Illustration by Lola Fleming.
Originally published in print September 2020.
Peter Pan has always been one of my favourite childhood stories. A fear of becoming a boring adult meant that the idea of a mischievous and carefree boy who can fly and never grows old leading his friends on grand adventures appealed greatly to me. So when I found out that The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher, 1987) was at its core a retelling of Peter Pan that also involved two of my other interests—vampires and ‘80s teen films—I knew it would be an instant favourite of mine.
The film follows Michael Emerson (Jason Patric) and his younger brother Sam (Corey Haim) as they begrudgingly move with their mother Lucy (Dianne Weist) to a small beach town in California to live with their Grandpa (Barnard Hughes). Michael finds himself caught up with a biker gang who, just like Peter Pan’s lost boys, never grow old. After realising that Michael’s new friends are, in fact, vampires, Sam enlists the help of the Frog brothers, two self-proclaimed vampire hunters, to save his brother.
The vampiric biker gang and their leader David (Kiefer Sutherland) is what initially grabbed my attention in this film. While I loved vampires as a child, I became disillusioned with them due to an oversaturation in popular media during my adolescence. I didn’t appreciate the romantic, brooding vampires found in Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008) or The Vampire Diaries (Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, 2009-2017). What appealed to me about the vampires in The Lost Boys was the same thing that had appealed to me about Peter Pan: they are reckless and mischievous boys who can fly and never grow old. This, together with a taste for blood and the backdrop of a beachside amusement park, made for some awesome vampires.
David and his lost boys also forgo the old-fashioned cloak and high collar that had come to be associated with vampires, their fashion more in line with the alternative post-punk look of the ‘80s. The vampires’ attitude and style is matched perfectly by the film’s soundtrack, which features multiple songs by INXS, a cover of The Doors’ ‘People Are Strange’ by Echo & the Bunnymen, and the film’s iconic theme ‘Cry Little Sister’ by Gerard McMann.
While the lost boys stand out as my favourite depiction of vampires on screen, in my eyes it is Corey Haim’s performance as Sam Emerson that steals the show. Sam acts as the comic relief against the more dramatic scenes, his quick-wit providing some of the film’s best comedic lines. But he also provides the film with an emotional depth that puts it a step above any other campy horror flick. Without the genuine adoration and fear we see Sam express for his brother, Michael would have no reason to resist the vampires. Sam and Michael have one of the most authentic sibling relationships I’ve seen in a film, evident from Sam’s response to figuring out that his brother is a vampire—“You wait ‘til mom finds out, buddy!”.
I could go on and on about how much I adore every aspect of The Lost Boys, from the outrageous death scenes to the Rob Lowe poster on Sam’s closet door. Every scene stands out in my mind as iconic. Every character deserves your attention—even minor characters such as Grandpa and Sam’s dog Nanook provide some of the film’s most memorable moments. But at the centre of all of this, the reason The Lost Boys is my favourite film is because it manages to capture so much genuine emotion and heart while never letting that take away from the fun of it all.
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