Review of The Lost Boys (1987) by Zach B — 28 May 2011

Picture this: It is the late 1980s. The MTV generation is at an all-time high and the one thing that is on every teenager's mind is Teen Idols. Now, mix in director Joel Schumacher who has not really had any critical accomplishments under his belt and in need of an instant success.

With all of that, add in a screwed up tale of J.M. Berry's Peter Pan with Vampires and what you get is the definitive teen/ horror film of the late 80's. Now, with vampires being a hot topic, there might be some people this day and age who might be against this film.

But, when watched, this film is a lot better than one would think. In terms of direction, Schumacher actually acts like a director in terms of telling the story, keeping the passing up, and making sure that the film is, overall, great.

Now, the only problem I have (as a lot of people also have) is that the first two thirds of the film work great. Then, at the end, it becomes a complete battle brawl with no thought. What happened to all of that great story telling that there originally was? So, for the most part, direction is good but could have been better.

Next is the script. Before this came out, all vampires were either cold blooded and evil or emotional and hating their existence. These are vampires that LOVE to be vampires. They have accepted what they are and try to have fun with it, and the script makes them have fun.

After watching this film, it makes one actually want to be a real vampire. One other little aspect is that these vampires go by original mythology of the creatures plus add a little something for the head vampire.

Something that actually works towards the favor. Now for the acting. With this film having all of the stars it did have, there are no bad performances here. Only one let down and that was from Dianne Wiest.

But, that is not that big of a lost due to the performances from Corey Haim, Corey Fieldman, and Kiefer Sutherland. Finally, we have the score. While it mostly takes from the song 'Cry Little Sister', it does create a rather dark, forbidding atmosphere that works and helps create the horror element that this film is great for having.

Overall, as a teen film, it represents the last great Vampire film before the word 'vampire' was destroyed.