The "lost" in Lost Boys also referred to & played off the real fear of missing kids that was prevalent in the 80s spawning "the milk carton kids." There is a scene in the film where Laddie's picture is shown on the back of a milk carton. ( The 80s is when people stopped letting their kids go anywhere by themselves. The fear was very real) Also, people of a certain age were often referred to as the Lost Generation in the 1960s, hence all the Jim Morrison references. So being A Lost Boy wasn't so much about not wanting to grow up as it is in Peter Pan, but about being tempted to drop out of normal, boring, safe society into an underground, exciting/dangerous one where there are no rules. Sex & drugs & rock n roll ....or in this case, vampires(presented as such)
“I had read Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire, and in that there was a 200-year-old vampire trapped in the body of a 12-year-old girl. Since Peter Pan had been one of my all-time favourite stories, I thought, ‘What if the reason Peter Pan came out at night and never grew up and could fly was because he was a vampire?’ - Joel Schumacher
I was 21, going on 22 when this film came out. It was nothing to do with decadence. This era was most heavily marked by a doomsday pessimism, negotiated via a bunch of ultimately escapist fantasies. The Lost Boys struck a chord, but it was late to the zeitgeist. If, as a cinephile, I had to steer someone toward the Eightiest of Eighties movies, I'd go for something like Down By Law, Bladerunner or even Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
I think that since his parent's divorce Michael has sort of taken on the responsibilites of his father and even though on the outside he's perfectly adjusted inside there is a part of him that yearns for the freedom and lack of responsibility the vampires offer. That's my take anyway.
I totally agree. He loves his mother, his brother, and would do anything for them. However, he was thrust into the situation where they had to move and he had to take care of them. The vampire's lives weren't what he wanted either, but they at least gave him a choice and a way out. His infatuation with Star had to do with leaving the psuedo-adulthood and become a real man. The irony he had to wrestle with was that in doing so he would never really grow up. Good review, but I think she missed some subtle arguments where she just wanted (or expected) the themes to hit you over the head. Some of this confusion, she rightly pointed out, might have come from the original story before it changed into what it became.
That even makes the Peter Pan/Lost Boys motif even stronger. He really doesn't want to grow up but is kind of forced to the vampires literally offers him that. In a way she is like the Wendy of the story XD
Did you ever notice that when Max is invited in for dinner, the look on Grandpa's face? It gives me the impression that Grandpa knew him for many years when he was a young guy and knew he was a vampire. One of those, "I'll be damned, he's still around!" moments. I think a prequel centered around that would be great. - Diobolos V''''V
A new video! And just when I finished watching The Lost Boys! Well, I agree with most. I have to say that the deleted scenes show that Michael wasn't feeling quite good with his life. He seemed to have no direction, no job and not many friends. The regular cut made him look like he has no problems and no reason to join a vampire gang. I guess it's my Vampire Chronicles heart that made me see it this way, but I feel him and David have a connection similar to Louis and Lestat, in the sense that Louis was depressed and without direction when Lestat found him, but he still resisted him until the end. Lestat and David are both vampires who temp them to the "Dark side" and are really into a more hedonist lifestyle; proud of their vampire ways. They even share their hair colors! And of course, both need to kiss already.
That was a perfect review! I was 24 when the film came out and saw it 13 times in the theatre in downtown Ann Arbor, right in the middle of studentland. It arrived in July, then disappeared. On Halloween it came back! I met my other half the following week, during those last few times of seeing it in the theatre. He was the projectionist and he cut frames from the film for me! I looked like I could have been cast in the film. I had the soundtrack. I made a jacket like Alex Winter's. I am still with other half and he has supported my love of cool vampires ever since (not the sparkly kind). Next May there will be a shadowcast at the Redford Theatre in Detroit that I will attend. Epic Sax Guy, Tim Capello, will be there to play 'I Still Believe.' Not sure how epic he will look now...
