We have reached the number 12 I cannot believe how close we are to the top 10 and the final countdown thanks Europe for putting that in my head. Anyway, we have yet another great 80s movie creeping towards the top of my list. This one if you haven’t guessed already is the Joel Schumacher directed classic ‘The Lost Boys’. Released in 1987 this film was produced Harvey Bernhard based on a story by Janice Fischer and James Jeremias who both wrote the screenplay along with Jeffrey Boam. Made on a modest budget of $8.5m this one went on to recoup $32.2m which is not to be sniffed at. There is a similar pattern happening with the films around this end of my list which is that those that I love are not shared with the other critics with a low score from both IMDb 7.3 out of 10 and Rotten Tomatoes giving it a score of 76%. This was the 80’s brat pack movie with a cast list including - Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Edward Herrmann, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, and Alex Winter. I won’t be dwelling on the fortunes or otherwise of the young cast as so many young stars went onto a drug hell, producer oppression, or vanished from movies completely. Shall we move onto the plot.
Sam and Michael Emerson are moving, along with their recently divorced mother Lucy to a small beach town called Santa Carla. They are moving in with Lucy’s father so there are some major adjustments for them all. As young boys Sam and Michael start hanging out on the boardwalk. There are many missing person signs dotted around but they are trying to have a good time. Michael sees a girl whilst Sam sees a comic bookstore. Following Star (the girl) around but whenever he gets close, she is whisked away by a group of boys on motorcycles. Michael is drawn into the group with star being the worm on the hook for Michael to chase. The boys aren’t what they appear to be, meanwhile Sam is getting advice from the Frog brother (owners of the comic book shop) on how to kill vampires which he isn’t that interested in. Well, not at first but persistence from the Frog Brothers and him seeing different thinks twice. I will stop the story here as you can watch this one for yourself.
Added to that I would strongly recommend you give this one a shot if you’ve not seen before. There is just so many iconic scenes and lines and the way Kiefer pronouncing the name Michael. I cannot go any further without saying ‘How do you like your maggots Michael?’ The dynamic of the two brothers with the loving and dotting mother struggling to put her life back together is great. The boys who are obvious who they are, you can’t have a vampire movie without vampires in it and have to them riding around on motorbikes and picking off people here and there. At will so to speak. I cannot work out why these groups of vampires feel the need to add more and new members to their group as it always ruins the dynamic and leads to their downfall (please note - We Are The Night #235, Let the Right One In #75, Near Dark). Leave things alone and you’ll live a bit longer, but will they ever learn. Well maybe with Blade and Vampires they did. Sorry got a little side tracked there. This is yet another great example of how good the 80’s was for creating some movies that just inspired and had some genuinely great stories. This list could be just 80’s movies and it’ll still be great but as we move into the top 10 some other decades will be creeping in there although I think a good 6 of the top 10 are from the 80’s. It was a great decade of movies. This is a great example. Vampires are not the scary creatures they used to be in the old black and white movies and the hammer horrors also, but they do have a place in folklore and should be explored. The whole question of immortality when you have to live in the shadows and kill what you once were is a difficult question to ask. If you like vampire movies check this one out and The Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. I have just checked, and this is the highest Vampire movie in my list as there isn’t any more vampires from here to the end of the list.
Next up is a movie from the 90’s that will be hard for me to get through without getting emotional and it’s a comic book hero movie…
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