The Twilight Saga is sometimes credited for making the concept of vampirism popular among teen audiences, mainly by having vampires played by young, attractive cast and such characters enjoying not only eternal youth but also eternal adolescence, unimpeded by ageing and boring obligations of adulthood. This concept was, however, tried very successfully in The Lost Boys, 1987 horror comedy directed by Joel Schumacher.
The plot is set in fictional California seaside town of Santa Carla and begins when recently divorced Lucy Emerson (played by Dianne Wiest) arrives with two sons – older Michael (played by Jason Patric) and younger Sam (played by Corey Haim) – to live with her eccentric father (played by Bernard Hughes). Although dubbed “murder capital of the world” and plastered with posters of missing teenagers and children, Santa Carla seems to be a nice place to live. Lucy quickly gets a job in video store and begins to date her kind-hearted owner Max (played by Edward Herrmann), while Michael and Sam hangs at the boardwalk. One night Michael becomes attracted by mysterious beautiful girl Star (played by Jami Gertz), who is associated with gang of young bikers led by David Powers (played by Kiefer Sutherland). David invites Michael into his group and talks him into taking part into strange initiation ritual. Afterwards, Michael notices changes in his behaviour and body, after which Sam, to his horror, realises that his brother is turning into vampire. With the help of Edgar (played by Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (played by Jamison Newlander), pair of self-proclaimed vampire hunters, Sam goes to find and kill head vampire which he must do before the brother’s transformation is complete.
Joel Schumacher is known for filmography which was interesting, but also varied in quality. The Lost Boys is one of his better films. Most of the credit for that should go to talented screenwriter Jeffrey Boam. Originally envisioned by Janice Fischer and James Jeremias as vampire-themed retelling of Peter Pan and featuring pre-teens, the film changed protagonists into teenagers. This allowed slightly more adult approach, with vampires being more menacing, but also sexier. Casting of Kiefer Sutherland as vampire gang leader was perfect and he portrayed main villain as dangerous and seductive, allowing many critics and scholar to find implied homoeroticism in his relationship with Michael. Unfortunately, Jason Patric is much more bland in the role of Michael and actual chemistry between the two was missing. Jami Gertz, while looking attractive, adds little to the film because of underwritten role and her character being strangely passive. The rest of the cast fares much better, with serious older actors like Wiest and Herrmann obviously enjoying humorous roles of apparently clueless adults, while younger actors like Haim, Feldman and Newlander enjoying playing youngsters forced to save the day. Schumacher directs film in a solid and confident way, although at times there is too much style over substance, with “clever” shots that look like belong to 1980s MTV videos. The Lost Boys is in actually very neatly packaged for teen audience, with music playing very important part, whether it is theme song “Cry Little Sister” by Gerard McMann or rendition of Doors “People Are Strange” by Echo and the Bunnyman. This approach makes this film look a little dated and not that attractive to audience with little taste for that chapter of music history. However, The Lost Boys still features good combination of action, horror and comedy that would make this film satisfying to fans of all three respective genres.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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