1987 vampire movie vampire movies that make use of the sub-genre's standard conventions.
Near Dark was a breath of fresh air within the vampire sub-genre in the 1980s, and remains a very unique film even now, over 30 years after its release. While The Lost Boys - those who've seen it tend to come away very impressed. Of course, it helps that future Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow is behind the camera, proving with only her second feature that she was truly a filmmaker to watch.
Fans will recall that Near Dark boasts a very unusual method of curing vampirism. Those affected can be cured of the condition by receiving an exchange blood transfusion from someone not infected. Vampirism is usually treated as a supernatural plague, and using a method based in medical science - or at least something that sounds believable to the average viewer - really switches things up. Yet, this cure draws partial inspiration from a plot point in the granddaddy of vampire stories, Dracula.
Near Dark's Unusual Vampire Cure Has Roots in Dracula
Near the end of Near Dark, protagonist Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is able to get his transformation into a vampire reversed thanks to an exchange blood transfusion from his father, essentially removing his infected blood and replacing it with uninfected blood. This action is Caleb's idea, and it's unclear what inspired him to believe it could work. Work it does though, and it also works again later for Caleb's beloved Mae, the vampire who had turned him and who he had since fallen in love with. It's a pretty happy ending to what up until then is a quite dark film, literally and figuratively.
Way back in 1897, Bram Stoker's original Dracula novel set the stage for Near Dark's vampire cure, although without the same result. When the character of Lucy Westenra is attacked and bitten by Count Dracula, she is left in a weak, anemic state, and to stave off her impending death due to blood loss, Van Helsing suggests she be given a blood transfusion, and ends up requiring four in total. This being 1897, there's a grave medical oversight made in that no attempt is made to make sure the donors carry a compatible blood type. Still, knowledge of such things was still in the early stages at that time. While these transfusions don't prevent Lucy's ultimate transformation - Dracula returns later and finishes the turning process - it does keep her alive for a time, and sets the template for what director Kathryn Bigelow its on the film's commentary track inspired Near Dark's vampire cure.
