10 Horror Movies That Deserved To Become Cult Classics (But Didn’t)

Near Dark (1987) is an alternative vampire flick directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break), and its biggest failing in achieving the kind of notoriety it deserves seems to come with the fact that it was released in the same year as Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, a movie widely considered to be the quintessential vampire flick of the era. While The Lost Boys was made to be a hit as a glossy popcorn-horror movie for the MTV generation, Near Dark is comparitavely a dismally bleak representation of the genre.

Bigelow's film presents a dark and violent take on the vampire theme, showing a far less glamorous side to what life might actually be like as a murdering bloodsucking immortal, living night to night and avoiding the sunlight of the day in order to survive. But in retrospect, this is another '80s vampire movie (albeit the word ‘Vampire’ is never mentioned) that is well worth revisiting and should unquestionably be considered a cult classic among its more well-known counterparts.

Near Dark features a great cast made up of names like Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Bill Paxton (Frailty), and features some memorable scenes such as the violent encounter in a small-town bar that turns into a bloodbath. Near Dark also provides an intriguing story focusing on Caleb’s (Adrian Pasdar) battle to save his soul, and his disgust for his new found fellow beings after being bitten and turned by love interest Mae (Jenny Wright).