The Lost Boys, directed by Joel Schumacher is a wonderful mixture of comedy and horror. The film is not too funny, an its not very scary either. But the too together work well and make this movie quite enjoyable. Schumacher did an excellent job choosing the setting for this film. The contained the perfect amount of exciting youthful energy as well as dark and scary mystery. I think that the comedic side of The Lost Boys was necessary to ensure a positive reaction from viewers. Vampire movies in the 1980's were more of bash fest, twisting vampire lure into comedies. Schumacher did this, but only half way, he incorporated enough comedy into his film that the audience accepted the movie as one of many in the time period. But what Schumacher did differently from other vampire films of the 80's was that he added a sinister plot line into the movie. The story was about killer vampires, but it was interwoven with comedy. That's what mad the difference, the spit of these two genres is what brought The Lost Boys to the next level. Without the comedy, the movie would have simply been a vampire film with killings, and blood. This still would have been an okay movie. The same goes for the comedy side, if the story was simply filled with comedy and not enough vampires then it still would have been a funny okay movie. It would have in no way been as good as it is with the two genres mixed so well.
The story follows Michael, played by Jason Patric, as he is lured by vampires, to drink blood, which turns him into a vampire himself. I liked Michael very much, he behaved exactly how I think a normal teenager would react to becoming a vampire. He was freaking out and had no idea what to do. After discovering that he has become a vampire, Michael and his brother Sam, played by Corey Haim, try to change him back. Sam's two friends Edgar and Alan Frog, played by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander, assist them, since they are apparently the city's vampire hunters. These three roles always provided comedic relief of sorts. Whenever I saw Sam, or either of the Frog brothers on screen I knew there was a good chance they'd make me chuckle. David, played by Kiefer Sutherland, was the main vampire in the teenage gang. He was the one who convinced Michael to drink the blood, which turned him into a vampire. I thought that seeing Kiefer Sutherland play the role of a teenage vampire was very interesting. When you look at the actor today, he just doesn't seem like someone who would have played a part like this, but he did have to start somewhere. The Lost Boys was defiantly not a bad choice. The final character I'd like to mention was Max, played by Edward Herrmann. Max was the head vampire, which really surprised when it was first revealed. Max didn't seem like he could have possibly been a vampire. The way that the boys doing vampire tests on Max tricked the audience into believing that Max was just an ordinary guy was brilliant. All of the characters worked well together and made the telling of the story just that much more interesting.
The Lost Boys was worth the watch. I got a lot out of this movie, I didn't know exactly what to expect. That said, I don't think I would care too much to watch it again. It was great, but I'm not going to go out and buy the movie. What worked well in this movie worked very well because in a small way the movie was just designed that way. I give The Lost Boys a 7/10.
Opening Image: The sign that says Santa Carla the home of happiness and on the back of the sign is written the murder capital of the United States.
Theme Stated: When they show the city and how many missing persons signs are around town.
Set-Up: Michael and Sam decide to go around town at night and have fun while there mother looks at the shops.
Catalyst: When Michael sees Star at the concert he begins to become fascinated with her and follows her until he sees David and his group of vampires.
Debate: After Michael has a race with David he takes him to there hang out which is an old hotel and tells him to drink a mysterious liquid.
Break Into Two: Michael does not want to let go of a bar that was keeping him from falling down and dying but when he does he wakes up in his bed alive and perfectly fine.
B Story: Sam had been having a suspicion that Santa Carla was a place that seemed to nice to be perfectly normal but he revisits the comic book story he is told the truth. So Sam learns more about the vampires and finds out that his brother Michael is a vampire.
Fun and Games: As Sam and the Vampire hunters try to find who the head vampire is they attempt to confront Max, Sam’s mothers boyfriend.
Midpoint: After a failed attempt to determine the identity of the head vampire they decide to ask Michael if he has any idea who the head vampire is and he says that David probably was.
Bad Guys Close In: Following the arrival at the vampire’s hideout the vampire hunters, Sam, and Michael go into the depths and kill one of the four vampires but don’t kill the presumed head vampire.
All Is Lost: They failed to kill the head vampire but night would soon fall and the vampires would arrive to kill Michael, Sam, and Vampire hunters.
Dark Night Of The Soul: The group has to kill the vampires as they come in and attempt to kill them.
Break Into Three: David is killed but the curse of the vampire on Michael is not broken which leads Sam to rethink who the head vampire was.
Finale: Max tells them that he was the head vampire and try’s to turn Lucy into a vampire but is ultimately killed by Sam’s Grandfather who drives into the house and kills max.
Final Image: Grandpa had known that the vampires had been living in Santa Carla the whole time.
-Nicholas
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