First time coming to your channel and I'm not disappointed. Having this be your intro video on your main page immediately made me subscribe. I wasn't born in the '80s, instead mid-90s, and by the time I found myself interested in vampires it was already 2008, but this film- oh, this film has always been my favorite. My grandmother, who raised me, gifted this to me for Christmas after taking notice of my reading materials. Bless her and her love for horror and sci-fi. No matter the time of year or however many years have passed, I still watch this movie. Despite the script flaws which you did cover here. No matter how much the vampire genre has grown over the years, this film still ranks high for me. I prefer them raw and animalistic rather the completely sentimental "woe is me" type. Give me the romance, sure, but don't strip these creatures of the night from their true nature. This film offers them both with the main group and the half-vampires. I'm also glad that someone has finally mentioned the undertone possibility of homosexuality. I honestly believe, at times, that Star only exists for a hetro purpose. One could literally re-write this story without her or Laddie, having David lore Michael in instead. Which really he does anyway when you look past Star's part. There are quite a few things that this film leaves up to the viewer to speculate that the book adaptation sorta helps with. Along with the somewhat recently published behind the scenes book "Lost in the Shadows." Yet, we still don't know backstories for most of the characters. Plenty have theorized, of course, and that's all we can really do at this point. Even when Hollywood dangled a possible TV adaptation in the fan's faces. I sometimes wish this movie came from an actual book, like the Vampire Chronicles, so that fans had an author to fall back to. One who could delve into the finer details and bring more life to the universe. Give me the juicy details to how Max came to be, how long he has lives, why he chose David and his vampiric brethren? When and how did they change? How does grandpa know about vampires- was he a hunter at some point? I know there have been sequels and a few extended comics. Like the fact David didn't die. Or that Old Widow Jonhson is a vampire too- in turn grandpa was a half-vamp. But I need moooreee. Yes, I can go on about this film like Maven can go on about Lestat. So I'll stop here. Thank you again for giving this film a decent review. For if there's one thing I can't stand about vampire reviews is how they all seem to gloss over this vampire movie.
LOL He doesn’t. It’s pointing to the most overlooked gay joke in cinema history…..😈 Sam puts the STUFFED BEAVER INTO THE CLOSET. 😂 How big of a laugh do think Joel had over that?
I also really like this movie's take on the milk carton kids. Kids going missing in the 80s was a legit fear of the time, and I like how the movie plays with that idea, explaining it with vampires
I think this movie hit home so strongly for us '80s teens because we saw it as a metaphor for AIDS. All the sexiest people are deadly. You can live in a half-dead state (have the virus) without fully falling to the dark (developing full-blown AIDS). We came of age in a time when sex itself was killing people right and left - a good chunk of our generation's vampires were a metaphor for that.
It just occurred to me that you could do a collab video with Rantasmo for like every other vampire movie because the theme of homoeroticism / sexual ambiguity or fluidity seems so present in so many vampire stories. :D Great review! Compliments on the design changes! Oh, it's so wonderful to have you back!
That's a good comparison, especially all the male banter and the way David's character plays out like the classic seductive bad-boy to Michael's naivete.
That's the right film to come back on. Love that soundtrack too, whatever you think of his movies, Shumacher knows his music. This and batman forever are two of the best contemporary soundtracks in living memory.
YAY! I'm so glad this show is back! I've never actually done the Patreon thing before but for Vampire Reviews I just had to because this is very much My Niche. I prepared for this episode by rewatching the movie, and it holds up way better than I expected. Obviously it's flawed and it's not like I didn't notice that the first time I saw it, but it's just very good at what it's trying to be, which is a shamelessly fun movie with some cool and memorable concepts. And that's the important thing. Also I agree that it really does a good job at setting up the menacing atmosphere. Not to mention the set design and the art design in general, particularly everything that has anything to do with the vampires themselves. I actually didn't know any of the background stuff about this movie! And it's interesting! I never really thought about the Peter Pan comparison much aside from briefly wondering why it was named like that. Or about the effect this movie had on pop culture vampires! And I wonder what it would have been like if they'd gone with the idea of the vampires being children... That sounds potentially really disturbing. And obviously like a completely different movie. Maybe someone should make that... Still, I'm glad they didn't do it here. I didn't mind the things that are never explained; in many ways that works better, keeps the vampires a bit more mysterious. Although admittedly it would have been interesting if there was a sense of them having become vampires _because_ they were so lost in their human lives. It's an interesting idea to explore. (And I love how many things you CAN potentially explore through vampires. They're really such versatile creatures in fiction.) Best things about this movie: 1: Cry Little Sister (seriously, it's one of my favourite songs period) 2: Edgar & Alan (... subtle naming there too. :p But these two are amazing. They're trying SO HARD to be cool and serious, it's awesome. They just keep stealing the scenes they're in.) 3: The vampires, obviously! Particularly David. Oh my god, they are so campy and great. And somehow they're still intimidating!
The word “boy” in the narrow sense of the word means teenage boys. Plus the 3 boys who tried to stop the Vampires were Junior High School boys. Young teenagers. And yes the okder brother and vampires are high school age teen boys. Grad-students.
"Death by stereo!" is the first time in my life I said a line before the movie. I was like 10 or 11 (my parents let me watch WAY more than a child should have) I remember thinking that maybe I should write movies since I was obviously good at it.
