The Lost Boys (1987) (Movie Review)

 Two of my favorite movie categories are comedy and horror … and combining such polar opposites genres into one movie can either be disastrous or result in something unique and special in its own right. The 1987 teen vampire picture “The Lost Boys” is one such picture that playfully blends both laughs and thrills, but it also has its own distinct style and voice that makes it stand out. It’s hard to put the film into words, but it’s almost like a coming-of-age teen adventure but laced with elements of classic monster movies and stylized music videos. It’s one of my favorite horror products of the 1980’s, and for this October, I wanted to finally give this film the attention it deserves. 

  Michael and Sam are brothers who just moved with their mother to a seaside town in California called Santa Carla. The place is bustling with activity and fun, but you can tell right away, there’s some dark and twisted things lurking underneath the town’s sunny appearance. Older brother Michael finds himself smitten with a young girl named Star, who’s fallen in with a bad group of rebellious teens that only come out after dark ... nothing suspicious there. The more Michael tries to pull the girl out of their club, the more he gets himself pulled in … until it’s too late. Much to Michael’s dismay, he realizes that he’s slowly becoming a Vampire, but the transformation won’t be permanent until he makes his first kill. Meanwhile, his little brother Sam seeks help from the local Frog Brothers, who run their own comic book shop, while secretly hunting the vampires that terrorize the boardwalk. Thus, Sam and the Frog brothers set off on a mission to kill the gangs head vampire, and free Michael from his curse, before the thirst consumes him. 

  There really isn’t much to the characters on the written page, but the strength comes from this dynamic cast of young 1980’s talents, who all bring these players to life with personality and charisma. Jason Patric is the face of the film, playing the lead teen Michael, who’s a shut-in, but tries to be outgoing. 

Jason Patric’s performance gets us to sympathize with him as goes through his transformation and his need to fight the urge to kill anyone. Corey Haim plays his brother Sam, who at times is a little too animated for the characters own good, but he sure has the funniest lines in the movie … “You’re a Vampire Mike, a real blood sucking Vampire … ewe, just wait till mom finds out!”. Michael and Sams mother Lucy is played by Dianne Wiest, and she is infectiously lovable as a woman trying to not only be there for her kids, but also just make a life for herself. Jami Gertz is the pretty love interest named Star, and her performance is exactly what you’d expect from a teen with a name as simplistic as “Star”.  

  One of the most memorable players is Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog, who talks in an overly serious tough guy voice, which perfectly contrasts him reacting in panic when things get dangerous. Of course, the big one to highlight is Kiefer Sutherland as the lead vampire David. Just like the best vampires, he comes off as charming and seductive first, and then relentless and monsters second. While I’ve seen Kiefer Sutheralnd in a number of movies like “A Few Good Men”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Dark City” and “Stand by Me” (which also stared Corey Feldman), I’ve always remembered him best for his leading Vampire role here in “The Lost Boys”. Everyone looks like they’re having a great time acting in this film, and that fun transcends on me every time I watch this.  

  That’s really the main take away from this film … it’s not a perfect script, nor dose if feature the most complex characters … but the experience as a whole is just plain FUN! Honestly, my standards for a comedy and horror hybrid focusing on teen vampires is … I want it to be cool and fun, which is what this movie excels at. It also knows how to juggle its various tones … when it wants to be funny, it’s hilarious, and when it wants to be dark, it can be suitably creepy. 

The fictional setting of the seaside town Santa Carla is also chalk full of personality, with quirky inhabitants … "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach...all the damn vampires!". My favorite funny highlight involves our hero boys stopping at a church to collect holly water as a means to combat the vampires, all while a baptism is in progress. There’s something really cool and humorous about seeing these boys fill little squirt guns with water that works as a weapon against their attackers. The final confrontation is a riveting showdown in a house full of boobytraps, resulting in all kinds of nasty yet awesome and amusing vampire deaths, including … “Death by Stereo”. Think of it as “Home Alone” meets “Evil Dead 2”, which are great things to combine together.

