TOP TEN VAMPIRE FILMS - #9

Continuing our countdown of the top Vampire films of all time, at #9 is a film from 1987 that was a HUGE box office success and one that I remember seeing in the theater - THE LOST BOYS.

This film was made by director Joel Schumacher and stars Keifer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Jason Patric. It tells the story two brothers and their mom who move to a new town, Santa Carla, CA. The older brother, Michael, gets involved with a pack of bloodsucking bikers and younger brother Sam falls in with two strange kids known as the Frog Brothers who know the truth of what lurks in Santa Carla.

I almost hesitated to put this movie on the list simply because Schumacher directed it, which I realize is unfair. In retrospect I'm letting the complete shittiness of the Batman movies he directed color my perception of this movie. The Lost Boys is a lot of fun and although it is a campy movie it still has its scary moments. The pack of vampires is an interesting element of the film, especially juxtaposed with Sam and Michael's family. Michael finds himself torn between the two and must make a choice.



The Lost Boys is a true product of the 80s, a snapshot of fashion and attitudes of the time. I love that a comic book shop plays prominently at the beginning of the movie. Once the final showdown occurs this film falls a little too much into the cliche of having the vampires die too easily. This is a problem I have with most vampire movies that features large numbers of vampires - they cease to be frightening monsters and instead become cartoon characters, fodder for one silly death sequence after another (a problem I have with films like BLADE or FROM DUS TILL DAWN). But despite this THE LOST BOYS is entertaining and worth watching, and one I revisit from time to time.

Thank you Joel Schumacher

In classic art every art movement is a reaction to the previous one. Each is influenced by and in many cases a rejection of the movement preceding it. For instance, Impressionism was a move away from traditional European techniques toward an impression of the artist's perception of the subject matter. The artist was not concerned with creating an exact reproduction of the subject so much as presenting his own interpretation of that subject.




The Expressionists, on the other hand, were interested in distortion and exaggeration for emotional effect.  Rather than painting their interpretation of the world like those who preceded them, they exaggerated their subjects for emotional impact. Expressionism was both evolved from and a movement away from Impressionism.






With that thought in mind I turn your attention to the much-maligned Joel Schumacher Batman films. Schumacher was moving away from the dark-toned comic book feel of the Burton films towards… well, something else entirely. His films channeled the 1960s Batman TV series as much as anything else, but the problem was he was 30 years too late. People change, sensibilities change, society changes - and what worked then certainly didn't translate very well to the 1990s. His movement was a bouncy, neon splattered, nipple laden movement that confounded both fans of the 60s series and the Burton films.



The best thing that ever came out of the Schumacher films was the NEXT movement, the Christopher Nolan films. Nolan's films are the polar opposite of Schumacher's - where Schumacher was gaudy and neon lit Nolan was gritty and shadow laden. Where Schumacher was campy and humorous, Nolan was serious and humorless. Schumacher's Batmobile looked like a cheap matchbox car (complete with floppy fins), Nolan's looked like a militaristic war machine. Schumacher's Batman outfits look like bad broadway costumes, Nolan's looks like functional body armor.

 

So thank you, Joel Schumacher. Thank you for giving us Batman films that sucked so much. Without your laughable interpretation we never would have gotten the fantastic Christopher Nolan trilogy. Thank you for influencing those who followed you to drastically improve upon the shit you spewed. Your movement was a very loose one indeed.