The vampire movie made by the late Joel Schumacher.
Filmmaker Joel Schumacher passed away at the age of 80 the other day, and he has had an impact on the movie industry, good, bad, or polarized. His movies included “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The Lost Boys,” “The Client,” “A Time to Kill,” “Phone Booth,” “Batman Forever,” and yes, “Batman & Robin.” And he was also known for being openly gay, which is why he had homosexual innuendos in his films. But he is a courageous human being for not letting the negativity get him down.
So, I’ve decided to take the time to honor him by dishing on “The Lost Boys,” a vampire horror comedy made in 1987, which is something fresher and more nostalgic than then “Twilight” movies. In fact, I should have watched this before those movies, because looking back the 1980s, there’s a certain vibe of music, dialogue, and characters in that era, which shakes you up.
The story involves two brothers-the rebellious Michael (Jason Patric) and the comic book expert Sam (Corey Haim)-both of whom move to a California town with their divorced mother (Dianne Wiest). The fictional town of Santa Carla is apparently infested with vampires at night, with Keifer Sutherland portraying their blonde leader David. Michael ends up in his clutches and becomes a half-vampire, which is why he wears sunglasses during the daytime. Full vampires cannot go out in the sun, or they’ll burn like Hell.
Meanwhile, Sam and Michael both must enlist the help of two vampire slaying brothers-Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander)-and the only half vampires willing to help them-Michael’s girlfriend Star (Jami Gertz) and the child Laddie (Chance Michael Corbitt)- to end the curse.
It does lag in certain areas of “The Lost Boys,” like some parties and vampire attacks, both of which aren’t all that compelling or interesting. And it is obligatory for the mother to not believe Sam when he tries to warn her about the undead, especially since she’s dating a seemingly nice guy (Edward Herrmann). But once we get through them, we’re able to see the levity and thrills conjured up in the story by Janice Fischer, Jeffrey Boam, and James Jeremias.
The performances from Haim, Patric, and Sutherland are spot on. Haim being the comic book expert kid, Patric being the guy who refuses to accept the powers of evil, and Sutherland looking charming and dangerous at the same time. And solid work also goes to Feldman and Newlander for their risk-taking abilities.
Again, I wanted to write this review of “The Lost Boys,” in honor of Schumacher, who has had an interesting movie career and lived his life as a free homosexual. And he did a nice job of combining vampires with teens and 80s era.
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