The Lost Boys: Review By slysnide

Joel Schumacher's 1987 Vampire flick has become somewhat of a cherished classic among cult fans across the country. Why I don't know, as after seeing this film 7 months ago and only learning after the movie that Joel Schumacher directed it, I just sat back and said aloud: "Oh, that's why."

I couldn't help but notice that this plays like a 'scary' Disney movie in which the main characters find themselves moaning at the prospect of being in a brand new town with no friends or connections of any kind, and quickly find themselves getting into trouble with the locals. This film plays like that, except unlike the Disney formula which finishes that stuff in the first twenty minutes or so to get the story going for the remaining approximate seventy minutes, this film takes an hour for any vampiric action to happen and then rushes the climax to an unsatisfactory conclusion within thirty minutes after said vampiric action began. It was pretty disappointing to sit there for an hour to have the fast paced ending just be that, an ending.

Anyway, it stars Jason Patric as Michael Emerson, older brother of Sam (Corey Haim) who's just as bored with his new surroundings of Santa Carla, CA as anyone would be with the Sahara Desert, though they came from Phoenix, AZ originally. Of course, he meets a woman at the beach named Star (Jami Gertz) and quickly falls in with her motorcycle gang that's led by David (Kiefer Sutherland), but they're clearly not your average rebel bikers.

As for Sam, he's bored too, since unlike his older brother Michael, he's stuck being treated as the little kid by his mother Lucy (Dianne Wiest) and her new friend Max (Edward Herrmann), who seems a bit more friendly than Sam would like. But luckily for Sam, he's got the local Frog Brothers Edgar (Corey Feldman) & Alan (Jamison Newlander) to hang with...if he has an excuse to anyway.

Kiefer Sutherland & Corey Feldman were the only interesting aspects of the film, as they were more interesting characters, being a vampire, and vampire hunter respectively. While I like Jason Patric's roles, he was too diluted in this movie by the supernatural to be interesting, and overall wasn't an intriguing character in the movie. So basically I expected better from him.

The finale of it was enjoyable, but that gets a star, as does Kiefer & Corey, for nothing else impressed me with this film, not the directing, not the visuals, not the story. And quite frankly, I'm surprised that this movie is so popular given my analysis of the whole thing. But that's just me. And I seriously doubt the televised sequel made 21yrs later is any better. So if you like it, then great, but if you're like me, then skip it so your imaginations of what this film must be given its status will be better than what it actually is. Come on, it's Joel Schumacher guys. Didn't anybody see the flop in this coming?