Up until the arrival of Blade in the early 1990's, I never really 'got' the appeal of vampires in pop culture. Lost Boys didn't help either.
It's a movie of two halves. There's the serious teen-vampire movie with Jason Patric's braindead, new-to-town jock falling for vampiric cutsie Jamie Gertz, who's part of pointy-toothed rebel Keifer Sutherland's gang. AS a metaphor for teen angst and parental rebellion it's rather dull stuff. Director Joel Schulmacher gives it his usual flair (glossy extravagence and a rather cool pop soundtrack) but it's all a bit dated now.
The other, more entertaining side, has the two Coreys (Haim & Feldman), battle the undead with humourous consequences. The one halve never really gels with the second. I could argue that it's a case of style over substance but I've never agreed with that arguement. Instead, let it be said, that I've never cared for Schulmacher's style (from Flatliners to Batman and Robin.)
Best moment goes to Barnard Hughes who ends the movie with a killer statement. Pity you've gotta endure the whole movie to get to the twist.
1 comment:
Unlike Norbert Nolan I've been a vampire fan my whole life, although I have always - and still do - prefer those furry werewolf critters.
The Lost Boys for me falls in to a middling category of vamp films. It's not as traditionally spooky/gothic/lurid to be as much fun as a good ol' Hammer Horror or say Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nor is it as smart or literate to be an Interview with the Vampire. It is also not as genre bending/redefining as the likes of my beloved Buffy or Blade or even the awesome Near Dark. The Lost Boys is kind of traditional vamp fare, yet it's bloodless, toothless, a bit too silly and lacking in any depth to its creatures of the night.
Dracula (the novel and most of the films) is basically an analogy about - and warning against - the varied blood diseases of the time. Syphallis and the like. While Interview with the Vampire is a psychological look at the depths of guilt, loss, loneliness, moral ambiguity and finding our place in a constantly changing world. In Blade the vampires are secret cabals - almost corporate entities secretly running things. City types 'bleeding' us dry. And in Buffy the vamps (and the other beasties) are mostly metaphors for the trials of growing up and of life in general. Personal demons to be fought and overcome.
The Lost Boys has no thematic depth apart from "Hey, we're vampires. It's fun to sleep all day, party all night and never grow up." Yep, very Peter Pan I know (hence the movie title). But it doesn't bother to explore that idea to any real extent and just comes across as mostly surface shine and not much else.
Still, it's nicely made, the vamp fx are cool and Jamie Gertz sure is purty.
Post a Comment