THE LOST BOYS

A TEENAGER LEARNS HIS CRUSH HANGS OUT WITH VAMPIRES.

★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Joel Schumacher

1987

Even after all these years, The Lost Boys dominates other vampire movies that try to be unique and cool. There is nothing cooler than Kiefer Sutherland (David) riding his motorcycle before tearing through a crowd of revelers at a bonfire party. No set-piece is more interesting than the fictional beach town of Santa Clara, the “Murder Capital of the World." No vampire is sexier than Jason Patric (Michael) slipping on his shades and slinking through the house, trying to ward off cravings. I’ve often wished that someone would make a version of what The Lost Boys was supposed to be pre-production—a tale about twelve, thirteen-year-old blood-suckers—but there are advantages to focusing on young men. The story is sexy, the repercussions of bad behavior is elevated.

The Lost Boys also has one of the best soundtracks of the 80s. I have a weekly ritual where I draw a bath hot enough to burn Khaleesi, light a candle, grab a beer, hit the lights, and soak with my face mask on while listening to a playlist that includes “Cry Little Sister”, one of my favorite songs. The Lost Boys instrumental soundtrack takes you to a world where vampires fly over oceans and lord over an amusement park.

Then there’s this random gem:

Lucy Emerson (Dianne Wiest) is recently divorced with two teenage sons (Michael and Sam), and has decided to drive from Phoenix to a California beach town to live with her single father. She’s a groovy former hippie, a woman who radiates goodness and innocent joy because that’s the kind of person Wiest seems to be in the real world. In most of her roles, she’s lovable, peppy, and optimistic, and her Lucy is all these things and a doting mother who is just this side of uncool. Once moved in, Sam (Corey Haim) and Michael explore the amusement park, the only real place for entertainment, and it’s there that they make new friends. The older boy Michael chases after a girl named Star (Jamie Gertz), who rides motorcycles with David and a few other suspicious young men, while Sam befriends a couple of comic-loving kids with a hankering for vampire-hunting. By the time it becomes apparent Star and her buddies are vampires, Michael realizes too late that he has drunk the blood of one. Meanwhile, Michael and Sam’s problems with this gang of dangerous blood-suckers is harming Lucy’s new relationship with a video store owner. She’s a divorced woman trying to get her freak on and being thwarted by her sons every step of the way.

The Lost Boys is perfectly cooked comfort food, but that’s not to say it isn’t chock full of lost opportunities. Our heroine, Star (Jamie Gertz), is a stand-in for any sweet girl who likes to hang out with the bad boys. You’ll be hard-pressed to describe what kind of person she is, just as you’ll struggle naming one personality trait of any lost boy who isn’t David. All of these background bodies are simply mischievous and murderous. You can tell Schumacher was in love with that title sequence (set to a cover of “People Are Strange” by Echo & The Bunnymen), but he should have used those precious minutes to flesh out more of the characters and relationships. When a random lost boy dies, I don’t really feel victory or sadness or any complicated emotion because they were just…there. Star is the reason Michael gravitated to this rebellious gang, but the two have nothing in common and no communication. I suppose at that age, they only need chemistry and hormones. Then there are the last few, unnerving seconds of the film that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. Yes, I want an epilogue, but that line gets a chuckle almost every time.

The Lost Boys looks cool and entertains, but it comes with a sly warning about peer pressure. Michael is at the age where one bad decision can lead to permanent consequences. Getting drunk at a party and driving can kill someone; cheating on the SATs can eliminate your scholarship; not wearing a condom can push back your dreams; posting something inflammatory online can keep you from good employment for the rest of your life. Though in The Lost Boys the act is as simple as David and the others goading Michael into taking a sip from a strange decanter, the impulsive decision leading to ruinous results is the same. That drink has changed his life forever because at the moment it was more important that the other guys didn’t think he was weak. When considering this behavior while watching The Lost Boys, one can’t help but pay attention to Corey Haim. This would be the last film before his life unraveled due to alcohol and drugs. He is a real-life Michael; his next film (License to Drive) led to partying, giving in to peer pressure. Unable to shake his drug addiction, he eventually became homeless and tried to sell his tooth for money before dying in his late 30s. Every adult in his life failed him.

After discovering his brother is invisible in mirrors and can’t drink milk, Sam enlists the help of comic book enthusiasts and brothers Edgar and Allen Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) to find the head vampire because, duh, everyone knows that if he or she is killed, the others go back to their human form. Then we have Lucy fretting over her boys and doing what she can to make them happy and safe. Michael still has hope he can be saved because he has a family who loves him, who will never give up on him. All of us should be so lucky.

GENRES: Atmospheric, Funny, Monster/Creature, Teens in Peril

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