Nik McGrath
It’s 1996 and my English teacher is pushing the TV and VHS player on the trolley into the classroom again. A welcome sight because I knew our teacher enjoyed showing us vampire films! So far we had seen the silent era Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) contrasted against the saxophone playing 80s coolness of The Lost Boys (Shumacher, 1987). What vampire film would our teacher show next?!
A few years earlier in 1992, I remember seeing BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA posters in my local Blockbuster. Mum said I was a bit too young to watch it yet, but a few years later I found a VHS tape in a Goth shop in Brissie, and couldn’t wait to take it home to watch.
At this stage, I thought I’d seen every vampire film I could get my hands on. Especially with the help of an English teacher who didn’t teach, but made our lessons a film club for vampire nerds. How wrong could I be, I had so far to go with my vampire obsession. I definitely hadn’t heard of Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987) at this early age. I wish I had.
Image: Kathryn Bigelow on set of Near Dark with Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback
Kathryn Bigelow’s “finger-lickin’ GOOD!” Near Dark, came out the same year as another vampire movie The Lost Boys (Shumacher, 1987) but sadly didn’t do as well at the box office. Indie film Near Dark didn’t have the same firepower as the Warner Bros marketing machine that made sure that The Lost Boys was a blockbuster hit, but as Kathryn says in a documentary called Living in Darkness (Gregory, 2002), Near Dark has since gained a following by horror fans who have realised this film has substance.
Now a cult film, Near Dark is an original and unique look at vampires, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Bigelow and Eric Red, coming out the year after Aliens (Cameron, 1986), which also starred Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein. Central to the story is the gypsy-like family - Lance Henriksen as Jesse, Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback, Bill Paxton as Severen, Jenny Wright as Mae, and Joshua John Miller as Homer. Living on the edge of society, this outcast family feeds off people they hunt at night. Adrian Pasdar as Caleb, meets Mae one night, and enters a world beyond his reckoning.
Still of Bill Paxton as Severen in Near Dark
Bigelow cast three actors from Aliens, because they were a perfect fit for the characters they embodied, but also because they had a pre-existing relationship and chemistry between each other. This film was shot in 47 days, 40 of those were night shoots; it was important to get those central characters right from day one. Bigelow said the actors were a “unit on camera and off”. Finding the actor who plays Mae took a number of auditions. Bigelow describes Mae’s character played by actor Jenny Wright as “the engine that drives the whole piece forward”.
The western meets vampire love story is a fun hybrid of these genres, and, refreshingly, no fangs, no Gothic elements such as crosses or stakes to the heart. Bigelow says in the documentary that she was influenced by the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but she wanted to break all the rules and mash together the romance of a western with the romance of the Dracula story.
One vampire trope is particularly strong in this story. Smoking skin in contact with sunlight. The special effects artists used burning cigars and tubing to release the cigar smoke from the face and skin exposed to the sun. Actor Adrian Pasdar who plays Caleb, said he smelt like he’d been playing poker all night for a week after shooting the scene in the corn field. Bigelow stated they used tobacco smoke instead of other harsh chemicals normally used to create smoke in films because they were working with a minor.
Image: Kathryn Bigelow with Joshua John Miller as Homer on the set of Near Dark
Actor Joshua John Miller was 13 when he played Homer. You might also know this actor from the creepy kid he portrayed in River’s Edge (Hunter, 1986). Joshua John Miller co-wrote The Final Girls (Strauss-Schulson, 2015) with life partner MA Fortin. Melbourne Horror Film Society hosted a watchparty of The Final Girls during lockdown last year. It was so much fun and just what we needed at the time. Glenn recently interviewed Joshua John Miller for Good Movie Monday, check out the interview here.
Director, producer and writer Kathryn Bigelow started out her career as a painter. She studied painting in the 1970s at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), and went on to New York City to join the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. She was given a studio to live and work in New York, and was part of a group art show at the Whitney at the end of the year. Pretty amazing opportunity for an artist. Bigelow gave a commencement speech at SFAI in 2013: “Art school questions become life questions. That’s why art education is really vital and unique”.
Asked why she went from painter to filmmaker: “I knew film had the potential to cross all lines of culture and class. That excited me”. Bigelow went on to complete a master’s degree in the graduate film program at Columbia University. While at Columbia, Bigelow made her first short film The Set-Up (Bigelow, 1978). The film is a 17 minute short of two men hitting each other in an alley while two professors debate why violence is seductive in cinematic form. Bigelow was very new to the medium of film. “I knew exactly what I wanted. But I didn’t understand that you fake shots and fake hits and put sound effects in. These guys were getting bloodier and bloodier. They were in bed for two weeks after. I almost killed them” said Bigelow.
Bigelow is a filmmaker who builds tension in her work, until it’s almost unbearable. She aims to create films with “adrenaline and velocity, and exploring characters that are unfamiliar. Characters put in extreme situations, obsessive situations”.
When asked what Bigelow thinks about horror and sci-fi films, she stated, “I love them”. She went on to say that she didn’t want to work exclusively in the horror or sci-fi genres because she wanted to explore as many genres as possible. She said, “what’s fantastic about the horror and sci-fi genres is that anything is possible”.
What unifies her work is a gritty Americanness, Bigelow is patriotic, not glorifying her country, but a truth-teller, exposing the ugly and raw reality of American culture.