The Lost Boys have a special place in my cold and dark nerdy heart. The main reason is that Jami Gertz as Star was my first movie crush. And it's a damn cool movie. I love your setup and style btw.
i always think of vampires as old creeps no matter how young they look because their usually way older than they look being immortal and stuff the only temporary exception is if they have just being turned but even then after 30 years they aren't an exception any more their older than they look.
Just as a random idea pitch, and some point down the line, could you and Lindsay do a Loose Canon: Dracula? Anyway, it's awesome to have you back! I love this series.
I remember watching this for the first time years ago on late night t.v. 😄 It was awesome! So weird that the head vampire is the actor I know as Richard Gilmore. 😂
Underworld may rank higher on my list of favorite movies, but Lost Boys is definitely my favorite "pure" vampire movie of all time (The vampires in Underworld barely even qualify as vampires; Selene only bites someone ONCE in the entire movie). Lost Boys has great humor, an amazing soundtrack, great visual effects, and great makeup effects (from what I read they were the reference points for the "crinkled forehead" vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It was as close to the perfect modern vampire film as you could get... the only thing that ruined it were the crappy sequels.
It always amused me the idea of naming a husky Nanook considering nanook literally means husky. You're just calling the dog the same thing. Just in a different language.
The movie is full of epic scenes who never forget. This is the reason why people love it. The cinematography, the soundtrack, the vampires are great and and stand the test of time. The term nostalgic don't work here because most people discovered this movie years or decades later and if you center you attention only in see that some scenes don't had sense you never undestand why people love this movie.
Awesome! A new Maven review! Dreams really do come true. I really hope we get a Bram Stoker's Dracula review from Maven sometime. I know it's not perfect and some things don't work (lookin' at you Keanu) but Oldman is a GREAT Dracula in my opinion and the movie has had a big impact on a lot of the Dracula movies that followed. I'd really like to hear Maven's thoughts. Also I want that dog.
+Applepopess I've been looking and I don't think she's ever done a proper in depth review of BSD. I'd really love to get her take tho. She's a great critic and I'd love to hear her talk about what works, what doesn't, differences between the book & movie, and the impact it's had on the Dracula movies to follow.
I'm a child of the 80s and 90s, but I didn't see this movie till I was in my 20s, so I missed the nostalgia wave. To me, this movie is...solidly okay. It's not my favorite vampire movie but I don't loathe it. What DOES interest me here is the way they approach the vampires' powers of seduction. By taking away the Lost Boys' ability to simply hypnotize someone into following them, they develop a much more real-world kind of charisma, meant to attract a very specific kind of person. Namely, everyone wants to be a bad boy, or else to bang them a bad boy. (which is more people than one would have thought, back in the 80s) David's power over Michael is purely charismatic. He can whisper in his head and play mind games, but it doesn't look like he has any sort of *control* except for how Michael responds. Michael IS attracted to the Lost Boys' lifestyle in some way...just like the Darlings like the *idea* of Neverland more than the reality of staying there forever, never seeing home or their loved ones again. A properly gay version of this movie (yes, gayer than Schumacher's coding, I'm aware of the joke) could play that attraction up. We see this in modern heterosexual vampires all the time...but with the exception of pseudo-pornographic sexploitation shows like The Lair, it's never explored with any kind of depth in a gay male context. The primal attraction one can feel for the wrong man, the temptation of a life free from sexual inhibitions...or any kind of inhibition, really...this could be a fascinating theme to explore from a gay perspective. The conflict between eternal teenage freedom and sexual liberation, and mental and emotional maturity, could be a powerful story for a gay audience, told correctly. We have a lesbian version in various interpetations of Carmilla, but American gay male culture in particular seems to have this dichotomy, two different sides to it that are equally valid but not often represented. The one is the desire for what I like to call "homonormativity"; the American Dream circa the 1950s. Marriage to a single spouse, 2 kids and a dog, a white picket fence house in suburban America...all the trappings of "normal" life. It's a safe fantasy, something every healthy American is told they "should" want. The other is older, and considered to be somewhat...darker. Because of the way the gay male subculture developed, homosexuality got tangled up with masculine ideas of virility and promiscuity, to the point where 'gay men are promiscuous man-hoes' became a stereotype. But while like most stereotypes, it doesn't apply universally, or even to the majority, that particular stereotype didn't materialize out of thin air. To this day a certain portion of the gay male population has a conscious or subconscious desire to return to the 'free love' pre-AIDS-crisis era. I myself am polyamorous, so I've found what I believe to be a happy medium between these two seemingly contradictory desires. However, the vampire as a metaphor for this duality seems like a fascinating concept for a filmmaker to explore, provided it's done with enough a degree of skill, sensitivity, and taste. More a commentary on the two desires rather than a condemnation of one or the other. Of course I could just be talking out of my posterior, but I think it's worth thinking about.
