Welcome back fright fans!! Today, I take a fond look back at one of my personal favorite vampire film, The Lost Boys. Yes, I have reviewed the sequels, but in my honest opinion this is the only one that really counts.
In The Lost Boys, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) move with their mother (Dianne Wiest) to their eccentric grandpa's home in Santa Carlos, "Murder captial of the world". One night, the beautiful Star (Jami Gertz) manages to catch Micael's eye and he ends up following her to the lair of a local gang of hoodlums led by David (Kiefer Sutherland). The gang convince Michel to join their ranks, and the next morning Michael awakes to find he is now a half-vampire. It is only a matter of time until Michael succumbs to his thirst for blood, so Sam calls in a local group of vampire killers, Edgar and Allan Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander respectively) for help. Now, they must kill the head vampire if Michael is to ever live a normal life again.
The vampire gang in this film make for pretty good vampires. They have a completely wacked sense of style, and manage to be pretty frightening (especially in the scenes where they use their motorbikes to threaten our heroes). what I like about The Lost Boys, is that it makes it's vampires a mix of the sexy, modern day vamps and the classic grotesque and frightening feral monsters of old. It's an inspired idea that actually works pretty well.
Another cool aspect of the film is the chemistry between the brothers. Michael and Sam's chemistry is superb. I really bought into the idea that these two guys are brothers, and that they would do pretty much anything for each other (it actually kind of reminded me of me and my bro and the relationship we have).
Of course, I have to mention the crazy grandpa here. Barnard Hughes beautifully tackles the role with a crazy eyed glee. He is the cool but crazy grandpa we all wish we could have, it also helps that he can kick ass if need be. This is one grandpa you would want on your side if things ever got nasty.
Naturally, the best characters in this film are the Frog brothers, Edgar and Allan Frog, as portrayed by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander. I was talking about chemistry before, and these two have it in spades. Feldman and Newlander put a kind of bad-ass, and adolesecent joy into their roles. Here are two boys that take their occupation quite seriously, to the point where they even ponder how much they should charge Michael's family after the slaughter is over. It is too much fun to see these two ride up on bikes wearing army gear and bandanas, to see them checking each other's backpacks (which are filled to the brim with vampire kiling gear), and the way they rejoice after a vampire kill is just too much awesomeness to describe. I'm pretty sure I would join their crew if I could. This is the film where the Frog Bros. are at their absolute best. If you've seen this one, then there is no need to see the sequels.
The Lost Boys is a fun joy ride of a film that manages to pack in some surprisingly affecting and brutal scenes, like the vampire bon fire slaughter. The film does have some gnarly vampire kill scenes (for example, "Death by stereo"), some good gore effects (the film doesn't revel in the gore, knowing when to pull away from the carnage), and some surprisngly jolting vampire makeup effects. There is more than enough here to whet horror fans' apetites. Cry Little Sister, the theme song for the film, is also quite bad-ass and isdefinitely worth a purchase on ITunes.
While The Lost Boys can get too boasty and bogged down with some of its stylisitc camera work/editing, it's still one of the better, funner vampire films you can sample today.
4 STARS
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