28 (UK)
review

Video World April 1988 p.33 (UK)
review

BOOKS

Elliot's Guide to Films on Video (3rd edition) p.557
credits, review

vampires; immortality; children; bars; camper vans; farmers

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008