Wish list: Your reviews of THE STRAIN and PENNY DREADFUL. I would include LET ME IN but I am really really bored with folks bashing one of my favorite vampire films for being itself rather than a previous adaptation of the same novel...
A compare and contrast video between Let the Right One In and Let Me In would be fun. There's a lot of interesting little (cultural) details that one could study there. If we include the original novel there's even more material. And speaking of wish lists: Carmilla (the novella and/or adaptations of it), The Hunger, Only Lovers Left Alive, Thirst, Near Dark...
(Addendum to the addendum: Oh. Damn. You already have Only Lovers Left Alive covered since... 2014. My bad. I should go through the archive more often. I'll stop now.)
Maven of the Eventide I'm going to try to go on Sunday if I can, but I'm out of town on Saturday until late, so not sure hahaha I'm going to try though - are you going??
The "lost" in Lost Boys also referred to & played off the real fear of missing kids that was prevalent in the 80s spawning "the milk carton kids." There is a scene in the film where Laddie's picture is shown on the back of a milk carton. ( The 80s is when people stopped letting their kids go anywhere by themselves. The fear was very real) Also, people of a certain age were often referred to as the Lost Generation in the 1960s, hence all the Jim Morrison references. So being A Lost Boy wasn't so much about not wanting to grow up as it is in Peter Pan, but about being tempted to drop out of normal, boring, safe society into an underground, exciting/dangerous one where there are no rules. Sex & drugs & rock n roll ....or in this case, vampires(presented as such)
“I had read Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire, and in that there was a 200-year-old vampire trapped in the body of a 12-year-old girl. Since Peter Pan had been one of my all-time favourite stories, I thought, ‘What if the reason Peter Pan came out at night and never grew up and could fly was because he was a vampire?’
- Joel Schumacher
Sounds like the Foot Clan in the 90's Ninja Turtles movie.
I was 21, going on 22 when this film came out. It was nothing to do with decadence. This era was most heavily marked by a doomsday pessimism, negotiated via a bunch of ultimately escapist fantasies. The Lost Boys struck a chord, but it was late to the zeitgeist. If, as a cinephile, I had to steer someone toward the Eightiest of Eighties movies, I'd go for something like Down By Law, Bladerunner or even Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
I think that since his parent's divorce Michael has sort of taken on the responsibilites of his father and even though on the outside he's perfectly adjusted inside there is a part of him that yearns for the freedom and lack of responsibility the vampires offer.
That's my take anyway.
I totally agree. He loves his mother, his brother, and would do anything for them. However, he was thrust into the situation where they had to move and he had to take care of them. The vampire's lives weren't what he wanted either, but they at least gave him a choice and a way out. His infatuation with Star had to do with leaving the psuedo-adulthood and become a real man. The irony he had to wrestle with was that in doing so he would never really grow up. Good review, but I think she missed some subtle arguments where she just wanted (or expected) the themes to hit you over the head. Some of this confusion, she rightly pointed out, might have come from the original story before it changed into what it became.
That even makes the Peter Pan/Lost Boys motif even stronger. He really doesn't want to grow up but is kind of forced to the vampires literally offers him that. In a way she is like the Wendy of the story XD
Did you ever notice that when Max is invited in for dinner, the look on Grandpa's face? It gives me the impression that Grandpa knew him for many years when he was a young guy and knew he was a vampire. One of those, "I'll be damned, he's still around!" moments. I think a prequel centered around that would be great. - Diobolos V''''V
This movie had an official\unofficial sequel, IT SUCKED!!!! (I don't mean that in a good way).
It's such an unorthodox scenario to figure out that g.pa was like "No! This can't be! ...Really? Then how?!"
Yup. They covered that in the comic book.
Yes the Grandpa was a half vampire!
Rewatch this movie & take a drink every time somebody says "Michael". You'll be dead by morning
Or undead, as the case may be. Especially if you drink David's blood, thinking it's wine.
A new video! And just when I finished watching The Lost Boys!
Well, I agree with most. I have to say that the deleted scenes show that Michael wasn't feeling quite good with his life. He seemed to have no direction, no job and not many friends. The regular cut made him look like he has no problems and no reason to join a vampire gang. I guess it's my Vampire Chronicles heart that made me see it this way, but I feel him and David have a connection similar to Louis and Lestat, in the sense that Louis was depressed and without direction when Lestat found him, but he still resisted him until the end. Lestat and David are both vampires who temp them to the "Dark side" and are really into a more hedonist lifestyle; proud of their vampire ways. They even share their hair colors! And of course, both need to kiss already.
Also the soundtrack is literally one of the best of any film.
