The Lost Boys (1987)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.
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7 films that influenced The Lost Boys
What critics say influenced The Lost Boys
Really, he's a vampire who thrives on his cult of personality; there's a reason that movie was called The Lost Boys.
With a nod to J.M. Barrie and "Peter Pan," these vampiric Lost Boys are living out every child's fantasy, but they would probably rather be normal kids than hanging upside down from the ceiling of a derelict, underground hotel.
Yet Schumacher was also a screenwriter and since his best scripts were humorous ensemble pieces like "Car Wash," it seems strange that he couldn't juice up this concept-ridden screenplay--by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam.
When little-kid movies started to bomb a couple of summers back, executive producer Richard Donner (director of The Goonies and Lethal Weapon) had the ages raised and a love triangle inserted.
In terms of movies, it borrows from "Ghostbusters," "The Goonies," "E.T.," "Dracula," "Night of the Living Dead" and any number of teen exploitation films.
But this faltering fantasy has more in common with "The Goonies" than with really first-rate vampire lore.
It's a reference--oblique, I admit--to Some Like it Hot and the necessity during one post-date drag sequence for Wilder to extend a beat, thus allowing audiences to stop laughing.
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The most successful of the breed, however, have emphasized the comedy aspect--things like "Ghostbusters," "Men in Black," and "The Ghost Breakers."
The story--after a short detour into "Rebel Without a Cause" territory--takes a steep dive into the worst excesses of the family-vs.-scuzz…
By the time the thing has played out, that subtle scare/laugh mix is a thing of the past and you feel as though you just walked out of "Breaking Away" or "Goonies."