I remember trying to watch this movie a while back. I did want to since I had previously seen The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Dirty prior to watching it. Of course the issue with enjoying 80s movies then compared to now is simple: much like the people who actually lived in the time I no longer felt then what I feel now. Although it’s bittersweet that I can’t even put it in words I don’t think it’s meant to be. Mainly because words are usually meant for talking while this movie is more grounded in as much the moment as feeling. But before I get ahead of myself the movie in general starts out better than I remember. Granted the horror not only hits 11 minutes in but is gentle yet effective. This is mainly because the movie aims for a Lost Boys directed by James Foley (in that same decade) kind of vigor. Of course it started off more as Twilight meets Night of The Comet as Caleb starts to get accustomed to being part of Mae’s gang of vampires. Yet it isn’t until it really becomes a horror version of At Close Range when they talk about killing as a form of survival and it often intertwine’s with Caleb’s family worrying. I’d compare it to Tetsuo when the horror gets real for an 80s movie during a bar scene., but the rest of the movie moves along in that same Foley atmosphere, action, and pace (plus it’s not THAT over-the-top, just violent). Granted there are a lot of scenes when it gets more real than a soap opera from most of Bill Paxton’s show stealing scenes (I didn’t even know it was him until an hour in) to Caleb reuniting with his family as Homer eyes Sarah, to the movie’s gravity increasing once Caleb becomes human again. Of course I couldn’t help but get the feeling Mr. Barker may have taken the death scenes during the falling action as inspiration for a scene in Nightbreed when a creature is exposed to sunlight. All this ending on a reverse George Roy Hill inspired note (if not once again choosing not to incorporate a song by Madonna, as the credits begin to roll, for once) with Mae and Caleb. And this was all without me, tragically enough, obsessing over the western inspired bits like I would’ve had I finished watching this movie the first time I came across it. On one hand I’m glad I finally finished watching this movie. On the other, as absurd as it is to use this word in this context, I’m heartbroken I had the patience to see it completely now compared to when I first wanted to. I guess I just keep thinking how, while a good chunk of this movie is the Bigelow I knew too well (fresh from her Oscar win and divorce from James Cameron) I get the feeling there was another with a mullet as she’s secretly in a studio with Skid Row contributing to the soundtrack. If I had to put it in words that could best be understood it’s this: The Banana Splits Movie was horror’s way of telling me I’m no longer a child. Near Dark was horror telling me the same about being a teenager.

But, much like “Jack and Diane”’s fittingly 80s bridge, that age could still fade away as long as it needed to (or at least return to once in a belated yet inevitably limited while for me).