I was about to comment this, but I just KNEW that someone else had to feel the same way. :)
@@netajones2098 Me too.
Cry little sister is with me till the grave
@@mikerochburns4104 got it on my Spotify couldn't agree more.
That St. Carla joke was perfect.
This is what started my love of vampire stories.
Great review, but you failed to mention the *true* star of this movie.
Which is, Keifer Sutherland's sweet, SWEET mullet!
rozz6398
the true star is the shirtless sax player Tim Capello
Yes, and Tim absolutely *did* need that much screen time....
Kartissa
Honestly he needed MORE screen time
That mullet is so sexy that this movie should have got a NC 17
That was a perfect review! I was 24 when the film came out and saw it 13 times in the theatre in downtown Ann Arbor, right in the middle of studentland. It arrived in July, then disappeared. On Halloween it came back! I met my other half the following week, during those last few times of seeing it in the theatre. He was the projectionist and he cut frames from the film for me! I looked like I could have been cast in the film. I had the soundtrack. I made a jacket like Alex Winter's. I am still with other half and he has supported my love of cool vampires ever since (not the sparkly kind). Next May there will be a shadowcast at the Redford Theatre in Detroit that I will attend. Epic Sax Guy, Tim Capello, will be there to play 'I Still Believe.' Not sure how epic he will look now...
First time coming to your channel and I'm not disappointed. Having this be your intro video on your main page immediately made me subscribe.
I wasn't born in the '80s, instead mid-90s, and by the time I found myself interested in vampires it was already 2008, but this film- oh, this film has always been my favorite. My grandmother, who raised me, gifted this to me for Christmas after taking notice of my reading materials. Bless her and her love for horror and sci-fi. No matter the time of year or however many years have passed, I still watch this movie. Despite the script flaws which you did cover here. No matter how much the vampire genre has grown over the years, this film still ranks high for me. I prefer them raw and animalistic rather the completely sentimental "woe is me" type. Give me the romance, sure, but don't strip these creatures of the night from their true nature. This film offers them both with the main group and the half-vampires.
I'm also glad that someone has finally mentioned the undertone possibility of homosexuality. I honestly believe, at times, that Star only exists for a hetro purpose. One could literally re-write this story without her or Laddie, having David lore Michael in instead. Which really he does anyway when you look past Star's part.
There are quite a few things that this film leaves up to the viewer to speculate that the book adaptation sorta helps with. Along with the somewhat recently published behind the scenes book "Lost in the Shadows." Yet, we still don't know backstories for most of the characters. Plenty have theorized, of course, and that's all we can really do at this point. Even when Hollywood dangled a possible TV adaptation in the fan's faces. I sometimes wish this movie came from an actual book, like the Vampire Chronicles, so that fans had an author to fall back to. One who could delve into the finer details and bring more life to the universe. Give me the juicy details to how Max came to be, how long he has lives, why he chose David and his vampiric brethren? When and how did they change? How does grandpa know about vampires- was he a hunter at some point?
I know there have been sequels and a few extended comics. Like the fact David didn't die. Or that Old Widow Jonhson is a vampire too- in turn grandpa was a half-vamp. But I need moooreee. Yes, I can go on about this film like Maven can go on about Lestat. So I'll stop here.
Thank you again for giving this film a decent review. For if there's one thing I can't stand about vampire reviews is how they all seem to gloss over this vampire movie.
6:59 I'll never get over that Schumacher would think teenage boys would have that Rob Lowe poster hanging on their wall.
Well, gay or bi boys likely would have. Rob Lowe was stunning in the 80's. Schumacher knew how to give something for everybody in this movie.
@@matthewkoch6937 Agree. I was a 14 year old baby gay when this came out and very much saw myself in Sam.
Maybe Sam is gay
Maybe he saw St. Elmo's Fire
LOL He doesn’t. It’s pointing to the most overlooked gay joke in cinema history…..😈
Sam puts the STUFFED BEAVER INTO THE CLOSET. 😂
How big of a laugh do think Joel had over that?
The follow up comic was really good, especially when David tells Michael that he would have never abandoned him.
I also really like this movie's take on the milk carton kids. Kids going missing in the 80s was a legit fear of the time, and I like how the movie plays with that idea, explaining it with vampires
I think this movie hit home so strongly for us '80s teens because we saw it as a metaphor for AIDS. All the sexiest people are deadly. You can live in a half-dead state (have the virus) without fully falling to the dark (developing full-blown AIDS). We came of age in a time when sex itself was killing people right and left - a good chunk of our generation's vampires were a metaphor for that.
