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Near Dark

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is the tale of a young Texan who falls in with a bunch of vampires. It veers between camp and drama as you might expect from vampire fare, and races around the region in the glory of peak Americana. The cast is particularly good, with Adrian Pasdar (who would twenty years later go on to star in Heroes) playing the lost Texan and the vampires including Lance Henriksen, the late Bill Paxton, and Jenette Goldstein (the immortalized foster mother in Terminator 2). I was frequently surprised at the speed at which days and nights blurred past, but if anything the unreality of it adds to the nightmare as our young hero struggles with the morale bankruptcy of his new life of vampirism. The young fem fatale who drew him into this world is conflicted in her attraction for the hesitant young man. The Texan's little sister is thrown into peril for good mix once his father decides to take her on the road to find him. Law enforcement eventually get drawn in, and all hell breaks loose.

It's good for a laugh. A dated laugh, but a laugh.

Recommended.