Vampires. Even though they’ve been part of humanity’s collected folklore for hundreds of years, it seems like in the past 70 years or so we’ve really ran the concept into the ground. Ever since the publication Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ in 1897, and perhaps more importantly Universal’s film adaptation with Bela Lugosi in 1931, pop culture and the horror genre in general have been obsessed with the idea of vampires. Alien vampires, cheerleader vampires, Mexican stripper vampires, and all manner of vampire hunters, slayers, and otherwise killers. There’s been interviews with vampires, Gary Oldman vampires, Eddie Murphy vampires, and it was a vampire (Blade, played by the inestimable Wesley Snipes) that gave a poor Disney-less Marvel the hope that one day they could sell out their IP’s and make billions selling bland action movies to Hollywood. In fact, there are so many damn vampires nowadays that I’m fucking sick of them. If I never saw another vampire for the next decade, I think I could enjoy a healthy and productive life with no trouble.
So of course we’re talking about a vampire movie now.
We’re not unfamiliar with vampires on the Marathon of the Soul. Last year, in fact, where I tried to be as eclectic as possible with my choices we still ended up with two movies with vampires in it (Monster Squad and Nosferatu). There were even more when I was originally compiling the list for potential films; From Dusk Till Dawn, the Universal Dracula films, the Hammer Dracula films, etc., etc. The Lost Boys was always in the running for placement, but it ended up getting lost in the shuffle during that slipshod show I was running at the time. So it’s in this time around, nuff said.
Directed by Joel Schumacher, the man behind Batman & Robin (infamously known as the worst Batman movie until Chris Nolan shat out The Dark Knight Rises), and produced by Richard Donner, the man behind Superman, The Omen and The Goonies, The Lost Boys takes the classic tale of seduction and the undead prevalent in most vampire and transplants it to a California beach community. Rather than the young virginal maiden falling prey to the devilishly handsome creature of the night, we have the young virginal Mike falling prey to the mysterious and alluring, though possibly not legal Star, a member of a gang of murderous vampires (featuring a pre-Excellent Adventure Bill S. Preston) led by the evil David, played by Kiefer Sutherland. When Mike ends up accidentally becoming the undead, it’s up to his nerdy little brother, played by Corey Haim, and his nerdy little brother’s friends, one of which is played by Corey Feldman to kill the head vampire and save the day. Why the head vampire? Who cares, it’s magic.
If it seems like I’m a bit flippant about the movie, I guess I am. It’s not a bad movie by any means, because it’s on the list. There’s some comedy here, and the artistic design is actually quite interesting at times (which is one of the high-points of B&R), but it’s so ‘of it’s time’ that I find it hard to really get into it. Haim & Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland with a mullet, the softcore sex scene with a glow filter and ballad in the background, the poster of a half-naked dude on Haim’s closet, that crap that they tried to call music...If I were a teenager in 1987, if I were a teenager in general, I’d probably watch The Lost Boys and think it was the coolest shit ever, because it has everything a disaffected youth like me would find interesting: Sex, functional immortality, comic books, taxidermy jokes, the works. I still like a lot of those things, but I feel like I’ve either finally become a man (doubtful), or I’m just not the demographic this film was marketed towards, and this film’s foundation is so rooted in that late 80s demographic that it’s unable to attain the level of timelessness that other kid-adventure style movies achieve despite the time period. Could be both, could be either.
If you’ve already seen The Goonies and The Monster Squad, and you’re looking for a similar type of movie with a bit harder edge, then check out The Lost Boys. Once you get past the vampires dressed like Axl Rose and the Echo & the Bunnymen posters on the wall, it actually ends up being pretty fun by the second half. Perfect fare for a Halloween movie night I’d say. Might even inspire a few ideas for your next costume party, if you’re so inclined. Tis the season, after all.
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