It just occurred to me that you could do a collab video with Rantasmo for like every other vampire movie because the theme of homoeroticism / sexual ambiguity or fluidity seems so present in so many vampire stories. :D Great review! Compliments on the design changes! Oh, it's so wonderful to have you back!
Oh we have missed you as well My dearest Maven. soon as I saw your new video in my feed, I squeeled like a school boy!
Same here.
i'll raise a glass to that
***** blood or red wine?
cherry juice
Michael the first Bella swan and we know who Edward is haha
Drives up on his bike. "Hey, hop on Spider Monkey." Lol!
That's a good comparison, especially all the male banter and the way David's character plays out like the classic seductive bad-boy to Michael's naivete.
Who? Oh....the oily saxophone guy. Got it.
Once every couple of years, Maven comes out to feed...
Glad you're back! The internet needs more vampire reviews.
There she is! It's wonderful to see that you're back, miss.
OMG...I missed your videos so much. Welcome back, Maven. Great analysis as always.
That's the right film to come back on. Love that soundtrack too, whatever you think of his movies, Shumacher knows his music. This and batman forever are two of the best contemporary soundtracks in living memory.
Thank u for this Maven creature of the night for having me at first Bite at your channel! I was born 87
I've always had a crush on Jason Patric because he looks like he could pass for Jim Morrison's son.
I have been diving into older reviews. And this one was awesome. This movie is indeed very 80s camp.
YAY! I'm so glad this show is back! I've never actually done the Patreon thing before but for Vampire Reviews I just had to because this is very much My Niche.
I prepared for this episode by rewatching the movie, and it holds up way better than I expected. Obviously it's flawed and it's not like I didn't notice that the first time I saw it, but it's just very good at what it's trying to be, which is a shamelessly fun movie with some cool and memorable concepts. And that's the important thing. Also I agree that it really does a good job at setting up the menacing atmosphere. Not to mention the set design and the art design in general, particularly everything that has anything to do with the vampires themselves.
I actually didn't know any of the background stuff about this movie! And it's interesting! I never really thought about the Peter Pan comparison much aside from briefly wondering why it was named like that. Or about the effect this movie had on pop culture vampires! And I wonder what it would have been like if they'd gone with the idea of the vampires being children... That sounds potentially really disturbing. And obviously like a completely different movie. Maybe someone should make that... Still, I'm glad they didn't do it here.
I didn't mind the things that are never explained; in many ways that works better, keeps the vampires a bit more mysterious. Although admittedly it would have been interesting if there was a sense of them having become vampires _because_ they were so lost in their human lives. It's an interesting idea to explore. (And I love how many things you CAN potentially explore through vampires. They're really such versatile creatures in fiction.)
Best things about this movie:
1: Cry Little Sister (seriously, it's one of my favourite songs period)
2: Edgar & Alan (... subtle naming there too. :p But these two are amazing. They're trying SO HARD to be cool and serious, it's awesome. They just keep stealing the scenes they're in.)
3: The vampires, obviously! Particularly David. Oh my god, they are so campy and great. And somehow they're still intimidating!
So good to see you back
The Lost Boys is almost as quotable as the Princess Bride.
Nice in depth review. My favorite movie of all time. It turned 29 yesterday. Happy Anniversary.
I totally enjoy watching your reviews. Just found them. Binge watching.😊
Glad to have you back. I've missed a lot of the Chez Apocalypse crew.
Coming back after my hiatus after your hiatus, I like the set a lot more. Good colour palate and layout.
omggg im SO glad you and this series are back!! ive missed you so much
So glad you're back, Maven! You always give insightful analysis.
You're back!!!! So excited for more vampire appreciation!
Glad to see you back, I saw this movie recently too.
A UA-camr who reviews my favorite thing on the planet. Vampires. Omigoth! I'm so happy for this existence. Thank you so much for this!
I've missed you Maven :). And this new review was incredible
The word “boy” in the narrow sense of the word means teenage boys.
Plus the 3 boys who tried to stop the Vampires were Junior High School boys.
Young teenagers. And yes the okder brother and vampires are high school age teen boys. Grad-students.
:D, my the movie that devirginized my vampire movie virginity! I love it! It's great to see you again Maven :D
So pleased to have you back :)
So glad to have you back :)
Thanks for coming back. And so happy to see the shout-out to What We Do In The Shadows. Dare I hope that you'll be covering that film in the future?
Welcome back Maven! My Girlfriend and I have missed your videos.
"Death by stereo!" is the first time in my life I said a line before the movie. I was like 10 or 11 (my parents let me watch WAY more than a child should have) I remember thinking that maybe I should write movies since I was obviously good at it.
Great movie! It was so cool when I was 17. Now I’m old 😢😢😢
Welcome back!
