The Lost Boys
| “The Lost Boys” | |
|---|---|
 Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire. (Poster from the 1987 film) | |
| Directed by | Joel Schumacher |
| Produced by | Harvey Bernhard, Richard Donner |
| Written by | Janice Fischer, James Jeremias, Jeffrey Boam |
| Starring | Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Haim, Dianne West, Jami Gertz |
| Release date | 1987 July 31 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
The Lost Boys was an influential 1987 vampire film. A sequel (possibly "The Lost Girls" or "The Lost Boys II") or a prequel has long been considered; 20 years later, a remake was in the works.
Summary
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, but she is oblivious until the very end when her new boyfriend turns out to be the head vampire:
- 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.
- Max: Don't fight, Lucy. It's so much better if you don't fight. (holding out his hand to Lucy)
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").
The film could certainly be campy and had homoerotic elements that lend to a gay subtext reading, not surprising since its director, Joel Schumacher, is out. The younger brother, Sam, was a fashionable new wave 80s kid, with a sexy boy poster of Rob Lowe up in his room; in the bath while playing he sings "girl" lyrics: I ain't got a man, I ain't got a home, I'm a lonely girl. While Michael and David's heterosexuality was affirmed by their relationships with Star, their attraction was to each other as much as to her. The other "boys" were attractive party-boys with no apparent girlfriends or female love interests.
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's producer studied Anne Rice's vampire series, "The Hunger", and other then-current vampire works.
The film influenced "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.
Further reading
- LostCave.net (Lost Boys fanfic)
- wikipedia entry
- IMDB entry
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