The Night Has its Price: The Queer Fangs of ‘Near Dark’
As a queer horror fan, I have always been drawn to vampires. More specifically, I am fascinated by what the monster signifies and how it represents the ultimate other. Often when the topic of queerness within horror comes up, people point to the vampire due to its history as a monster that reflects a variety of fears, including those about sexuality and gender. The discussion of queerness and vampires repeatedly centers around books and movies like The Vampire Chronicles, Fright Night, ‘Salem’s Lot, The Hunger, The Lost Boys, or True Blood, but I want to focus on my favorite, Near Dark.
Released in 1987 and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the movie follows Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar), a midwestern farmer. He gets turned into a vampire by a mysterious drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright). From there, he must join her roving family of vampires for survival. Although it is considered a commercial failure compared to The Lost Boys, released the same year, I still prefer Bigelow’s film due to the fantastic cast and western take on the vampire subgenre and the queer elements. More specifically, it can provide a window into the LGBTQ+ community and representation in the 1980s.
Within the LGBTQ+ community, we often discuss the differences between our birth family and our chosen family. Similarly, Caleb must decide whether he will join the family of vampires or will he return home to his father and sister. Interestingly, the vampires of Near Dark decide to go against the grain by creating a community instead of being solitary creatures. This decision lies in their survival needs since they travel across the dusty and isolated midwest for food.
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The familiar concept becomes more solidified since the vampires all take familiar roles. Jesse (Lance Henriksen) is the “dad,” Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein) is the “mom, ” and Severen (Bill Paxton), Mae, and Homer (Joshua John Miller) as the children and siblings. Despite not being a traditional family, the reenactment of the roles helps create a source of structure and connection among its members. The vampires exist as a surrogate family living on the outskirts of society and doing their best for survival. They are not related by birth, but they are adopted by vampiric blood and chosen to join by being bitten.
They also exist as a darker parody and reflection of the nuclear family. Their relationship derives from vampiric reproduction instead of traditional reproduction. The idea of an adopted or chosen family becomes a source of refuge for the vampires due to not fitting within society and living outside of it. They find power and support by forming a traveling community since they exist outside of heteronormativity.
Since Near Dark takes place in the isolated rural midwest, the vampires must adapt to find and feed on victims. Often, the vampires pretend to be hitchhikers for victims to pick them up. The aspect of anonymously meeting partners for consumption calls to mind the act of cruising. Often, the vampires have to present themselves as desirable to their victims, like Severen slicking back his hair and switching clothes to be attractive to two female motorists. Especially since they go to rural locations like intersections and small towns at night, the imagery becomes more apparent.
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Since vampires in the film do not feed on the same victims twice, they have to go out and find more victims. The cruising aspect also disregards the idea of a monogamous relationship if they need to find more victims. Caleb rejects this aspect since he chooses not to feed on victims but only through Mae. In one key moment where he joins Mae to be picked up by a truck driver. But, he cannot bring himself to feed on the victim. Instead, Caleb waits for Mae to ingest the truck driver’s blood and sucks the victim’s blood through her arm.
This action reinforces Caleb’s desire for a traditional relationship with Mae since he does not want to expand outside boundaries. Severen even attempts to instigate a fight with Caleb and a random stranger at a bar for Caleb to feed on him. Caleb instead gets shot and chooses not to murder the man. Caleb’s rejection of feeding reinforces his want for a “normal” relationship with Mae.
Outside of feeding on blood for sustenance, blood allows a vampire to continue living. Near Dark emphasizes vampirism as a disease that infects the blood, gradually killing the infected. More importantly, becoming a vampire often involves exchanging fluids through penetration, such as fangs and blood.
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Caleb’s skin becomes extremely pale after his bite, and he shakes and sweats if he does not feed. Even if not intentional, his condition calls to mind AIDS based on the symptoms. His infected blood following a sexual act is slowly draining his life and killing him. Along those lines, the family is also infected and lives at the margins of society and survives night by night. The only way he can save himself is by purging his infected blood from his system with the help of his father. No pill or medicine can cure him; only bloodletting can do it.
The only other person who removes their infected blood is Mae as the other vampires happily embrace their vampiric identity. Whether it be due to them forgetting their humanity or enjoying being creatures of the night, Severen, Jesse, Diamondback, and Homer do not get that opportunity of redemption like Mae and Caleb. Ultimately, the other family members die, leaving just Mae and Caleb along with his family. They no longer have to worry about needing to feed on strangers’ blood to survive. They can live an everyday normal life. Vampirism exists like a parasite that must be destroyed at all costs to live a long and happy existence.
I can easily rewatch Near Dark on a loop, and it’s given me much to chew on ever since I first watched it. Even if these elements are not intentional, they still exist and provide a much richer film reading. “We keep odd hours,” says Severen with a smile. And they do so much more than keep odd hours.
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