 The rousing soundtrack and music video style editing also helps keep things engaging and cool, as well as help when transitioning from frights to laughs. There’s a moment when the gang goes riding out into the night on motorcycles set to Lou Gramm’s “Lost in the Shadows”, and it gets me hyped every time I watch it. The films soundtrack in general is on par with movies like “Top Gun” and “Rocky 4”, in which it characterizes most of the picture, and for me is one of my favorite movie soundtracks of the 1980’s. Other musical highlights include “I Still Believe” by Tim Cappello, “Don’t Let the Sun go Down on Me” by Roger Daltrey and the music score by Thomas Newman likewise compliments the style and tone of the picture. The most famous music theme from this movie of course is “Cry Little Sister” by Gerard McMann, which subconsciously lingers in my mind as my definitive vampire music theme.   

  The title of the movie is obviously a play on the titular Lost Boys featured in J. M. Barrie's “Peter Pan” stories, who … just like vampires … are immortal youths that never grow old. The screenplay was written by Janice Fischer, Jeffrey Boam and James Jeremias, the latter of whom is quoted for taking initial inspiration from the Anne Rice novel “Interview with the Vampire” (this was before the Brad Pit and Tom Cruise movie of the same name made a splash in the early 1990’s), which featured a 12 year old girl, who was really 200 years old. Also, being a fan of “Peter Pan”, an immortal child who can also fly and only comes out at night, an idea came about to merge elements of the two together. While Peter Pan is never directly referenced in the film, you do still feel the influence, especially with the Vampire hide-out looking like the Transylvania equivalent of Neverland.  

 The last ingredient to the puzzle was the late director Joel Schumacher, who’s creative vision for the film gave “The Lost Boys” a distinct look and personality that separates it from other similar vampire flicks of the decade, like "Fright Night". You may not have liked director Joel Schumacher’s 1990’s “Batman” movies, but after watching “The Lost Boys”, there’s a good reason he was hired to take over the franchise after Tim Burton. Personally, even though the late Joel Schumacher proved himself a credible director for dramatic films, serious thrillers, and an okay film adaption of the musical “The Phantom of the Opera”, I still look back on “The Lost Boys” with the most fondness of his collective works. The film spun off into a series, with a string of comic-book tie-ins and Corey Feldman reprising his role as Edgar Frog for two sequels … although, none of them were as fresh or fun as the first.

  Whereas the majority of vampire movies have a similar look, tone and feel, “The Lost Boys” was one of the first to put vampires in a modern setting as opposed to a Gothic period piece, and gave them their own unique flavor as rebellious teens. On that note, for better or worse, it certainly paved the way for teen vampire flicks, which became insanely popular in the decades since. To this day, it’s sustained a status as a cult classic, and it’s one of my personal favorite vampire movies. Despite being a very obvious product of the 1980’s, it’s still got a signature “cool factor” that’s all its own. It’s ripe with style, originality, memorable characters, and awesome theme music. The whole film feels like a twisted music video mixed with classy vampire action, and what’s not to like about that?

Thanks for reading my review of the 1987 vampire flick “The Lost Boys” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!

 

My Top 10 Favorite Movie Cemeteries

 

  When it comes to spooky locations in movies, Graveyards are an easy win. However, the location isn’t bound to horror movies either, and can be a meaningful setting for drama’s, westerns, animation and others. Whether a cemetery is used as a frighting location or a dramatic location, they’re always a captivating set-piece to look at when presented in a movie. So, for this October season, I thought it would be fun to stop and rank my personal top 10 favorite movie cemeteries.  

 

#10 The Cemetery from “The Adams Family” (1991) 

When you’re a family as dark, mysterious and kooky as the Adams Family … a morbid and often creepy location like a graveyard is suddenly a place of peace, relaxation and tranquility. Rather than go to any regular cemetery, the Adams graveyard is exploding with personality in its details, design and presentation. What other graveyard would have a couch carefully preserved as a center piece anyway? 

Well, one for two people who look forward to one day being buried side by side and six feet underground. It’s an unusual movie cemetery to say the least, but for the Adams Family, I’d be disappointed if it was anything less.  

 

#9 The Cemetery from “Frankenweenie” (2012) 

In Tim Burton’s often overlooked animated picture “Frankenweenie” (and by extent his short movie of the same name from 1984), a young boy tragically loses his pet dog Sparky after a collision with a car. Shortly after, the dog is buried in the local pet cemetery, and unlike the significantly creepier version from Steven King, this pet cemetery takes on a life of its own and wonderfully designed.    

