The Lost Boys - 1987
Sing it with me now: "Cry, little sister (Thou shall not faaaaaall), Come, come to your brother! (Thou shall not diiiiiiie)."
Parts of this film, like that haunting 80's rock opera soaring chorus chant, are just infused into the webbing of my brain. I thought about kicking this one off with a Schumacher baseball analogy (it is October, after all). I do not even know if the dude loved the diamond. All I can say is that the man swung for the fences every time he stepped on "the field." His films were over the top, outlandish, glossy, extravagantly costumed and set, and really just driving about a 100. When his formula of excess erred, he missed wildly. But when he HIT...when he found the groove, you had indelible works like The Lost Boys.
But of course I didn't know ANY of that at first. I first saw this film as a young teen, on one of its rerun cycles on TNT. My pops loved it, and so it got handed to me on a silver platter with the salutatory "This is a great 80's vampire flick." So, I consumed it like catnip. I thought Kiefer was on fire, Haim was so winning, and the action set pieces near the finale were just terrific. Even the last line hung with me long after the credits rolled.
Now, with some time and perspective, I returned to it again. And I've got to say...not that much has changed! Certainly I picked up on the Schumacher of it all (particularly after recently re-watching another 80's time capsule of his, St. Elmo's Fire). I am not sure how I never thought it outlandish that the vamps in this one could essentially be extras in a Twisted Sister video. Or, that Corey Feldman's vocal affectation of a guttural man twice his age never even gave me pause (His last name WAS frog, I suppose). And the music...of a time much? I think so.
The thing is, The Lost Boys has all this, and is BETTER for it! Who cares about the crazy costuming, Kiefer still crushes it. And who doesn't want to see a pre-Bill & Ted Alex Winter? Moreover, the ham factor allows for another fantastic thing, namely comedic effect. The dinner sequence with Edward Hermann is hysterical, particularly in light of the denouement. The grandpa is the perfect side appendage, and honestly, a lot of the make up and special effects still hold up quite well.
But if you get lost somewhere in the middle. If the whole you didn't get bit but you're kinda a vampire, or you're slowly morphing into one like a pupa waiting to burst forth thing lost you a bit, then the third act will bring you back. That is where most of the action is, and it's a totally thrilling conclusion. It has stood the test of time, even as Patric and Gertz and many of its stars have fallen by the wayside. Before there was The Two Corey's there was The Lost Boys. The soul sucking baddies in the latter wore trench coats and had great hair. Choose option B. It's a much better ride.
Comments