*cough hope music movies comes back, too cough cough*
You have been dearly missed! Hope we're seeing more from you soon too!
I love the picture of Louis and Claudia you have on your shelf in the background.
The Lost Boys have a special place in my cold and dark nerdy heart. The main reason is that Jami Gertz as Star was my first movie crush. And it's a damn cool movie.
I love your setup and style btw.
I can't help it, this is probably my favorite vampire movie. I've loved it basically since it came out.
i always think of vampires as old creeps no matter how young they look because their usually way older than they look being immortal and stuff the only temporary exception is if they have just being turned but even then after 30 years they aren't an exception any more their older than they look.
Just as a random idea pitch, and some point down the line, could you and Lindsay do a Loose Canon: Dracula?
Anyway, it's awesome to have you back! I love this series.
Oh I'm so glad the Dom reminded me of You! I watched you ages ago on TGWTG . Subbed
My mom saw this movie ten times in theaters, and this soundtrack was the only record my mom brought with her to college.
Welcome back, Maven. I hope you'll get around to reviewing The Addiction or Vampire In Brooklyn sometime.
RIP Joel Schumacher
Great to have you back!
welcome back maven. you look better than ever.
Welcome back, our smart and beautiful lady of the night!
You're back!
We missed you SO much!!!
It's been so long :') Glad to see you back!
Ah Maven! We've missed you so much!
happy to see you back. sorry that you got released from Channel Awesome.
Made my week that you're back!!!
I remember watching this for the first time years ago on late night t.v. 😄 It was awesome! So weird that the head vampire is the actor I know as Richard Gilmore. 😂
Welcome back maven, things havent been the same around here without you
Awesome review! Loved the shout out to the Monster Squad too. BTW: Nanook is actually an Alaskan Malamute in LB. ;)
Underworld may rank higher on my list of favorite movies, but Lost Boys is definitely my favorite "pure" vampire movie of all time (The vampires in Underworld barely even qualify as vampires; Selene only bites someone ONCE in the entire movie). Lost Boys has great humor, an amazing soundtrack, great visual effects, and great makeup effects (from what I read they were the reference points for the "crinkled forehead" vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It was as close to the perfect modern vampire film as you could get... the only thing that ruined it were the crappy sequels.
How...in the hell did I never realize the peter pan thing...
Yay Maven vid!
I am so glad you are back!! :D
Mr. Schumacher just passed. What a hell of a legacy, right?
Sent from Dom you came highly recommended looking forward to a good UA-cam binge while I work
Maven!!! You're back!!! Yay!!!!!!!!
For me it was the first vampire film I ever saw
Totally excellent!!! *air guitar*
I exploded from happiness at the mere mention of What We Do In The Shadows...
Would be wonderful if you reviewed it sometime~
As a gay teenager when this came out, it wasn't at all unnoticed by a LOT of people who were watching it.
welcome back you were missed!
Man, thought you left channel awesome. Good to see you back!
It always amused me the idea of naming a husky Nanook considering nanook literally means husky. You're just calling the dog the same thing. Just in a different language.
Well, sort of like Simba in The Lion King I guess.
What language is that?
I love your videos. I hope your next three will be for Forever Knight, Nick Knight and Midnight Kiss.
It's been TOO long time! Nice to see you again :D
Yay am so happy your back. OMG happy dance =). love you x
yaaaaaay! she's back! FINALLY! I swear her outfits get more and more fabulous in each new video
I bet Grey read the review script and did a fantastic job! Welcome back Elisa!
Good to have you back, Maven!
The movie is full of epic scenes who never forget. This is the reason why people love it. The cinematography, the soundtrack, the vampires are great and and stand the test of time. The term nostalgic don't work here because most people discovered this movie years or decades later and if you center you attention only in see that some scenes don't had sense you never undestand why people love this movie.
I am so happy to be here.
Lost Boy: "Hey....i'm lost"....Vampirella: "Just how 'Lost'..are you?"🧛
I was almost in that film. I was visiting Santa Cruz and if I had gotten into that comic store just a bit sooner I could've been an extra!
Happy 30th Anniversary,Lost Boys!
Awesome! A new Maven review! Dreams really do come true. I really hope we get a Bram Stoker's Dracula review from Maven sometime. I know it's not perfect and some things don't work (lookin' at you Keanu) but Oldman is a GREAT Dracula in my opinion and the movie has had a big impact on a lot of the Dracula movies that followed. I'd really like to hear Maven's thoughts. Also I want that dog.
I think she has talked about that movie before, maybe she'll reupload the episode.
+Applepopess I've been looking and I don't think she's ever done a proper in depth review of BSD. I'd really love to get her take tho. She's a great critic and I'd love to hear her talk about what works, what doesn't, differences between the book & movie, and the impact it's had on the Dracula movies to follow.
