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Before ‘Doctor Sleep,’ We Traveled With Horror’s Original Winnebago Vampires in ‘Near Dark’

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In Doctor Sleep, Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining, Danny Torrance teams up with a powerful young girl to fend off a cult known as the True Knot. The True Knot is a makeshift vampire family of caravanning misfits. They travel the country in campers, EarthCruisers, and Winnebagos in search of victims to satiate their appetites and longevity.

They’re hardly the first nomadic vampire clan to grace the big screen, though, nor the first to call a Winnebago home. The psychotic vampires in Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark were pioneers of the Winnebago lifestyle, and they left an indelible mark on the genre.

Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) thinks he’s in for a night of necking with Mae (Jenny Wright), the pretty gal he’s just met. He’s not exactly wrong. Just before dawn, their makeout session ends with a bite on the neck before Mae flees in a panic. The sun rises during his walk home, which causes his skin to smoke and blister. As his home is in sight, a Winnebago barrels through the pasture and picks him up. It’s Mae and her family. Just before Mae’s family destroys what they suspect is Mae’s unfinished meal, she reveals that she’s turned Caleb.

He’s now one of them. That is, if he can show he’s worthy.

This particular bunch revels in their bloodlust, and the only hard and fast rule seems to be that any witnesses to their carnage be snuffed out immediately. Mae’s family is led by patriarch Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen). His companion, Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein), has a progeny in Homer (Joshua John Miller), a decades-old vamp trapped in a child’s body. Then there’s Severen, the most gleefully sadistic of the bunch, played to memorable perfection by Bill Paxton. Severen’s bulletproof cowboy persona combined with Paxton’s charm gave us one-liners like “It’s finger-lickin’ good!” and “It ain’t what’s goin’ on, son. It’s what’s comin’ off. Your face. Clean off.”

The word “vampire” is never uttered in Near Dark. This blood-sucking family wields guns and weapons, traveling throughout the south in a Winnebago with blacked-out windows. They sleep in bungalows or cheap motels during the day and feed at night by exploiting the kindness of strangers. Homer lures victims by pretending to be a hurt child in the middle of the road. Severen uses his Good Ol’ Boy charm to woo ladies while hitchhiking. Jesse and Diamondback prowl together, reminiscing of their Confederate days during the Civil War when Jesse was newly turned.

They sometimes come together for an all-out brutal feeding frenzy in small-town dive bars, too. Leaving destruction and a high body count in their wake. Mae’s family is so bonded together and distinct in personalities that you almost wish Caleb would give in and join their ranks, just so we could spend more time with them. It’s brilliant casting. Bigelow cast Henriksen, Goldstein, and Paxton hot on the heels of their stint in Aliens. They’d already forged a shorthand and friendship working together on what was essentially a war movie, and Bigelow used it to create a believable family with deep roots. It’s easy to grasp straight away that this vampiric bunch has a profound love and respect for one another. Blood is thicker than water, right?

Bigelow and co-writer Eric Red set out to create a Western, which proved difficult to obtain financial backing for. Instead, they blended the western with horror, creating one of the most unconventional and engaging vampire films of all time. This beautifully shot gem is a gritty western that trades traditional black hat villains for a clan of vicious nomadic vampires. Jesse, Diamondback, Homer, and Severen make for an iconic bunch that steals the film. They live in poverty and constant upheaval, but they love their life and they revel in carnage.

The True Knot feed off of humans in a very different way, but there are still a lot of similarities between these two vampiric families. The impenetrable bonds, the Winnebago lifestyle, and the careful selection of who can join their ranks; it’s hard to imagine that Near Dark wasn’t some sort of touchstone in creating the cinematic version of the True Knot.

Mae’s family were the originators of the Winnebago vampire, but Doctor Sleep‘s True Knot carries the torch admirably.

Bill Paxton

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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