Plot: Michael and Sam Emerson come face to face with vampires in Santa Carla.
Wow, that was so completely the 1980’s. The hair ‘styles’, the *cough fashion sense (and I use that term loosely), and even the cinematography is distinctly 80’s. So how do I judge THE LOST BOYS? It is obviously a product of its time, as far as its presentation is concerned. The story is your basic teenage boy turned vamp premise, with the only originality and interest spiked up from the three comic book loving nerds who embark on a ill-thought out quest to kill the apparently well known town infestation of vampires. Those three – Sam, Edgar, and Alan – provide the comic relief, the exposition, and the best parts of the film (which is surprisingly, because I frankly checked this movie out purely for my love of Kiefer Sutherland, who isn’t actually all that bad as vamp David).Joel Schumacher directs with a laziness I hadn’t expected, relying entirely on medium shots and extreme close-ups. A surprising element that works quite well, actually, is the script. There’s plenty of self-referential dialogue coming out of the voices of the three comic nerds, and I didn’t anticipate the final 18-minute battle royale at the house which was a welcome addition. Actually, the canrage-fueled battle was unquestionably the best part of the film. Blood pouring out of sinks, toilets, bathtubs, and any other outlet; stakes being thrust into bodies with even more blood letting; and a not-all-too-surprising reveal of who the head vampire is that culminates in a hilarious final two minutes. The actors, admittedly, seem to give it their all. Vamp-infected Michael (Jason Patric) pulls off the love slave act when he’s in the presence of the gorgeous dark-haired Star (Gertz), and the not-in-control-of-himself-but-trying-to-be agony when he’s lustin’ for some human blood. At the opposite side of the sptectrum, Dianne Wiest is horribly obnoxious as the other of Sam and Michael. The vampire gang themselves are obviously having a blast being allowed to go all-out crazy with their performances. Random note: as a die-hard GILMORE GIRLS fan (don’t judge), I was flabbergasted at the apperance of a young Richard Gilmore! That, next to the finale, made the whole movie for me.
A quick glance at the Netflix Member Reviews makes me wonder what exactly I missed from the experience that they got. Yes, the train tracks scene above the mist was pretty cool, but pretty lame at the same time [yea, don’t know how that happened]. Kiefer was pretty badass as David, but frightening? No. One thing I will agree: what 16-year old boy (or however old Sam is supposed to be) has multiple posters of scantly clad muslce men in their room? At least the kid in TROLL 2 had a Tim Burton’s BATMAN poster on his wall. I will say I appreciate the straightforward approach to the vampire genre and how it affects the town residents, and how it does devolve itself into a vampire/werewolf/girl romance triangle. LOST BOYS is a decent movie, but it’s not necessarily anything I’m going to remember, recommend, or talk about anytime soon (except for the awesome battle royale at the end, of course).
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