Lost Boys: The Thirst: Review By Vamp

Well, I must say that The Lost Boys has to be one of the most respected movies in the vampire realm, as well as one of my favorite movies of all time. I remember watching it for the first time with my mother. She'd noticed how into vampire movies I was, and told me I'd love it. She was absolutely f*cking right. Then, two years ago, they announced Lost Boys: The Tribe. I was skeptical, to say the least. I mean, how could you possibly spin a sequel off of a cult classic, that for over twenty years stood as a vampire legend, stand alone film. Well, I finally got to see the movie. Despite it's flaws, I still enjoyed the movie. I just wish they'd have focused less on mirroring the first movie, and turned their attentions more into creating something different. If you get my meaning. I also wish that they'd have done less in the sex department. I understand, really, that the increased libido of a vampire is going to mean there's going to be sex in the vampire movies. What I DON'T understand is why it's necessary to turn the movie into a near-porn film. So that movie lost a lot of respect in my eyes. Anyhow, now we come to the year 2010 and we find ourselves with the third installment of the series, Lost Boys: The Thirst. I was incredibly worried when I bought a copy of this movie. I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Especially after the sub-par sex-romp that was it's predecessor.

I am pleased to announce that, while the film's budget obviously wasn't that high, and the quality lacks in comparison to The Tribe, The Thirst makes for an incredibly fun installment in the Lost Boys series. Unlike The Tribe, The Thirst creates a new storyline, not relying on mirroring that which made the first movie famous. The Thirst creates a fun storyline that (and you'll undeniably face-palm when you read this) capitalizes on Twilight. Don't get me wrong, there's no sparkling, sissy vampires prancing around and falling in love. They just use the romance of most vampire stuff these days, and successfully manage to poke fun at all. Something which I thought was very clever of them. So my opinion? The Tribe is definitely worth your watch. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing Oscar worthy, or something that'll be timeless for that matter (unless, like myself, you enjoy the series and vampire films in general). So this one definitely managed to redeem the series after The Tribe's nearly pornographic contribution.

The director behind Lost Boys: The Thirst is Dario Piana, who was behind a movie called The Deaths of Ian Stone. Never seen it, but I know I've heard something about it. Can't honestly recall whether it was good things I heard or bad. :P With Lost Boys: The Tribe, Dario needed to give us a movie that didn't disappoint as much as The Tribe did. In my opinion, he managed that fantastically. His visual style, while low-budget for sure, worked very well. And the vampire effects were actually pretty cool. That's something that all vampire movies like to do, is create a certain look for the vampiric state. I am always interested to see how they are handled. And I liked what Dario did to them in this one. The Tribe had an interesting look, but they looked far too alien for my liking. Whereas the vampires in The Thirst look menacing and evil, without being too otherworldly. If that makes any sense to you. The writers of the movie managed a decent dialogue that kept the film going nicely. I loved all the witty remarks from the two Frog brothers. There were, however, moments where you just rolled your eyes at things being said. That bogged it down a little. It really made things fun, and that's one thing that makes Edgar Frog who he is. So I'd say that the behind-the-scenes drive for the film did their part pretty well.

Edgar Frog (Corey Feldman) is a vampire hunter. Known for slaying vampires the world over. However, vampire hunting doesn't seem to be an extremely lucrative business for him. Frog has virtually no income from his surfboard shaping business, and is there for near eviction. Just as he's looking for some way to make enough money, a world famous vampire author, Gwen Lieber (Tanit Phoenix) shows up with an offer. She wants Edgar to kill a vampire who's kidnapped her brother. She tells Edgar of a vampire named DJ X (Seb Castang) who runs a rave business, marketing a drug made from vampire blood. She explains that DJ X is the alpha, the original vampire. Edgar agrees to this job. He attempts to persuade his brother, Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander), who was turned into a vampire five years ago, but Alan is at war with himself. So Edgar hires a friend of his, Zoe (Casey B. Dolan), and together with some others that Gwen hired, Edgar prepares to take down the Alpha vampire, and save not only a hoard of teenage "Emo/Goth" kids from a life of blood lust, but his brother as well. Because if the Alpha vampire is taken down, then all whom are vampire from is line will be returned to normal.

The storyline, as I said, was a fun one, and I liked how it managed to take the vampire mythos further, and ventured out on it's own leg, not working off of what the original started. The cast helps to bring this to life. While there are no Sutherlands in this particular Lost Boys film (Note: Keifer played David in the original, and Angus played Shane in The Tribe), the cast manages to put together a fun, watchable movie. As always, Feldman portrays the epitome of an epic vampire hunter as Edgar Frog. His witty dialogue really helps to bring this movie alive. It was awesome to see Jamison Newlander return as Alan Frog, too. It brought that spark back to the movie, and seeing him and Edgar together gave you that feeling of nostalgia as you remember the first, when they were just kids. Not to mention the fact that this feeling is brought on by footage of the first movie, used to make flashbacks as Edgar remembers the "good ol' days." The rest of the cast manages to keep their pace decently throughout the rest of the movie. Nothing spectacular, but nothing horrible either. Enough to keep the movie going nicely. However, I did take issue with the character Gwen. She had a really phoney accent, and I really didn't believe it too much. It made her dialogue very hard to take in, and I just wanted her to shut up. She was a necessary character, but a bit more work on the accent would've helped make her more easy to bear, if you know what I mean.

So all in all is this movie a masterpiece? Not at all. Should it win an award? Nope. Is it a fun movie? Definitely. It's a likable addition to the series. A movie that you can have fun watching. The characters are ones that you know, and it's a movie that stands well in the series. It'll never be as good as the first one was, but it's definitely not as bad as the second one was. A happy median, they call it. Should you go out and buy it immediately? Nah, not at all. But I do recommend renting it and watching it if you're a fan of the series. I bet you'd like it a lot, actually. Even if you didn't like The Tribe. Like I said, this was a step in the right direction. The ending leaves it open for another movie, which we've already been told will happen, so that's cool. Let's hope they step it up even more for that one. Although, I wouldn't care if that movie fell through, either. I'd rather they not run this series through the shredder, if you know what I mean. Anyhow, like I said, Lost Boys: The Thirst is a fun movie that manages to redeem the series from The Tribe. So give it a shot. I bet you'll enjoy it. :)