Death by Stereo (The Lost Boys (DVD))

Member Name: kimgraham

Product:	The Lost Boys (DVD)
Date:	16/08/02 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: SoundTrack, Cast list

Disadvantages: none

You might have to bear with me on this one, as it is my first foray into reviewing films!

The Lost Boys is one of my favourite films. It was a cult vampire classic which came out in 1987,and produced by Joel Schumacher, who also produced some of the Batman films.

As I said, The Lost Boys is a vampire film. At the end of the day the storyline of any vampire film is extremely predictable. You have a bloodsucking fiend who terrorises everyone leaving few necks unscathed. Then, after much blood has been spilt, without exception some wonderful hero, usually handsome and young, but not quite always, comes and does a good job of staking poor old Drac.

So, the skill in making yet another vampire movie is not in thinking up a wonderful story line with a wonderful twist at the end. We all know the probable outcome, so how does the film hold our interest?

This can be done in several ways. Firstly in the drawing of characters. Then there is the cinematography and special effects and last but not least the musical score.

For me, the over riding feature of this film is the musical score. It has a superb array of musicians and the sound track is worth owning in its own right. More of that later.

The special effects are nothing to shout about, really. There are one or two very atmospheric moments but it is not really due to the special effects. I think this was quite a low budget film!

The characters make this film. It was initially advertised as a horror film, but there is nothing in it that would make me want to watch from behind the TV guide (my usual position with horror movies, as I do not have a strong stomach for such things). There is one scene, which could perhaps be considered a bit gory, but it is over in a flash!
There are one or two moments of classic one line comedy and two romantic story lines, one between two middle aged people. You don't see that often enough! My kids consider you are past it b
y the age of 30!

Add to this a bit of blood and gore and you really have covered most aspects!

I will tell you a bit about the story:

Lucy ( Dianne Wiest) has gone through a messy divorce. She has left her home in Arizona and is taking her two teenage sons ( Jason Patric as Michael and Corey Haim as Sam) to live with her father in Santa Carla. Santa Carla is a seaside town with a vaguely rundown feel to it. It seems to be predominated by a large funfair and loads of teenagers. The two boys are not particularly chuffed to be uprooted. They move in with Grandpa, wonderfully portrayed by Barnard Hughes. Grandpa is somewhat eccentric and a keen taxidermist. Hughes does not have very many lines, but those he has are classic. I particularly enjoyed an early scene where Grandpa asks for his TV guide. Sam the younger brother eagerly asks where the TV is. He is told there is no TV.!"If you read the TV guide you don't need TV". You know, I can relate to that sometimes.
As the film progresses you get the impression that perhaps Grandpa is not as daft as he at first appears. There is an underlying sense that he is very aware of what is going on and is surveying the proceedings with some concern. He is certainly more astute than we are first led to believe!

Michael, the elder son is not interested in hanging around the homestead and roars off to town on his motorbike. There he encounters Star, a very beautiful and ethereal young girl played by Jami Gertz. Through Star he is introduced to David (Kiefer Sutherland) and his band of the living dead!

These two male leads are exceptionally well cast. Patric positively smoulders, oozing sex appeal with every breath he takes. He is stunningly attractive, if you are into "pretty" men. I must admit, he is not really my type! He wanders through the film never seeming quite on the same planet as the rest of us!

Kiefer Sutherland is amazingly powerful as David
. He is arrogant, cock sure and exudes sex appeal. Those eyes just cut right through you- and that was before they put the contact lenses in for the gory scene!

They are an excellent foil for each other, and predictably, they are both after the same girl. Michael becomes sucked in to the underground life of David and his fellow vampires.

While all this is going on, Lucy (the mother) has got herself a job in the local video shop. She is romantically pursued by her boss, Max, (Edward Hermann) who owns a particularly savage dog, Thorn. One immediately has the feeling that there is something very odd about the dog!
Lucy has obviously had her self esteem badly crushed in the divorce and is very flaky and neurotic. Wiest plays this type of part very well indeed. Feeling flattered by Max's attentions Lucy embarks on a relationship with him. I could never understand why, as he is so smarmy, but each to their own, I suppose!

So, what of Sam? He collects comics and has found a store, which specialises in horror and monster comics. There, he encounters the Frog brothers, Edgar and Alan. The Frog brothers work in the shop and seem to be experts on everything supernatural. They also have an unhealthy interest in vampires.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Grandpa is still stuffing animals!

As you would expect, it all starts to heat up. Lucy is now quite involved with Max, who is a slimy character with a sinister undertone about him. Michael is well on the way to becoming one of the un-dead.
There is a wonderful scene in the vampires cave where they are eating a Chinese take away. Michael is given some noodles. One of the other vampires tells him they are maggots, seeing maggots, Michael throws his container to the floor. "They're only noodles, Michael" says Kiefer Sutherland and sure enough, on the floor were a pile of noodles! We did not eat noodles for a little while after that!

Sam by now has worked ou
t that Kiefer and his cronies are vampires. He enlists the help of the Frog brothers, played magnificently by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander. The Frog brothers fancy themselves as latter day vampire slayers- Buffy eat your heart out! Unfortunately, they are a pair of bumbling buffoons. They have some wonderful one-liners, which really helped to make the film, which does have a comedy element it must be said! I particularly liked " Aah- it's the return of Eddy Munster" and " it's the blood sucking Brady Bunch!" Of course the comment "Death by stereo" is now legendary and there is even a band with this name!

I am not going to tell you any more about the plot, as I would not want to spoil it for anyone who has not seen it.

The film's success owes a lot to its atmospheric camera work, but far more to the superb musical score. The sound track is one of my favourite albums and contains numbers by INXS, such as Laying down the law and Good Times. There are also contributions by Roger Daltry, who sings Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me. Personally, I much prefer to hear Elton John singing it, but I was at the first recording of it, so I have a soft spot for the original version! There is a wealth of musical talent in this film. You also have Echo and the Bunnymen with the excellent People are Strange, written by the Doors.

For me, the most powerful music in the film is Cry Little Sister, performed and written by Gerard McMann. It has an underlying uneasy current, which portrays the evil. Over the top you have the children?s choir singing a chorale and an organ going all guns blaring. This gives it an extra dimension and symbolises the fight between good and evil. It is just a damned good song- one of my personal favourites.

This is a rollicking film, a must see. It is a combination of horror, romance and comedy and I see it as a Vampire version of Grease!

Give it a try, if you have
n't already.I have lost count of how many times we have watched it and it never loses its appeal.
It is extremely easy viewing with one or two classic moments. A real cult film of the 80's.

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