Still of Tina L’Hotsky as Sportster Debbie in The Loveless
The Loveless (Bigelow and Montgomery, 1981), was Bigelow’s first feature film, co-written and directed with Monty Montgomery. Set in the 1950s, a motorcycle gang stops in a southern town on the way to the races and all hell breaks loose. Bigelow and Montgomery cast rockabillies that had a look that they wanted for the film.The authenticity of the casting has made this a cult classic. The set design and costumes were created by MoMA’s Film Study Center with aesthetic direction from Bigelow. This was one of Willem Dafoe’s earliest film roles. He was one of the few professional actors on set. The rest of the cast were either locals or handpicked for their authentic 1950s looks.
Image: Kathryn Bigelow and Jamie Lee Curtis on the set of Blue Steel
Blue Steel (Bigelow, 1990), starring Jamie Lee Curtis playing rookie Officer Megan Turner, written by Bigelow and Eric Red, breaking down stereotypes by flipping the serial killer story which usually features a man killing women, this story is about a female cop going against a serial killer, and not backing down. Bigelow builds tension until breaking point. Film students often study Blue Steel as an example of a feminist film.
Her first commercially successful film was Point Break (Bigelow, 1991). Bigelow calls it a wet western. It’s an adrenaline junky film with big wave surfing, skydiving, bank robberies and car chases. Bigelow cast some real surfers to give the film authenticity. Patrick Swayze did a lot of his own stunts, including one crazy skydiving scene when he falls backwards out of a plane.
Sill of Lori Petty as Tyler in Point Break
The film revolutionised the use of handheld cameras, which Bigelow used to make the audience feel part of the action. The best example of this is the thrilling foot chase scene of FBI Agent Johnny Utah played by Keanu Reeves and Bohdi played by Swayze.
Lori Petty who plays Tyler, says people think the film has a softness because of Bigelow, but that’s not true, Bigelow enjoys the action scenes more than she enjoys working on the love scenes in the film.
Bigelow fought to have Lori Petty cast as Tyler, even though she didn’t have the blonde beach babe look the producers - all men - were looking for. Bigelow always breaks stereotypes and makes surprising choices, which gives her films an edge.
Still of Angela Bassett as Mace in Strange Days
Strange Days (Bigelow, 1995), set in 1999 in the days leading up to New Years 2000. A powerful sci-fi story about voyeurism, unrequited love, memories, racial tensions in America, corruption, rape and murder.
SQUID recordings are illegal, they record memories and physical sensations onto a disc, so that users can experience these memories and sensations first hand. A black market for these discs leads to dealings with disturbing material including snuff films.
Angela Bassett plays Mace, such a kickass take no prisoners character that I absolutely recommend checking out if you love strong female leads! Ralph Fiennes plays Lenny, an anti-hero who is a dealer of SQUID recordings. This film has Johnny Mnemonic (Longo, 1995) vibes, a film that came out the same year.
Bassett won best actress and Bigelow was the first woman to win best director at the 22nd Saturn Awards. Saturn Awards annually celebrate and acknowledge sci-fi, fantasy and horror films.
Image: Kathryn Bigelow with Will Poulter on the set of Detroit
Detroit (Bigelow, 2017), had me squirming in my seat. The corruption, racism, civil rights abuses, and racial murders carried out by Detroit Police in 1967 during the riots, it’s difficult to watch. This is an important film, although dramatised, it is based on true events. Released 50 years after the events of 1967, it forces you to consider, how far has America come since 1967?
Bigelow explored historical political material as a painter, which she also explores in her films. “I always felt that war was the great canvas, so to speak, containing the major themes of our time. It’s dehumanising. It’s brutalising. It’s hell”. Films such as The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2012), expose the horrors of war, terrorism, black sites, torture. The horror depicted in these films is based on real events.
Image: Kathryn Bigelow on the set of The Hurt Locker / Source: Summit Entertainment
Criticised for the violence in her films, consistently throughout her career. The torture scenes in Zero Dark Thirty were controversial. Would Bigelow have received as much criticism if she was a man? Bigelow has fought against the stereotype of what it means to be a woman and filmmaker. Often emotional sensitive work is what is expected by the industry. It’s an inspiration that Bigelow has maintained her creative integrity throughout her entire career.
Bigelow was the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director for The Hurt Locker in 2010. The second woman to win best director was Chloé Zhao for Nomandland in 2020. I wonder if it will be another decade before a woman receives the Oscar for best director? Kathryn won best director at the 82nd Academy Awards. Eighty-two years of men exclusively winning best director. Before the 82nd Academy Awards, three female directors had been nominated for best director. I’m making this point because some may argue why do we have to make a big deal about screening films directed by women? This is why.
Celebrate Women in Horror Movement by watching more female directed horror this month, and every month. I’ve created a horror directed by women list in Letterboxd with 397 films and counting which you can use as a starting point.
REFERENCES
Bigelow, K 1987, Kathryn Bigelow on Near Dark, https://youtu.be/0te1pmD7BNM.
Bigelow, K 2010, DP/30: The Hurt Locker - Director Kathryn Bigelow, https://youtu.be/rcMVGQphEw8.
Bigelow, K 2013, SFAI Alumna Spotlight: Kathryn Bigelow, https://www.artandeducation.net/announcements/108449/sfai-alumna-spotlight-kathryn-bigelow.
Good Movie Monday 2022, Joshua John Miller - Near Dark - Interview (MHFS), https://youtu.be/J1Fdg32pFQg.
Gregory, D 2002, Living in Darkness, Blue Underground, United States.
Point Break Blu-ray Pure Adrenaline Edition 2011, Featurettes - It’s Make or Break, Ride the Wave, Adrenaline Junkies and On Location: Malibu, Warner Bros, NSW.