13 Days of First-Time Frights: Near Dark Review

13 Days of First-Time Frights is a series of reviews for October 2019 where Douglas Laman, in the spirit of Halloween, watches and writes about thirteen horror movies he's never seen before. These reviews will be posted each Tuesday and Thursday as well as the last three Wednesdays of October 2019.

Entry #11: Near Dark

She's most well-known in the modern era for the kind of gritty dramas that led her to become the first woman ever to direct a Best Picture-winning movie (not to mention becoming the first woman to win Best Director), Kathryn Bigelow got her start as a filmmaker in the world of genre cinema. Thrillers, science-fiction fare, cop dramas, Bigelow did it all and in the process created a number of iconic movies, including Point Break. Her second ever directorial effort was Near Dark, a vampire Western horror film that also stands as one of her most stylized features even among her unabashedly over-the-top genre movie repertoire.

Agents of SHIELD (S2E2) Review: Expand Your Horizons

A promising season premiere last week has led to a surprisingly successful second episode that may just be my favorite episode of this show so far. Focusing on characters for much of the episode turned out to be a smart choice, since this approach manages to rectify one of my complaints with last weeks episode, which was that the new characters on the show didn't get much development. Luckily, that changes this week with the newest additions to the show getting some time to shine in this episode.