The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys is a teen vampire cult classic from 1987—a time when I was around eleven years old—that features the undead equivalent of a bad blood-sucking glam metal band (is there any other kind?) wandering around a California surfside town and eating Chinese food. Yeah, Bela didn’t even drink wine, keep in mind.

It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Haim, and Jason Patric (whose father, Jason Miller, played Father Damian Karras in The Exorcist). Also: Corey Feldman, Jami Gertz, Ed Herrmann, and even Alex Winter as a vampire hair-metal dude named "Marco," who gets dispatched fairly early in all the gloriously campy goings-on—while hanging upside-down from a cavern ceiling.

The mother is the rather bleary, tearful, and high-strung Diane Wiest as Lucy. The family moves down to Santa Carla, California, and the movie opens on the boardwalk of a waterfront amusement park, where a half-nude bodybuilder famously blows a saxophone while oiled up and looking like he’s auditioning for a straight-to-video barbarian epic (perhaps produced by Lloyd Kaufman).

Jami Gertz’s "Star," along with David and his glam-ghoul gang (what else can you call them?), are introduced loitering around a huge video store owned by Max (Ed Herrmann, in a sweater-wearing sitcom-dad-turned-intensely-creepy-weirdo role). The scene shifts to unseen, flying, bloodsucking killers as a meathead with a profoundly bad profile is dispatched—or so I think. Maybe I’m getting certain scenes confused.

Corey Haim’s “Sam” and his older brother Michael (Jason Patric) arrive with their mother at their eccentric grandfather’s house—basically a hunting lodge stuffed with grotesque trophies, stuffed birds, skulls, and the relics of a lifelong taxidermy addiction. Grandpa is weird, gross, and not remotely with the MTV generation represented by Haim and his too-cool, teen-heartthrob brother. Grandpa also doesn’t even own a TV.

The Lost Boys | Michael Joins the Vampires | Movie Scene (HD) | Warner Bros. Entertainment

Thankfully, Sam stumbles into a comic book store run seemingly by two sixteen-year-olds, the “Frog Brothers,” Edgar and Alan, played by pre-burnout Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander. They’re the kind of guys you could well imagine having a fixation with Ranger Rick, professional wrestling, paintball, and a deeply offensive body funk. They take themselves comically seriously and introduce Sam to the vampire problem plaguing Santa Carla—the reputed “Murder Capital of the World”—handing him a free comic book to "educate" him.

Meanwhile, Michael gets involved with the arrogant, peroxide-blond vampire metalhead David (Kiefer Sutherland), a B-movie masterclass in insolent hoodlum menace. Winters and the other vampires are appropriately giggling toadies. They take Michael to their underground lair—which inexplicably features a giant Jim Morrison poster—to eat Chinese food they make him hallucinate as worms and maggots, and initiate him into vampirism by tricking him into drinking blood. He quickly becomes enamored with Star (Jami Gertz), the beautiful, gypsy-like vampiress who’s also the not-so-willing love interest of the demonic David.

The Lost Boys is a wildly entertaining and fun ‘80s attempt to revitalize the vampire mythos. Although not quite the equal of Fright Night, it delivers a slightly more brooding bite. Performances range from adequate to excellent—particularly memorable are Sutherland, Patric, Feldman, and the late, tragic Haim, all of whom are young, energized, and clearly having a good time.

The special makeup effects were astounding for the era. It’s the kind of movie that set the template for later teen vampire sagas like Twilight, though it's cooler, bloodier, and far less self-serious. Its influence lingers like a shadow.

Cry, little sister.

Or rather—don’t. This movie should put a smile on your face, fangs and all.

The Lost Boys (1987) Official Trailer - Jason Patric, Corey Haim Vampire Movie HD

Connect with me on Facebook

My book: Cult Films and Midnight Movies: From High Art to Low Trash Volume 1.

Ebook

Print