Did not age well but ripe for a re-make
Okay, the cast is still fun to watch. Henrikson's Jesse and Paxton's Severen pretty much steal the show and it would have been cool to see a prequel/sequel with just these two characters.
But the pacing is painfully slow by today's standards and the plot has some big disconnects. The music gives away its 80s origins, but, that said, it's still haunting.
Director Bigelow pays tribute to her future husband James Cameron when we see a movie theatre in the background with 'Aliens' on the marquee. The in-joke is that three of the cast members from that movie were in Near Dark at the suggestion of Cameron.
Later in the movie though is a scene were Paxton's Severen is hit by a transport truck. We think he's dead, but then he pops up at the front of the truck, face split open, and crawls over the hood to reach Caleb in the cab. Minutes later the truck crashes and explodes into flames.
I've never read or seen it mentioned before but this is another Cameron nod, in this case, The Terminator which features a near identical scene with Schwarneggar toward the end. (That movie also featured Paxton in a brief bit.)