(1987) ***1/2My quest this October is to see a number of classic horror flicks that I've never seen but that I think everyone else has seen. Cue The Lost Boys.
Spectacularly 80's-tastic! The early on perfectly 80's movie montage to the Door's People are Strange definitely put me in the mood for the fun vampy ride.
Recently divorced mom (played by Dianne Wiest who for some reason I can only think of as her Parenthood character) brings her two sons, Sam (Corey Haim) and Michael (Jason Patric), to her taxidermying father's house in the fictional California coastal town of Santa Carla.
Santa Carla we find out from the back of a billboard is the murder capitol of the world and the beach boardwalk amusement park is covered in missing people flyers. The brother's check out the nightlife but get separated when Michael follows Star (Jami Gertz) into the hands of David (Kiefer Sutherland) and his gang of motorcycle riding vampires. Sam meanwhile, heads off to a comic book store where he finds two brothers (the other Corey and Jamison Newlander), who hand him a comic book as a warning about the vampires. Michael gets turned, and Sam and his new friends fight to rid Santa Carla of the vamps. Hilarity ensues with lots of blood, garlic, flying, some maggots, holy water filled squirt guns, two classic teenybopper portrait posters: Jim Morrison and Molly Ringwald, and fun quotes:"Are you free-basing Michael? Inquiring minds want to know"
"My own brother, a shit sucking vampire! Wait until Mom finds out"
"It's that girl from the boardwalk. Is she one of them? [Star floats up to the second story window] She's one of them! And don't tell me it doesn't make her a bad person, Mike."
"Great: the blood-sucking Brady Bunch"
Current vs late-80's teen swoon worthy guys. Anyone else notice how what's "hot" has changed in the last 20 years?
I enjoyed a ton of stuff in this movie (decent acting, great vampire makeup, 80s-tastic dialogue and well played vampire lore), but the longer I watched, the more annoying the Corey's became. Keifer, on the other hand, stays awesome throughout. I love that they didn't make him a pretty vampire. No sparkling in the sun bullshit here and he's still a huge 80's crush. Its not the Jack Bower effect, it is the Kiefer Sutherland effect. Kiefer succeeds as a sexy bad boy vamp--unlike Twilight's Robert Pattinson who is just an emotionally abusive twit. Poor tweenagers these days don't even know what "bad boy" is:
Overall I had great fun watching this flick, loved the bits of classic vampire lore, and am glad that the reign of the Corey's lasted just as long as it did.
7 comments:
Awesome review Tami! I love your perspective and the side by side shot of the "heartthrobs" had me in tears. And good observation about how "hot" has changed in the past 20 years.
Don't get me started on Twilight. *punches wall*
Excellent review Tami, I loved "Kiefer succeeds as a sexy bad boy vamp--unlike Twilight's Robert Pattinson who is just an emotionally abusive twit." No kidding! What do these girls see in this pasty faced emo guy anyway?
I haven't seen this film since it's theatrical release but I remember digging it at the time. I'm a sucker for 80s movies anyway but I'm happy to hear that this one is still fun. A few years ago I decided to watch all the Corey movies since I missed them the first time around (e.g., License to Drive, Dream a Little Dream, etc). As you note in your review, they're annoying! I never made it through Dream a Little Dream despite 2 attempts - it gets really weird/confusing halfway through.
"Dianne Wiest who for some reason I can only think of as her Parenthood character" I always think the same thing!
Love, love, love this movie!
Also love the review - your side by sides had me laughing out loud as well.
Thanks guys! Catfreeek, maybe the attraction to the pasty faced emo guy is possibly linked to an attraction to the goth look? Personally, I think its a failed attempt at capturing any link to true gothiness, but maybe young girls are told what's hot and don't rebel like they used to? Eh, I'm still confused that mass media seems to be building and capitalizing hot "nice" vampires.
Hooray Tami!
I think mass media has sexualized vampires for a long time. Remember when Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were cast in Interview with a Vampire? And Anne Rice's vampire novels included tons of soft-core porn.
You're right Trevor. Vampires have been portrayed as hot for a long time. There have also been rounds of "nice" vampires that get attached to someone or demonstrating complex conflicting emotions. I guess I'm just confused by Twilight's "nice vegetarian Edward" version that actually isn't very nice. Actually I'm just angry that another generation of girls is growing up idealizing Edward as the perfect romantic type of guy when in reality someone like that would be awful (ignoring the whole vampire bit of course).
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