Our favorite feminine fright fan Jessie Robbins selects a shocker for a Saturday night…
Theres been a sudden spike in the temperature up here in southern Ontario, Canada. Not that Im complaining, being someone who is constantly cold most of the year, summer is a wonderful time for me. But in my one-room, one-window apartment, its a freaking sauna right now. I have three fans going and its still cooler outside than it is inside. With sweat cascading off of me onto the floor, I am reminded of another, sweat-clad character in horror history. A certain saxophone wielding man encased in muscles, gyrating on a stage somewhere in Santa Carla.
Yes, for some reason my gross sweating reminded me of THE LOST BOYS.
THE LOST BOYS centers around Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) as brothers who with their mom (Diane Wiest) move from their home in Arizona to Santa Carla, the murder capital of the world. Little do they know that the place is also crawling with vampires. THE LOST BOYS came out after vampires were hopeless romantics, but before they were sparkling and useless, so luckily for us, we get Kiefer Sutherland in all his blonde-headed pre-FLATLINERS, post-STAND BY ME glory as head vampire David, clothed in leather and riding a motorcycle.
As the story roars on, we follow Michael as he slowly falls in with the vampires and transitions into one himself, while Sam, teamed up with Edgar and Alan Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander), tries to defeat the creatures of the night, and save his brother.
This film deliciously delves into the reaches of vampire folk-lore without getting too Victorian about it. Whereas in FRIGHT NIGHT (in no way knocking FRIGHT NIGHT, I adore that one too), Charlie searches the help of a well-known supposed scholar on the topic of vampires in ancient history, Sam and the Frog brothers find their information from classic EC-style horror comics, detailing their strengths and weaknesses and preparing them for the battle to come.
My favorite character is easily Grandpa. When Lucy (Wiest) and the boys arrive in Santa Carla, they stay with Lucys father in his house outside the city. In-between the boys struggle to defeat the gang of teen-vamps, we see glimpses into Grandpas life; his obsession with taxidermy, his occasional dates with the widow Johnson, and his secret fridge shelf of root beers and double thick Oreos. Grandpas is a simple life, and his revelation at the end makes him all the more intriguing. Rather than all of the existing LOST BOYS sequels, I would love to instead see a Grandpa origin story. Please movie gods, make this happen.
What little gore is present in this film is quick but effective. In lieu of blood and guts you get more fire and explosions, which seems odd for a vampire flick but strangely refreshing, like a cool bottle of vampire blood, passed between six or seven people.
My suggestion, nay, order to you, this hot as hell Saturday night is to bust out your saxophone, take off your shirt, do about a thousand push ups and then throw on THE LOST BOYS (the push ups not only beefing you up, but making you glisten like you just emerged from a raging tempest). Extra points if you can tie your hair back into a pony-tail.
Stay scared kiddies!