Granted, just like with the Steven King story, the pets do still come back to life, all though, through different means ... like a kid performing a Frankenstein style experiment to bring his pet back, followed by all his classmates trying to do the same. Amidst all this, the cemetery becomes a character in of itself and one that frequently gets revisited. My favorite scene in the whole film is this quiet little moment when the resurrected dog Sparky runs away from home and goes to his own gravestone … as if he feels like he belongs there. It’s a somber little moment, and I feel you can analyze something of substance from it. 

 

#8 The Cemetery from “Haunted Mansion” (2023)

Back when I was a little kid, I was obsessed with the Disneyland Haunted Mansion attraction, and all I could think about was how cool it would be to see this brought to life in a live-action movie. The graveyard setting was an especially big highlight and had unlimited potential for a memorable set piece in a movie. After the so-so attempt in 2003, we got another movie version in 2023. 

It wasn’t perfect either, but it sure had its highlights and knew how to make great use of its awesome graveyard setting. While not quiet the upbeat party of the ride, it’s still utilized as an exciting setting for the film’s final battle, with hordes of ghosts floating through the air, green mist, coffin holes opening in the ground, and all kinds of striking, spooky imagery on display.

 

#7 The Cemetery from “Night of the Living Dead” (1969) 

Here it is, one of the earliest and most classic zombie movies ever made … and features a most memorable graveyard opening to boot. Most of the action is confined to a single house location, but it’s in a small, local cemetery when the tension and frightening encounters really kick off, with the very first zombie attack. It’s an iconic and frequently replicated sequence, with phenomenal buildup, and a memorable payoff. 

As we’ll see on my list, some movie graveyards stand out for how they’re uniquely designed, while others are memorable for sequences set on the cemetery grounds. This setting is unmistakably for the sequence alone … but what a memorable sequence it is, and a great way to kick off a legendary horror classic.

 

#6 The Cemetery from “Hocus Pocus” (1993) 

When three goofy witches come back from the dead to terrorize children on Halloween night, all the action builds to a final showdown in a cemetery, which is a terrific set piece. It’s also gorgeous with the sun rising in the background, and I love the concept of the graveyard being hollow ground that witches can’t set foot on. This pays off with one of my favorite Halloween villain deaths. 

The lead Witch lands in the cemetery, transforms into a stone statue, and explodes along with her sisters when the sun rises. Whereas most other graveyards try to look spooky in their presentation, this really is one of the rare ones that looks colorful and angelic in its design and presentation … especially with the closing shot of the gates, which are framed to look like the pearly gates of Saint Peter.

 

#5 The Cemetery from “Frankenstein” (1931) 

While this movie was made famous for its titular monster, it was also a stunning production for its time. For an old movie from 1931, it’s got a surprisingly epic size and scope. From beginning to end, it’s just incredible to look at. Personally, I think this film has the most memorable imagery of all the classic Universal Monster movies. The opening scene in the cemetery kicks things off and shows how Doctor Frankenstein collected bodies for his monstrous experiment, making for an important piece of the narrative, and a striking set piece all at once.

 

#4 The Cemetery from “Army of Darkness” (1992) 

Lone anti-hero Ash Wiliams has one job, say a magic chant and prevent the dead from rising … to bad he’s a goof-up and goofs up royally, by accidentally resurrecting an army of corpses from their graves. When it comes to supernatural encounters in a graveyard setting … it’s the 1992 horror comedy “Arny of Darkness” that I feel goes all out with the mayhem and fun. 

The design of the cemetery is basic, but like many others on this list, it’s the sequence that makes it a first-rate movie graveyard. From the dead hands bursting through the ground like a mine field, to reanimated skeletons arriving on the scene like a Disney Silly Symphonie, this sequence has all the spooky fun and excitement a fan could ask for.   

 

#3 The Cemetery from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) 

Now we come to the least Gothic cemetery setting on my list, but still one of the absolute best … largely due to the films iconic finale, in which our three main characters converge onto buried treasure, and have a nail-biting three-way standoff. Typically, when I think of my favorite climaxes, I think of the grand, relentless battles featured in the “Star Wars”, “Avengers” and “Lord of the Rings” movies … and yet, this film likewise features one of my all-time favorite finales, and it barley has more action than a single gunshot. 

