The Lost Boys

The Type of Movie You Dream of Writing About

The Lost Boys is the type of movie you dream of writing about when you have a Substack about movies. Why do we love film? Because great films take us to places we never dreamed of visiting. They make us a feel a certain way. Great movies have scenes that become part of our very soul. These cinematic moments become etched in our brains like important memories. The Lost Boys is a movie that reminds you of why you love this art form so goddamn much.

I first saw The Lost Boys last fall. My wife and I went out on a date, something we rarely get to do together. We went to a horror double feature drive-in movie. A couple of millennials going to the drive-in theater like they’re living in 1976. The first movie was Carrie. Carrie was good. I understood the symbolism and I saw why people love Stephen King’s story. However, Carrie didn’t move me. The second movie of the double feature was The Lost Boys. The Lost Boys moved me.

The Lost Boys centers on a family that moved to the fictional town of Santa Carla, California. Lucy, and her two sons Michael and Sam drive into town greeted by a sunny California billboard. Welcome to your new home! BUT the other side of the billboard is covered in graffiti, a warning of MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. The town is plastered with missing posters posted by grieving family members. Why is this quaint beach town the MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? Why are so many people missing? Vampires. Vampires are why.

The way this 1987 film portrays the vampires is brilliant. The vampires live on the edge. They wear leather jackets and drive motorcycles. They have long hair and ear piercings. They represent the rebellion of the 1980s. The leader of this group, David, played perfectly by Kiefer Sutherland, looks like he got suspended from school twelve too many times and he decided to drop out. The rest of his group walked out of detention, flipped their principal the bird, and never returned to school. These are guys looking for trouble wherever they go. If they’re walking your way, you’re wise to walk in the opposite direction.

Allow me to write about the first major scene that captivated me that night at the drive in. Michael and Sam explore the town one night after moving in. It looks like an amazing place for two teenagers to explore, especially in the 1980s. There’s a boardwalk with shops, carnival games, and amusement park rides. They get to a Tim Cappello concert. I had never listened to Tim Cappello before, and really only know the one song from this movie, but I still believe! I definitely believe when that saxophone reminds me to believe. Jami Gertz walks in like a goddess. She catches Michael’s eyes. He catches hers. Later on, we find out that the seduction was all part of a plan to turn Michael into a vampire…or to be killed by one.

I honestly thought everyone in this town were vampires at this point in the movie. The people were rocking, head banging, and having the party of their lives. Tim Cappello absolutely had to be a vampire. Vampires are immortal and this man had hip thrusts of an immortal being.

As I mentioned earlier, this movie portrays vampires brilliantly especially for the decade in which it was made. They live on the edge. They challenge Michael’s sensibilities in a dangerous motorcycle race. They push him into proving himself. It’s not just seduction that brings him down this path, but a challenge of if he can keep up. He proves his mettle, but at what cost? He wakes up the next day as if he has a massive hangover unaware that he has begun the process of becoming a vampire.

Sam meets his first friends in Santa Carla. They’re the Frog Brothers. There’s a childhood innocence to these kids. They work in their sleeping parents’ comic book store. The boys are devoted to Truth, Justice, and the American Way….and hunting vampires. Everything they know about hunting vampires comes from the comics they read. Yes, this is a horror movie but it is also a childhood adventure film. It’s fitting that Corey Feldman plays one of the brothers. The same adventurous kid from Stand By Me, The Goonies, and Gremlins.

Kids of this age dream of adventures, right? They want to fight the greatest of evils to ascend their place of heroism. The Frog Brothers exemplify this. I just died laughing rewatching this movie and seeing these kids steal holy water and loading up their water guns with garlic holy water. Like I said, there’s an innocence in this horror movie that makes it so damn fun.

This is also a movie about brotherhood. Though it is challenged at times, the relationship between Michael and Sam is strong. There’s even a heartwarming line when Sam says, “Even though you’re a vampire, you’re still my brother.” These two guys look out for each other. They’ve been through the wringer in life. Parents divorced, they moved out west to California, and now the big brother gets turned into a half-vampire. It’s a great theme that is woven into this film.

We’re going to end with the music. All great movies have an amazing soundtrack. Not only do we get “I Still Believe” from Tim Cappello and his saxophone and his immortal hip thrusts, we get “Cry Little Sister” from Gerard McMahon. “Cry Little Sister” might as well be the official song of this movie….the official song of when people transform into vampires.