There's a vast, pervasive darkness in Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 solo directorial feature debut, "Near Dark," that often seems like it could consume anyone who touches it. It's so prevalent and ubiquitous that it feels like the main character over flesh-and-blood humans. I guess that's natural (and necessary) in a movie that's about nomadic vampires and their never-ending lifecycle primarily confined to the dead of night. But Bigelow's darkness isn't just about the monsters lurking in the shadows, but the beauty, lust, and alluring independence that attracts them to it in the first place. There's an enticement to it that can seduce even the most innocent and good-hearted of men and women, besides the psychos that are gravitated towards it by nature.

That's how "Near Dark" begins: A clueless

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