Near Dark (1987)

"Near Dark" is a cool, twisted, mid-1980s Western spin on vampire horror films, but with more blood and guts then a dozen Dracula films. And only a trace of the budget, too.

The plot: A young rancher (Adrian Pasdar, now of "Heroes") meets cute at night with a young woman (Jenny Wright) in a small Midwest town. They flirt, drive around, kiss and then she bites him. And the cowboy goes loony -- sucking blood and burning in the sunlight. He joins the woman's makeshift family of vampires (Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton, among them), driving across rural America and picking off victims for late night dinner. Except our hero won't kill.

This movie is a blast, and ignores the fangs, flying stunts and turning bats of most genre films and books. Briliant director Kathryn Bigelow ("Point Break") lays the blood on thick, and it's sick ghoulish fun. Paxton is the standout in the film, clearly having a gleeful, devilish good time as the meanest of the blood-suckers. The only negative: The last scene. An added note: Check out how many actors here worked in "Aliens," which gets a quick reference early in the film.

That Bigelow isn't making any more films is more proof of Hollywood's strapped down sexist conservatism where women, blacks and gays face extra scrutiny for every misstep. A-