Veronica Dolginko

Near Dark (1987) represents a pretty good combination of the two previous movies. The vampires are monsters without question, but they live and die by their own rules. They face mundane interpersonal issues like people in the group not getting along or being unhappy with their situation, but they also kill at random in order to survive.

I’m not even totally sure how to explain this movie. Not a whole lot happens in Do Not Expect Much From the End of the World, it’s more about someone dealing with their job and making wild videos on social media than anything really plot-driven. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t include it in my end of the year round-up considering how hard it made me laugh.

All times are desperate times. I’m not saying they have to be but they sure do seem to be. There are few idyllic epochs that someone could point to as non-desperate but overwhelming, times tend to be desperate. Also, those few epochs are probably only idyllic for, like, one group of people, and everyone else was on edge with their head on a swivel. I say this just to bring up that the following double feature is about desperation beyond comprehension.