All the excitement of this sequence comes from the build-up, the intensity, and all the little exchanges between our players, who don’t even speak much. It’s just this exciting montage of close-ups, riveting music, and brilliant editing that make this scene a work of art … and by extent, it makes the cemetery location one of the all-time greatest.

 

#2 The Cemetery from “The Phantom of the Opera” (2004) 

While the 2004 movie musical “The Phantom of the Opera” garnered mixed reactions, most still praise the production design. For me, the set design of the cemetery during the song “Wishing you were Somehow here Again” is a thing of Gothic beauty to look at. It makes for a great setting for a morbid song, and it also makes for a cool set-piece for a sword fight. 

It wasn’t a real location and was built on set at Pinewood Studios in England, but it was modeled after the real-life Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Even though it’s a set, it invokes a sense of grandeur and atmosphere that captivates me every time I watch this. There is so much detail to take in, and for me, it's still one of my favorite movie Graveyards. 

 

Before I reveal my number one favorite movie Graveyard, here are some quick Honorable Mentions … the cemeteries from …

Disney’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1949)

“Frankenstein meets the Wolf-Man” (1943)    

“Pet Sematary” (1989)

“The Frighteners” (1996)

“Cemetery Man” (1994)

 

#1 The Cemetery from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) 

While stop-motion had been utilized before, it had never been seen on this big a scale. The detailed set designs, the striking colors, the creative camera movement, the layered environments … it just creates a life all its own. These sets also lend themselves to some visually striking musical numbers, and for me, the cemetery set design for Jack Skellington’s opening song number always comes to my mind first when I think of my favorite movie cemetery. 

Just like in “Frankenweenie”, there is so much personality and detail on display, and the image of Jack on that strange hillside is about as iconic as they get. It’s truthfully not one of the scariest movie cemeteries, but it’s certainly the one that left the biggest impression on me as a striking, unique design, and to this day is my personal favorite movie cemetery.

Thanks for reading my countdown … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!

 

Ghostbusters 2 (1989) (Movie Review)

 

  Long running movie franchises seem to be everywhere now days, but in some cases, select popular movies haven’t truly become a series until recently. “Ghostbusters” for example was a pop culture juggernaut in the early 1980’s, and despite expanding into various animated spin-offs, games and comics, it only had one direct sequel in 1989, and didn’t really become a reoccurring franchise until 2016, in which we’ve seen a number of movies since. 

It makes me wonder why something as popular as “Ghostbusters” took so long to become a big movie series, and why there was only one direct sequel following the original. While “Ghostbusters 2” certainly had a mix to negative reception upon its release, the film has seen something of a resurgence, with some fans describing it as not being as bad as its initial reputation suggests. While I loved the original “Ghostbusters” as a kid, I was always a little indifferent to its sequel. Nevertheless, I’m curious to look back on that first and only true sequel to see if anything holds up, or to see if its lesser reputation is more justified. 

 Set five years after the events of the first movie, the Ghostbusters have gone their separate ways and are trying to make a living in a field where there are no more ghosts to bust, while the citizens once again view them as to-bit frauds. 

Things get interesting when the local museum acquires a new painting of a dark entity called Vigo the Carpathian, whose wicked spirit dwells in the object. With his presence stirring, new ghosts appear on the scene to terrorize New York and bring the Ghostbusters back in business. Caught in the middle is Dana Barrett, the on and off again love interest of lead Ghostbuster Peter Venkman. Their relationship is rocky, but worse things arise when her new baby Oscar becomes the main target for the villain Vigo, who aims to use the infant as a new host body. Thus, the Ghostbusters not only band together to save New York again, but also to safeguard little Oscar.   

 Director Ivan Reitman and all the main cast members from the first movie are all back … but the jokes and the freshness of the first just aren’t there. My biggest reservation is making a baby the focus point of the narrative, as it’s really boring to watch these characters pal around with this toddler. On a side note, it never made any sense to me why the villain would want a baby body to inhabit, as opposed to a grown adult. In fact, we briefly see him take over Ghostbuster Ray Stantz, played again by Dan Aykroyd, and I feel that should have been expanded upon. The concept of a team member taken over by the villain has all kinds of potential for conflict, and adding something fresh to the premise, as opposed to the tonally off beat baby narrative. On that note, this sequel has an oddly mixed tone, as it aims to appeal to little kids more than the original, but it also contains some darker material appropriate for a real horror film.   

