The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 206 Days to go: 209
Movie #171: The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is rated R for obvious, skull-piercing, blood-gushing, scalp-ripping reasons, so when it came out in 1987, I didn’t see it. I was 12. I’m not sure when I did see it, as a matter of fact, but I think it was my junior year of high school, so around five years later. My stepfather rented the video and he and I stayed up late watching it; it was after 1AM when I went to bed. Well, “bed.” I was so scared, I slept on my floor with a light on and my radio playing so I could see under my bed, lest something tried to pop up through the mattress and kill me. I was very level-headed at that age.
See, back then, vampires were not your everyday film subject (not quite as ubiquitous, at least) , and they were nothing if not bloodthirsty killers. And while The Lost Boys is at least as intentionally funny as it is gross and/or terrifying, it was kind of a big deal. At the time, my primary interest was Corey Haim (playing Sam), since he was cute. And I never really questioned it until now, but how old was Sam supposed to be in this film? I mean, Corey Haim was 16 when it came out, which is about where I think I placed the character at, but what 16-year-old a) takes bubble baths, b) needs his brother to stay home with him, and c) has a midriff-baring poster of Rob Lowe in his bedroom? Wait, was Sam gay?? Or just super young? Inquiring minds want to know, Schumacher.
Recently divorced mom Lucy (Dianne Wiest) moves with her two sons, Sam and his older brother Michael (Jason Patric) from Phoenix to (fictional) Santa Carla, California to live with her father (Barnard Hughes). Michael catches the eye of a beautiful, enigmatic girl name Star (Jami Gertz), Sam “befriends” militant Frog brothers Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan (Jamison Newlander), and Lucy meets a nice man named Max (Edward Herrmann) who gives her a job at his video store and asks her out on a date. It’s a pretty sweet start to life in a new town, if not for “all the damn vampires.” A menacing group of marauders — around Michael’s age — terrorize the boardwalk (literally). Led by gravelly voiced David (Kiefer Sutherland) and featuring Bill S. Preston Esq. from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Alex Winter) as Marko, this unseemly gang of bloodsuckers decide to play a few games of mind-fuckery with Michael and wind up tricking him into drinking some of their blood from a wine bottle (no big deal). This puts him well on the way to full vampire status and the boys need to scramble to reverse the trend and save themselves from certain annihilation. Brutal murder and wise cracking ensues.
The movie is well-structured and efficiently paced, building tension and suspense without having to reveal too much. In fact, the scary vampire visages are withheld more often than not, giving maximum punch to their effectiveness. Even the opening use of The Doors song “People are Strange” couldn’t be more fitting, as it sets an eerie tone from the start, while the creepy screeching, flapping wind sound effects used to indicate the coming monsters is deliberately spine-tingling and will set you on edge. And then right when your hair is all standing on end, there’s a tension break (usually provided by Grandpa, who wins the entire movie by stealing every one of his scenes) to catch you off guard before building the suspense all over again. Like a roller coaster, it’s a thrilling ride.
I had a ton of fun watching this tonight. What was a sleep-depriving, nightmare-inducing first viewing has since become a rollicking, hilarious good time and all my reactions now consist of cackling and squealing with glee. Also, I arranged to watch it this time when the oldest girl (who loves horror movies) would be here to watch it with me. Even though she’s seen much scarier, much edgier, far more gruesome things in the kind of horror that’s come out more recently (the kind of stuff I hate), there was much screaming and shuddering and hands shaking in front of her face, in addition to a lot of laughter. I call that a win.
Viable Option 