My trio of favorite vampire films is now complete with the viewing of 1987’s The Lost Boys. If Fright Night got me into horror movies, and Near Dark showed me how violent and bloody vampires could be, then The Lost Boys showed me how cool vampires could be (and how awesome the occasional vampire hunters could be).

Released in 1987, this highly enjoyable flick is the next stop in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book by director John Landis.

Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Alex Winter, and Jami Gertz made a lasting impact on me. Not to mention the soundtrack (on cassette) that would often get played repeatedly on my night time drives around the island I grew up on.

Recently divorced Lucy (Wiest) and her two sons, Sam (Haim) and Micheal (Patric) end up in Santa Carla (the murder capital of the world) to move in with her father (Hughes). As Sam checks out the local comic book scene and meets the Frog Brothers, Edgar (Feldman) and Allen (Jamison Newlander), Micheal falls in with a bad crowd when he falls for Star (Gertz).

Star runs with a group of motorcycle, awesomely dressed fellas, led by David (Sutherland), who initiate Micheal into their group.  Unfortunately, that means turning him into a vampire – before he and Star can make their first kill, it may be up to younger brother Sam to save them, with the help of the Frog brothers.

It’s funny, scary, and to me at the time, it looked so cool. Some of it has aged better than the rest. David and his gang still exude cool, and their vampire makeup is great.

The film has Schumacher’s flashy colorful style, and moves along at a great pace, often pairing scares and laughs in close proximity. And while it can be argued that the film is more style than substance, it definitely looks great, and still resonates with me. This was also the first time that we really saw the positioning of vampires as younger (looking) characters – something that would influence countless films and television series through the years.

This was the film, alongside Stand By Me, that introduced me to Sutherland, and made me a lifelong fan, but at the time, I most related to the Frog Brothers, and it was cool to see nerdy characters, not so different from who I was as a teen, being portrayed on-screen – and this was another reason the film resonated with me.

That, and that kick ass soundtrack!

I love settling in for this one, and sadly it had been a few years since I had actually seen it. But watching it again for the blog brought back a lot of memories, and lots of quotable dialogue.

The Lost Boys is only one of many great films waiting to be discovered in DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies. Pick one up today, and indulge in the macabre tonight!