The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys was an influential 1987 vampire film.

In 1980s California, the recently-divorced Lucy Emerson moves to her father's home in "Santa Carla", California, with her teenage sons Michael and Sam. Michael is quickly seduced into a local vampire gang of leather-jacket-wearing youths who party all night. Sam and his new friends ("Edgar" and "Alan") work with Michael to rescue him, his new girlfriend Star, and a little kid Laddie, from the vampire gang.

Commentary (and spoilers)

While a fun and amusing film, its gender politics were retrograde, and there were only two significant female roles in the film, Lucy Emerson (played by Dianne West) and Star (played by Jami Gertz). Lucy Emerson was a recently divorced mom of the two youthful protagonists, and is the least clueful character in the entire film: her father, sons, sons' friends, and the vampires in town all know about the vampires.

Max: I told you, boys need a mother. ... It was you I was after all along, Lucy. I knew, that if I could get Sam and Michael into the family, there's no way you could say no. ... It was all going to be so perfect, Lucy. Just like one big happy family. Your boys ... and my boys.

Edgar Frog: Great. The bloodsucking Brady Bunch.

Star is insipid. The title references the "lost boys" of Peter Pan, and structurally Star acts as Wendy Darling, even mothering the youngest of the youthful vampires (Laddie). However, Star is considerably less interesting as a character than Wendy. Star is the girlfriend of the charismatic vampire David (played by Kiefer Sutherland), and the love interest of protagonist David.

Michael: What are you doing here? What do you want from me?

Star: I wanted to tell you that it's not too late for you. But for me it gets harder and harder to resist. I'm weak.

Michael: Why did you come here tonight Star?

Star: I was hoping you'd help Laddie and me.

The film was also noticeably white, despite being set in California, with a significant Asian and Latino population. Twelve of the thirteen major characters (the four Emersons; three of the four youthful vampires; Star & Laddie; the vampire hunter brothers; and Max) were white. One of the youthful vampires — the dark-haired Dwayne — was played by Native American actor Billy Wirth. Other than (possibly) Dwayne, the only non-white characters were in scenery shots (accompanied by The Doors' song "People Are Strange").

Influence and intertextuality

Its mix of humor and horror, youth protagonists, and transposition of the traditional vampire movie into a modern-day setting were part of a mid-late 20th century reinterpretation of the vampire genre. Other films in this resurgence included "Near Dark" and "Fright Night".

The film was an influence on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in several ways, although Joss Whedon transformed the genre with an emphasis on female characters and protagonists. However, the mix of comedy, horror and drama; the domestic setting; the clueless parent and youthful protagonists; the California setting, juxtaposing sunny days and horror-filled nights, with a carefree California setting; the rock'n'roll aesthetic and soundtrack. Spike may have been modeled in part after leather-jacket-wearing bad boy vampire David.

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