Awkward and badly paced

This could have worked as a 40-minutes episode in something like Kindred (although Near Dark actually predates Vampire the Masquerade by a few years).

As a full feature film, it's stretched too thin, and mid-thirties Bigelow still hasn't come into her own yet.

The movie has some clumsy charm to it; Pasdar and Wright are very pretty, and with Henriksen, Paxton and Goldstein, it feel a bit like an Aliens reunion. Except they are the aliens this time.

The Lost Boys did the romance part better, and Carpenter's Vampires had the inhuman, ruthless killer down to pat. And both added humour.
Near Dark isn't bad. It just doesn't compare favourably.

Fun fact: the movie never uses the V-word.

Fun 80s fact: sense of time was different back then. "Do you miss the days?" asked to the guy who's been 'dead' for 72 hours...