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In the last few years, the vampire craze has hit an all-new high, thanks to author Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series. So, with vampires back in the spotlight, it’s no surprise that former teen star Corey Feldman would decide to capitalize on the craze by franchising The Lost Boys—a movie that kicked off a vampire craze of its own back in the ‘80s.
In Lost Boys: The Thirst, the third film in the series (following 2008’s Lost Boys: The Tribe), vampire hunter Edgar Frog (Feldman) has hit rock bottom. In the last five years, he’s lost both his brother, Alan (Jamison Newlander), and his best friend, Sam, in one way or another. Now, he’s resorted to selling his beloved comics to keep from being evicted from his old trailer.
Edgar’s finally offered a vampire-hunting job that will pay the rent—but it means working with popular vampire novelist Gwen Lieber (Tanit Phoenix). Gwen is concerned about her brother, Peter (Felix Mosse), who recently disappeared from a rave in Ibiza. According to Gwen, the raves are hosted by the mysterious DJ X (Seb Castang), who’s pushing a club drug called The Thirst, which is actually vampire blood. DJ X is creating an army of vampires—and he’s rumored to be heading to California. So, with the help of his friend, Zoe (Casey B. Dolan), and an obnoxious reality star, Edgar sets out to prevent a bunch of angry goth teens from becoming an army of angry teen vampires.
This straight-to-home-video release definitely isn’t the fun-loving, action-packed vampire adventure that Joel Schumacher’s 1987 original Lost Boys was. The writing is kooky, complete with silly jabs at reality TV (which, incidentally, helped to pay star / executive producer Feldman’s bills for a couple of seasons) and plenty of amusing attacks on Twilight (which, again, seems an awful lot like biting the hand that feeds you). At the same time, though, while arguing that Gwen’s books are absolutely ludicrous because there’s nothing sexy about vampires, the film goes out of its way to crank up the sex appeal with plenty of nudity and girl-vampire-on-girl-vampire action.
The acting, meanwhile, goes beyond over-the-top, even over-shooting flat-out ridiculous. Feldman himself is the worst offender, growling, scowling, and snarling through his lines. Though it seems to be an attempt to show his character’s anger and frustration, it’s just plain laughable—and more than slightly embarrassing.
Yet, despite the film’s blatant absurdity, it still seems to take itself—and the franchise—a bit too seriously, making frequent references to the good old days through flashback clips from the original Lost Boys and even a visit to Sam’s grave (a rather awkward tribute to the late Corey Haim). It makes the tone of the movie difficult to decipher—and you’ll never really know whether it’s trying to be this campy or whether it’s just unintentionally funny.
Still, while teenage girls are mooning over Edward Cullen, Lost Boys: The Thirst gives their big brothers their own vampire movie to enjoy—one that comes complete with naked breasts, goofy vampire-fighting weapons, and some decent vampire action, too. Whether or not the camp is intentional doesn’t really matter; either way, it’s still good for some cheesy B-movie entertainment.
DVD Review:
The DVD release of Lost Boys: The Thirst includes just one special feature: The Art of Seduction: Vampire Lore. The 12-minute extra, hosted by Charisma Carpenter (whose hosting is even worse than Feldman’s acting), features authors, screenwriters, and others discussing vampire folklore and symbolism, as well as the significance of the original Lost Boys movie. Unless you’re especially fascinated by all things vampire, though, it’s not a must-see.
