Aero Theatre Presents: Double Feature 30th Anniversary! Near Dark and Frailty

Double Feature: 30th Anniversary! NEAR DARK, 1987, 94 min. Dir. Kathryn Bigelow. Teenage farmhand Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), smitten by pale young drifter Mae (Jenny Wright), ends up shanghaied by her strange surrogate family (Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Bill Paxton, Joshua Miller), who turn out to be a wandering clan of vampires. Caleb’s father (Tim Thomerson) and younger sister (Marcie Leeds) try to track him down, to no avail. Can Caleb detach Mae and himself from the bloodthirsty pack before he becomes totally transformed into a creature of the night? Writer-director Kathryn Bigelow’s breakout feature skillfully blends cutting-edge horror, gothic romance and a modern Western.
FRAILTY, 2001, Lionsgate, 100 min. Bill Paxton makes an impressive feature directorial debut with this twist-laden horror film, in which he plays a father who surprises his two sons with a disturbing revelation: that God has tasked them with killing evil people. Matthew McConaughey is equally memorable as the man who shows up at FBI agent Powers Boothe’s door claiming that he can close the book on the “God’s Hand” serial murders. “FRAILTY is an extraordinary work, concealing in its depths not only unexpected story turns but also implications, hidden at first, that make it even deeper and more sad.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.