LostBoys Movie Review

Lost Boys is a classic comedy/ horror released in July 1987 in the US, and directed by Joel Schumacher. Lost Boys is about two brothers moving into a new town and are convinced it's not 'normal'.

The film all starts when the two brothers parents split up, Michael being the oldest (played by Jason Patric), and Sam being the youngest (Corey Haim) with their mum called Lucy (Dianne West). When driving to Santa Carla they play "People Are Strange" by The Doors but a cover version to fit the genre more (Echo & The Bunnymen), which is a classic song to use for this type of horror, ( new people  moving to a unfamiliar place where everyone looks creepy).

 

This parallel music is very cleverly fitted with the scene and narrates the song too, to give of the feeling of the characters moving to a weird town, (we also see more parallel music though out the film like the opening scene "Cry Little Sister" by G Tom Mac, which builds up tension to the film with the drum beat sounding like a heart, when we meet the vampires roaming around the fair i the town). 

 

They move to Santa Carla in California to live with their grandfather, but Santa Carla is the murder capital of the world. The town looks dark and dingy. The mother Lucy gets a job working in the local video store, while Sam meets the Frog Bothers, Edgar (played by Corey Feldman) and Alan (Jamison Newlander) who tells Sam the town has vampires. At the beginning of the film Sam looks quite neat, hair done up nicely but Michael on the other hand, is more casually dressed, with the light blue jeans and top with a leather jacket, he looks like he would have been quite popular in high school. When they are shooting the fair, it's low key lighting and as it's night the only lights that are on are the street lights and the fair rides.

Furthermore, Michael meets this beautiful pale brown haired girl wearing a stunning white dress, named Star (Jami Gertz) who is the girlfriend of David (Keifer Sutherland. The leader and the toughest boy in the gang, around Santa Carla. David meets Michael and takes him to their gangs hideout (remains of an old hotel) where it's an old dark place. Michael has a drink thinking it's wine but turns out to be David's blood and starts to develop side effects, making him not see straight, dizzy (handheld camera) making us be in his point of view, hearing echoes, ect. Michael starts coming in late and starts acting like himself causing his youngest brother to think he's a vampire, he then convinces Sam that he can make himself normal again, but then sleeps with Star. Sam starts thinking his brother is not going to change so he decides to do something about it with the help of the Frog Brothers , they then tell Sam the only way he can turn back normal as he's a half vampire is to kill the leader (David). Elsewhere, the mother (Lucy) begins to date the guy from her work (Max), and starts to think her boys are having trouble processing her dating after her divorce so shortly. 

Michael gets Star and they take the other half blooded vampire named Laddie Thompson, from David's clutches and brings his brother and the Frog Brothers out to kill David and his gang. The Frog Brothers end up killing one vampire, and leading David to build up and waiting for the revenge in the night. Meanwhile, the Frog Brothers start preparing for the vampires and start putting garlic in the bath, holy water in the water pistols and wooden stakes. At this time it shows high contrast lighting to show this is a dramatic scene. Later in the night, David and the rest of the gang turn up to Sam's and Michael's house were they will get revenge, the most rememberable scene. The Frog Brothers are saved by Michael's and Sam's dog, by pushing one of the vampires in the bathtub full of garlic. Here, they make the sound extra louder to create the scene more exciting. Michael and Sam push another vampire into electricity box, with the best quote in the film, “ Death by stereo”, leaving Michael and David to have the final fight in the film. 

As the fight goes on Michael pushes him onto antlers hanged up in the house, causing David to die, and Michael to still be a vampire (David wasn't the lead vampire). Lucy, their mother comes home with her date Max, and doesn't see what’s happened. Instead Max comes over to David and seems quite upset and angry by his death, turning out all this time David wasn't the lead vampire and Max was, the other vampires were his 'children'. Max tells them that he wanted the two brothers apart of their family, and his boys (who are dead) in need of a mother, he still wants her even though they’re dead. Max then takes hold of Sam and tells Lucy that Sam will die if she doesn't come with him, but then her dad comes though the house with his car on time, with a wooden stake, killing Max. All together, there are a few heroes. For a start Michael to go against the vampires and helping the “damsel in distress” Star, the grandfather for killing the main vampire and the Frog Brothers and Sam for help killing the rest. This leaves the film with an open ending leading to the sequels.

Watching this film has made me understand film-making and genre, by watching The Lost Boys, it has shown me you can make a quick, smart movie monster without making it look overly weird. The monsters in this film (vampires) are constructed very well  by their clothes and especially the makeup (pale face, contact lenses, darkness around their eyes and tangs). Also the body horror in the film is not excessive, but is very tastefully done. An example of this is the garlic in the bath scene, when the Frog Brothers put holy water on the vampires face it starts to burn his causing blood on his face, and when the husky pushes the vampire in the bath his face starts to melt (looking waxy and skin peeling off to a skeleton). 

 

This film is a classic with so many different dark characters and hidden story lines. The film gives off an alternative horror, that creates atmosphere by making the lighting quite dark (low key) and the slow music, Goth like music. During the film they play classics like Cry Little Sister, which at the beginning of the song it sounds like a heartbeat that increases the attention in the film, and relates to vampires in its Gothic way. Some aspects I would bring into my own film is definitely the lightening and parallel music to fit the scene, because it can be really effective and give off the right atmosphere, like David when he's ready to kill everything is blacked out behind him (low key lighting), so we can see his facial expression, his red and orange eyes and his large tangs. The lighting also shows his split personality, he can be kind to protect his identity but also has an evil dark side. On the other hand, for my own trailer I would have to avoid the comedy side, as it would be hard to do and wouldn't look professional, I would also avoid effects like shaking objects as it may look cheesy.