 I will say that while the jokes aren’t very funny, the chemistry is still there between the cast. Even though I’m not laughing at anything, I’m still smiling and enjoying these characters acting off each other. Bill Murray tries his best to carry the hummer of the film, but he can only go so far with so little. Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett again doesn’t have too much to work with, but she absolutely makes the most of what she’s got. I don’t have much to say about Rick Moranis and Annie Potts romantic subplot, other than, I wish we could have seen more of either of them as Ghostbusters, as opposed to just Rick Moranis in uniform for a second at the end. I’d say the late Harold Ramis in his signature role of Ghostbuster Egon Spengler delivered the most consistently charismatic and funny performance.

 One genuine ace up this films sleeve is the new villain Vigo the Carpathian, who I feel has a presence equal to Gozer from the first film. The setup with him as a cursed oil painting is great, as it gives the audience a visual and design that sticks with us even before the villain physically appears on screen. 

Also, Vigo’s henchman Janosz, played by Peter MacNicol delivers a memorable performance as something of an unhinged Renfield to his Dracula … a full six years before he actually portrayed Renfield in the 1995 comedy “Dracula Dead and Loving it”. Despite being such an animated presence in the film, he still has some suitably creepy moments … this image of him walking down a dark hallway with a glowing face always spooked me as kid. Of course, the best spooky highlight of all is when Janosz takes on the likeness of a ghostly Nanny that kidnaps baby Oscar on the ledge of Dana Barrett’s apartment. This scene pays tribute to the Wicked Witch of the West, right down to a similar music score, and it’s just a memorable creepy image, especially with the glowing red eyes.

  Another slight against this movie is that it takes a while to generate any momentum. There are certainly highlights spread throughout, but they aren’t consistent, with lengthy additional scenes that go on forever, and as the saying goes … “It’s all filler and no thriller”. 

About thirty minutes in we finally get a big set-piece with the team battling the ghostly Scoleri Brothers, and it’s like finally, something’s happening. On that note, when the ghosts do show up, they come in a fun variety. The music montage in the middle features a jogging ghost, who’s a rare human looking spirit in this franchise. As per tradition, there’s a second ghost montage at the end of the movie, and hot take … I think this is a better montage than in the original. We get a giant ghost framed through an archway, a lady’s fur coat coming to life, and even the Titanic comes back with its dead crew … “Better late than never!”.

  My favorite scene of the whole movie is a haunted subway, in which our heroes venture underground, and encounter a number of spooky oddities, including a ghost train. Something about haunted modes of transportation and unexplored underground catacombs beneath a busy city just feels ripe for story potential and creative ideas. In fact, it reminds me of an episode from “The Real Ghostbusters” titled “Knock, Knock”, which also focused on the team discovering an underground ghost station leading to a dark and spooky dimension. Supposedly, a proposed script for a potential Ghostbusters sequel would have involved crossing over into a ghostly dimension … which sounds awesome.

 Getting back to “Ghostbusters 2”, it’s also frequently criticized for hitting familiar beats from the plot of the first movie, which is true, but it’s still not without its own iconography. 

Aside from the cursed painting and haunted subway, we also have an underground river of slime feeding off of negative emotions, a cute bit with a dancing toaster, a shock moment with a creature emerging from a bathtub, and the Statue of Liberty coming to life at the end. Despite being another giant mascot marching through New York (and nowhere near as great as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man), I’m still quite fond of this Statue of Liberty finale. I like seeing something giant aiding the team as opposed to threatening them, but a part of me wishes we got a Kaiju inspired climax with the statue battling that giant Ghost monster we saw earlier in the montage. Still, the final battle we get with Vigo is satisfying enough, which I can also say about this film as a whole.

  It’s not a great sequel by any means, nor is it one that I return to that often, but it has its highlights and still serves as a novelty item of sorts. It’s the only direct Ghostbusters sequel to feature the main cast in their prime, and while they don’t have anything that fresh to work with, the charm and charisma is at least present on the surface. There’s a reason fans have a soft spot for this movie, as it’s not a terrible sequel, just an average one, with some above average moments spread throughout.     

Thanks for reading my review of the 1989 sequel “Ghostbusters 2” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!