25 Incredibly Well-Made Horror Films Directed By Women

21. Kathryn Bigelow - Near Dark (1987)

Long before she won the Academy Award for directing The Hurt Locker and fictionalised the takedown of Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow was an upstart feature filmmaker invested in a rogue gang of vampires. A true cult-classic, Near Dark stars Adrian Pasdar as Caleb Colton, a small towner who meets a vampire named Mae (Jenny Wright) who both seduces him and brings him into the world of bloodsuckers and violence. Caleb joins a gang of roaming vampires and doesn't fit in at first, due to his hesitance at killing in order to feed. He gets a week from the leader of the vampire crew, Jesse (Lance Henriksen), to prove that he has what it takes to become a true vampire "family" member. Oh, and Bill Paxton pretty much steals the show as Severen, the vamp crew's rowdiest member. What makes this film distinct is the fact that it veered away from the typical romantic-gothic complex of vampire canon, unafraid to take the dive into a more gritty portrayal where the vampires were undaunted to be downright bad rather than seductive. The film combines just the right elements of romanticism, realism and shock value. A perfect antidote to mythos-heavy Anne Rice novels and Twi-hards.