Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire weekend
I hosted a vampire-themed movie night last night, and the first of the two movies on the bill was Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark. Now, Near Dark is one of my favorite horror films, vampire or otherwise, and re-watching it always reminds me why. The landscape shots of west Texas and Oklahoma are beautiful, and the score by Tangerine Dream is used perfectly.
However, one thing I noticed on re-watching the movie is Bigelow’s tendency toward gratuitous male nudity. In Near Dark, the audience sees lead Adrian Pasdar shirtless again and again (and don’t even get me started on Point Break). It’s not a problem, it’s just an interesting twist on the conventions of the genres that Near Dark straddles. Near Dark exposes nary a single breast, but the camera lingers like a caress over Pasdar’s well-oiled abdomen.
[Near Dark trailer from YouTube.]