Salutations fellow movie goers from across the globe. Today’s review is a film starring Corey Feldman & Corey Haim. The duo were the Drake & Josh of the mid 80’s. Their first movie together is about two brothers (one of them played by Corey Haim) who move to a small town to live with their grandfather. One of the brothers gets dragged into a group of vandals who turned out to be vampires. He slowly becomes one, his younger brother recruits two vampire hunters (one of them played by Feldman) to save his brother before time runs out. The plot I’m referring to is from “The Lost Boys.”
The Lost Boys was released in 1987. (same year Lethal Weapon & Robocop came out) It earned good reviews from critics and movie goers alike. Plus, it managed to make enough green at the box office.
The Lost Boys spawned two critically panned direct-to-DVD films and a comic book mini-series. A television is currently in development which is scheduled to air on The CW in an unspecified air date.
An upcoming vampire movie based on a Spider-Man character known as, “Morbius, The Living Vampire” is intended to be the second installment of “Sony’s Marvel Universe” starring actor and frontman of “30 Seconds To Mars,” Jared Leto (Joker in the DC Extended Universe, Requiem For A Dream, Dallas Buyers Club) as the character. The sole reason why I wanted to review The Lost Boys, is because comic books play a huge role in the film.
This review does not have any crucial SPOILERS. Feel free to read this non-spoiler article if you’ve never ever ever seen this classic 80’s film.
Pros & Cons
Pros: Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland & Diane Wiest all did a great job for their respective performances.
Joel Schumacher did an outstanding job directing the film.
Richard Donner produced the film. He wasn’t available to direct due to the fact he was busy working on Lethal Weapon.
Even though it has horror elements, the humor managed to alternate between seriousness and comedy in a perfectly balanced meal.
Practical Effects were heavily used to manifest a vampire’s powers including contact lenses to change a person’s eyes, prosthetic fangs and in camera trickery to create the illusion of flight.
Death Scenes were pretty messy. Especially a bathroom scene.
The title of the film is a reference/metaphor to Peter Pan about a group of boys who never grow up in Neverland. Immortality serves as a theme for both Peter Pan & The Lost Boys.
My favorite death scene is when someone is hit by an arrow, causing him to get trapped into a stereo. That scene deserves Bonus Points for the most creative kill followed by a post-kill liner.
A poster of late rock star, Jim Morrison is located in the vampire lair. Echo & The Bunnyman did a cover version of The Doors’ “People Are Strange.”
“Cry Little Sister” serves as the theme song for the movie.
Composer, Thomas Newman (Skyfall, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory) orchestrated music for the movie.
Cinematography looked legit using the camera to see through the eyes of a vampire flying in the sky. (a la The Evil Dead)
Set Pieces were hand built by set decorators.
Alex Winter (half of the duo from Bill & Ted) makes an appearance as a henchman.
Similar to Unbreakable using Comic Books as a plot device surrounding the mythology of superheroes, vampire comics play a pivotal role based on the lore.
I’m giving The Lost Boys an Extra Point as a possible influence for encouraging M. Night Shyamalan to craft his own Lost Boys, focusing on superheroes, rather than vampires.
Batman & Superman comics appear in the comic book store. Richard Donner directed Superman and restored a director’s cut of Superman II. Joel Schumacher went on to direct Batman Forever and don’t forget the worst film of the Batman franchise known as Batman & Robin.
A Plot Twist shows up near the end. Can’t tell the juicy details. If you remember seeing the film by pointing out there’s a plot hole, let’s just say an “invitation” has something to do with using a personal “shield.”
If you want to partake in a drinking game with your own choice. Alcohol or Non-Alcohol. Take a shot whenever somebody uses the name “Michael.”
Cons: The film is kinda dated as you can tell by a character’s hairstyle, outfit and a poster of Hollywood has been, Molly Ringwald is shown in Sam’s (Corey Haim’s character) bedroom.
The Final Verdict: A-
The Lost Boys is one of the best vampire films of all time next to Dracula, From Dusk Til’ Dawn, Blade, Hotel Transylvania series, (each entry counts as a vampire movie) among other good ones except for The Twilight Saga. If you’re interested in vampires or never seen this cult classic, I highly recommend it.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 