Stefan Filipovits
BSD?
you mean the melodrama made by Francis Ford Coppola?
I love this OMG !! your back!!!!!!
I'm a child of the 80s and 90s, but I didn't see this movie till I was in my 20s, so I missed the nostalgia wave. To me, this movie is...solidly okay. It's not my favorite vampire movie but I don't loathe it.
What DOES interest me here is the way they approach the vampires' powers of seduction. By taking away the Lost Boys' ability to simply hypnotize someone into following them, they develop a much more real-world kind of charisma, meant to attract a very specific kind of person. Namely, everyone wants to be a bad boy, or else to bang them a bad boy. (which is more people than one would have thought, back in the 80s)
David's power over Michael is purely charismatic. He can whisper in his head and play mind games, but it doesn't look like he has any sort of *control* except for how Michael responds. Michael IS attracted to the Lost Boys' lifestyle in some way...just like the Darlings like the *idea* of Neverland more than the reality of staying there forever, never seeing home or their loved ones again.
A properly gay version of this movie (yes, gayer than Schumacher's coding, I'm aware of the joke) could play that attraction up. We see this in modern heterosexual vampires all the time...but with the exception of pseudo-pornographic sexploitation shows like The Lair, it's never explored with any kind of depth in a gay male context. The primal attraction one can feel for the wrong man, the temptation of a life free from sexual inhibitions...or any kind of inhibition, really...this could be a fascinating theme to explore from a gay perspective. The conflict between eternal teenage freedom and sexual liberation, and mental and emotional maturity, could be a powerful story for a gay audience, told correctly.
We have a lesbian version in various interpetations of Carmilla, but American gay male culture in particular seems to have this dichotomy, two different sides to it that are equally valid but not often represented.
The one is the desire for what I like to call "homonormativity"; the American Dream circa the 1950s. Marriage to a single spouse, 2 kids and a dog, a white picket fence house in suburban America...all the trappings of "normal" life. It's a safe fantasy, something every healthy American is told they "should" want.
The other is older, and considered to be somewhat...darker. Because of the way the gay male subculture developed, homosexuality got tangled up with masculine ideas of virility and promiscuity, to the point where 'gay men are promiscuous man-hoes' became a stereotype. But while like most stereotypes, it doesn't apply universally, or even to the majority, that particular stereotype didn't materialize out of thin air. To this day a certain portion of the gay male population has a conscious or subconscious desire to return to the 'free love' pre-AIDS-crisis era.
I myself am polyamorous, so I've found what I believe to be a happy medium between these two seemingly contradictory desires. However, the vampire as a metaphor for this duality seems like a fascinating concept for a filmmaker to explore, provided it's done with enough a degree of skill, sensitivity, and taste. More a commentary on the two desires rather than a condemnation of one or the other.
Of course I could just be talking out of my posterior, but I think it's worth thinking about.
It took me until recently to figure out that the actress who played Star later played the dorky sex therapist from the movie Twister.
Heya, Fang-face. Nice to have ya back ;) Mebbe I throw ya a half-pint next time I can spare it.
Wish list: Your reviews of THE STRAIN and PENNY DREADFUL. I would include LET ME IN but I am really really bored with folks bashing one of my favorite vampire films for being itself rather than a previous adaptation of the same novel...
Let Me In was a beautiful film. I think people are too hard on it, too. Both Let Me In and the original Let the Right One In were great vampire films.
A compare and contrast video between Let the Right One In and Let Me In would be fun. There's a lot of interesting little (cultural) details that one could study there. If we include the original novel there's even more material.
And speaking of wish lists: Carmilla (the novella and/or adaptations of it), The Hunger, Only Lovers Left Alive, Thirst, Near Dark...
Agreed. For me Let Me In and Let the Right One In are tied as my favorite vampire film, with The Lost Boys being my second favorite.
(Addendum to the list, for I could simply not forgive myself if I left out A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. "The first Iranian vampire Western".)
(Addendum to the addendum: Oh. Damn. You already have Only Lovers Left Alive covered since... 2014. My bad. I should go through the archive more often. I'll stop now.)
Love this movie, so this was a fun review! #80shard :)
Thanks! You're not going to Midsummer Scream by any chance, are you??
Maven of the Eventide I'm going to try to go on Sunday if I can, but I'm out of town on Saturday until late, so not sure hahaha I'm going to try though - are you going??
haha I'm definitely going Saturday and then maaaaybe Sunday. Can't wait!
Maven of the Eventide Excellent! If I get to go on Sunday I'll keep an eye out for you! :)
please review lost boy's 2 and 3 please!!