After Dark
Are vampires still the go-to monster?
Horror film owes much of its existence to Dracula. Vampire flicks have persisted through the decades, and in my travels through the Halloween sections of the local stores, vampire imagery is everywhere. Do kids still dress as Dracula? I’m not sure those of trick-or-treat age these days are watching Dracula or its offspring (of the night) anymore.
Considering it’s still the dominant horror image from candy to castles, there sure haven’t been a lot of vampire movies worth showing your kids (or watching for yourself) in the last few decades. Here and there are scattered a few interesting entries, and one of these is Kathryn Bigelow and Eric Red’s outstanding 1987 Near Dark. (Unfortunately, using 1987 as a handy comparison point, for every Near Dark, there’s a Lost Boys.)
A 2008 remake of Near Dark is in the treatment stages at Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes studio. Bay gives the directing gig to Samuel Bayer, a fellow music-video veteran who got his start with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit video. Bayer’s music video and commercial credits number in the hundreds, with numerous awards to his name, but Near Dark will be his first feature.
Tags: near dark, samuel bayer
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Man, Lost Boys is probably the second best vampire film of the past 25 years (after Near Dark, obviously). You got a better one?
The Hunger? From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? Kronos? I mean, I love Lost Boys, but still.
Better than Lost Boys? I dunno, A Vampire in Brooklyn? Maybe Dracula: Dead and Loving It?