I first saw The Lost Boys about five or six years ago after having heard good things about it for a long time. I'm not sure why I waited so long to watch it. The movie quickly became one of my favorite vampire movies.
The small California coastal town of Santa Carla seemed to be a nice town, but there was a gang running wild and there had been some unexplained disappearances. Lucy Emerson decided to move to Santa Carla with her two sons, Michael and Sam, to live with her father. Michael and Sam were less than thrilled with the move. Michael was drawn to a girl he saw during a concert on the boardwalk. He met her the next evening and found out her name was Star. That pulled Michael into the gang led by David. It wasn't long before Michael was acting strange and Sam began to believe his brother was a vampire. Sam turned to Edgar and Alan Frog, two teenage vampire hunters, for help. While that was going on, Lucy was starting to spend time with her boss Max.
The plot for The Lost Boys wasn't complicated, but it really wasn't simple either since there were several things going on. The first few minutes were devoted to setting up the situation in town and establishing that the gang was a problem. Then time was taken to show Lucy, Michael, and Sam arriving in town and settling in. The movie did have a slower pace at first while everything was set up which might bother or bore some viewers. The pace did pick up as the movie progressed and I was never bored by the slower spots. I was bothered slightly by the somewhat corny dialogue that was used at times. It wasn't so annoying that it kept me from liking the movie.
I thought that The Lost Boys was a very entertaining vampire movie. The vampires were younger than the vampires in many other movies I've seen, but they acted mostly the same. They couldn't go out in sunlight, could only enter a home if invited, and would be killed by a wooden stake through the heart. In this movie, the vampires did change appearance slightly when their fangs came out. That wasn't done in many of the older vampire movies that I've seen. There really wasn't anything new about vampires introduced in this movie, though a few things were slightly different. Those small differences worked well with what was going on.
There really wasn't a lot of action going on in The Lost Boys, though there were a few fights or confrontations between different characters. Those few things provided the only action for the movie. A few scenes had some violence, usually connected to the vampires in some way. I didn't think the violence was that extreme or graphic, but some viewers might feel differently. Characters were trying to kill the vampires, sometimes succeeding, and those scenes were a bit bloody. The movie was rated R for the violence and profanity. The word that rhymes with luck wasn't used.
Michael first spotted Star very early in the movie. She seemed to also be interested in him even though she was with David. Michael's attraction to Star got him pulled into the gang and ultimately endangered his family. Once he knew what was going on, Michael wanted to help Star and their relationship did seem to get stronger. There was one scene that had some sexual situations. Michael and Star were shown kissing and removing a few items of clothing though neither of them were shown fully naked and it wasn't an actual sex scene. The relationship did progress fast, but it worked overall. The only other minor hint of romance in the movie was from Lucy starting to date Max and barely anything connected to that was shared.
Lucy was a divorced mother trying to start over by moving in with her elderly father. She was a good mother, though she didn't always listen to or believe what her sons told her. Lucy really wasn't in a lot of the movie, so Dianne Wiest didn't have that much to do. Lucy's dad was only identified as Grandpa. He was around in several scenes without that much to do, though he was aware of more than it seemed at times. Barnard Hughes was good in the part.
Michael was the oldest of Lucy's children and the one who ended up pulled into the gang. He wasn't happy about the move and he seemed a tad rebellious at times. Once he figured out what was going on, Michael wanted to deal with the situation. I thought that Jason Patric handled the part well. Sam didn't like that they were living with his grandfather either, especially since there was no television in the house. The first time Sam was told about there being vampires around town he didn't believe it. All that changed once Michael started acting different. Sam decided that he wanted to do something to help his brother. Sam did panic a few times, but he handled what was going on well overall. Corey Haim was fine in the part.
Edgar and Alan Frog were brothers who knew a lot about vampires. They tried to warn Sam about the situation in town and eventually ended up working with him to deal with what was going on with Michael. They really weren't that developed as characters. Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander were fine in the parts. Star was the girl who attracted Michael and pulled him into the gang. She was doing what David told her to do even though she didn't seem happy about the situation. She was very protective of her younger brother Laddie. Jami Gertz handled the part fine.
David was a member of the gang running wild around town and he seemed to be the one calling all the shots. Very little was actually shared about him. Kiefer Sutherland was good in the part. He was creepy in certain scenes, which did work well for the plot. The other gang members were just sort of around and none of them stood out to me. Max was the man that gave Lucy a job and they started to date. He acted nice enough when he met Michael and Sam. Edward Herrmann was fine in the part.
Main Cast
Chance Michael Corbitt - Laddie Corey Feldman - Sam Emerson Jami Gertz - Star Corey Haim - Edgar Frog Edward Herrmann - Max Barnard Hughes - Grandpa Jamison Newlander - Allan Frog Jason Patric - Michael Emerson Kiefer Sutherland - David Dianne Wiest - Lucy Emerson
Joel Schumacher - Director
DVD Information
The Lost Boys has been released on DVD a few different times. I have seen a single disc version in stores for several years. In 2007, a new two disc special edition was released. I recently picked up that DVD. The movie is on the first disc along with a commentary by Schumacher. The second disc has new bonus material including additional scenes, a video commentary by Haim, Feldman, and Newlander, and some featurettes on the making of the movie. I haven't had a chance to watch the extras yet. A sequel, The Lost Boys: The Tribe, was released straight to DVD in 2008.
The Lost Boys had a few small issues, but was a very good, entertaining vampire movie overall. People who enjoy movies about vampires should give this one a chance.
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