A divorced mother (Dianne Wiest) and her two sons, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to the coastal town of Santa Carla, the murder capital of the country. Michael quickly becomes mixed up with a beautiful girl and a gang, led by David (Kiefer Sutherland), all of whom have strange abilities. Sam meets Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog, teenage comic book freaks who think of themselves as vampire hunters.
Vampirism is the perfect metaphor for teen isolation, particularly if you want to allude to drugs and sex. Vampires don’t fit into normal society. They have strange hours, can be violent, and are always searching for something. They also aren’t in control of themselves and no one can help them. The Lost Boys, the best of the teen vampire movies, is two films in one. Michael’s story is about teen angst, uncertainty, and desire, and is taken quite seriously. Sam’s is an over-the-top comedy, where theme takes a backseat to slapstick and camp. Director Joel Schumacher interweaves the two, giving a rest from intensity for laughs and then cutting back when the jokes are getting too silly. It works. A few of the gags do go too far, and a little Corey Feldman goes a long way, but the mix is just about right. This is a fun film with characters I cared about. Patric has the right amount of intensity for a lost half-vampire (and looks strikingly like Jim Morrison, a fact not missed by Schumacher who has an old poster of Morrison in the vampires’ lair as well as using People are Strange in the soundtrack) and Sutherland looks odd enough that I wonder if he really is a vampire. The climax is disappointing, going for a laugh instead of meaning (and sense), but as a whole, The Lost Boys is entertaining and emotional.