Not being a girl, I never really got The Lost Boys. I didn't even see it until I was in my late teens, hunting down Jeffrey Boam's screenwriting credits. Seeing it now, it's not just clear how much the film wastes wasted Michael Chapman's cinematography or how Schumacher makes Corey Haim the only gay leading character in a major Hollywood film I can think of, but also how impossible it would have been to identify with the film as a boy. It's not like The Monster Squad or The Goonies; Schumacher's gearing this film specifically for the teenager girl audience. Its infinite depths of gay subtext, while amusing during the more tedious stretches, are really meaningless.
I also can't remember many other popular vampire films where the rules of vampirism aren't fetishized. There's lip service paid to them here, but The Lost Boys plays it pretty loose with the rules (like when Jami Gertz enters Haim's house uninvited or antlers killing a vampire).
Haim's not good. He's not even personable enough to be obnoxious. Corey Feldman's bad too. Jamison Newlander's fine, so much so, it's surprising he didn't go on to more.
Jason Patric, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann and Barnard Hughes are all great. Patric's got some lame scenes too, so when he does good work, it's impressive--he's got a lot to overcome.
The vampires are mostly lame, Alex Winter being the lamest. Their makeup is from the Cat People remake....
Still, it's not as bad as I remembered.
CREDITS
Directed by Joel Schumacher; screenplay by Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by Fischer and Jeremias; director of photography, Michael Chapman; edited by Robert Brown; music by Thomas Newman; production designer, Bo Welch; produced by Harvey Bernhard; released by Warner Bros.
Starring Jason Patric (Michael), Corey Haim (Sam), Dianne Wiest (Lucy), Barnard Hughes (Grandpa), Edward Herrmann (Max), Kiefer Sutherland (David), Jami Gertz (Star), Corey Feldman (Edgar Frog), Jamison Newlander (Alan Frog), Brooke McCarter (Paul), Billy Wirth (Dwayne), Alex Winter (Marko) and Chance Michael Corbitt (Laddie).
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mandy // Oct 31, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Lost boys is one of my favourite films, and there a couple of things i had to say about your review. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and it would be a very boring place if everyone liked the same thing — so I’m not commenting on your opinion of the film. Firstly Jami Gertz’s character Star is able to enter the house because she is not a full vampire, the antlers don’t actually kill a vampire (as explained in reign of frogs) but more importantly — how can you write a review and not comment on Sutherland, he is not a lead but I think he has so much screen presence and Lost boys has got to be (aside from Jack Bauer) what he is most famous for?
Zoi // Nov 15, 2009 at 11:54 pm
@mandy —
My thoughts exactly re: Sutherland. His character definitely gave a depth and intensity to a movie that could have easily come off as cheesy kiddy fare otherwise.
… but at least I wasn’t the only one who say the gay subtext.