[DVD Review (R1)] THE LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE

“The Lost Boys: The Tribe Doesn’t Suck!” See? See what I did there? Do you see now why they should get me on this lucrative poster/DVD quote game? I ain’t bullshitting you either. This straight to DVD cheapo sequel, “rushed out” twenty one years after the original, is going to get a rating that it doesn’t deserve, I’ll admit that straight up. It’s also going to take a movie fan of a ‘certain nature’ to see it for what it is and to recognise its better qualities, but let me put this to you:

Place this film up against any of the excruitatingly awful direct-to-DVD sequels in the American Pie franchise or that Dukes of Hazzard prequel or anything at all like 8MM2 or Road House 2… and you’ll find that, in comparison, The Lost Boys: The Tribe comes across as something almost as good as, well, The Lost Boys.

Refresh your memories for a second. Dash back to Issue # 8 of OFF THE SHELF, the one marked ‘Cult Favourites’ and you’ll recall that I said, of the original 1987 vampire flick:

“… Joel Schumacher’s 80s jewel is a 12 year old boy’s fantasy piece of ignorant adults, water-pistols filled with holy water, sieges and vampire biker gangs. Times change; Corey Haim and Corey Feldman have never been as good again, Jason Patric only got worse and Kiefer Sutherland has saved the world 6 times now. Go back and revisit this film before they ruin it with a stupid remake or a naff sequel. Not as good as Monster Squad but still probably in the top 50 movies of that decade!”

Here’s that “naff sequel”.

Twenty-one years on from the events of The Lost Boys and we’re in the shady surf city of Luna Bay, California. Into this dark world arrive Chris Emerson and his younger sister, Nicole. Having just lost their parents in a car accident, the siblings move in with their eccentric Aunt Jillian and become new prey for the locals way of life… namely vampirism! When Nicole unwittingly falls for a local vampire, Chris must locate and destroy the gangs lifeline before his sisters transformation is complete; to do this Chris finds himself relying on the expertise of none other than Edgar Frog (Feldman).

So let’s deal with what needs to be dealt with: In the same way that many children of the 80s were frustrated with Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the grounds that they waited 19 years for something so mediocre, I can imagine that die hard fans of The Lost Boys are going to come away from watching this, muttering “What? I waited 21 years for a sequel and you’ve essentially remade the first fucking movie?” Because, dear reader, that is essentially what this sequel is and its very much a case of realising that what you find most likeable about it is the modern retreads of all the ‘great bits’ from the first movie.

The acting (bar one exception, to be discussed in a few paragraphs time) is across the board flat out awful, there’s some attempts at comedic one-liners on offer that will make your asshole pucker to the size of a pin head with embarrassment and every single plot point is pulled kicking and screaming from Joel Schumacher’s original cult gem. Any attempts at original concepts are so woefully underdeveloped that they’re just frustrating. For example, what, pray tell, is the point of the whole surfing subplot and surfing sequences in a vampire movie if you’re not going to have any vampire attacks at sea or vampire attacks mid surf?

Corey Feldman is channelling some really shoddy Clint Eastwood impersonator and you kind of find yourself giving him your pity and embarrassed attention throughout in the same way that you do at family get-togethers when your gran gets up to dance to the remix of Beyonce. Angus Sutherland (Kiefer’s younger half-brother, trivia fans!) is just flat out disgraceful - most definitely one of the worst screen performances I have ever seen, and believe me when I tell you that you expect shoddy acting in direct-to-DVD movies but this takes the biscuit! And as for Tad Hilgenbrink? He’s everything you’d expect from the human vacuum that has Epic Movie and American Pie: Band Camp on his CV.

Most frustrating of all though, is that in the mid end-credits set piece AND the two alternative endings on the DVD you get a brief glimpse of the wonderful, exciting potential of what a TRUE Lost Boys reunion movie would be like. Jamison Newlander (Alan Frog in the original) is listed in the credits but only turns up in the alternate ending. And the alleged Corey Haim cameo? He’s present in the mid end-credits set piece AND the two alternative endings and the hints at what could have been are mouthwatering… Which Lost Boys fan wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to watch a sequel that saw the Frog Brothers split down the middle into ‘Master Vampire’ and ‘Master Vampire Hunter’? Who wouldn’t be intrigued at the idea of Edgar Frog (Feldman) versus a vampire Sam (Haim). There’s dialogue aplenty in these scenes to suggest there’s a whole history between these characters in the last 21 years. THAT is the movie we deserve to see. THAT is the movie they should have made. The very fact that such interesting concepts are casually thrown aside, plus the fact that Newlander is listed in the credits without even making it into the movie, adds further weight to the rumour that this film was butchered in pre-production, filming and post-production.

Instead we have to settle for a “safe” retread: trade in “wacky grandpa” for “wacky aunt”, swap the oiled shirtless sax player for a bloated aged sax player, take one sex scene with “Cry Little Sister” played over the top and replace it with another sex scene with “Cry Little Sister” played over the top. And so on and so on and so on…

The thing is though that with a great opening Tom Savini cameo, lashings of gore, lip service paid to The Goonies, The Big Lebowski (any movie that quotes Lebowski gets an instant ‘popcorn’ you have to agree!) and several other cool movies and huge amounts of nostalgic nods to the original movie (whole monologues and lines of dialogue are pulled from the original and reused), The Lost Boys: The Tribe becomes very much likeable. Firmly in the “so bad that it’s good” mold. It’s helped along by a really nice performance by Autumn Reeser in the role of Nicole. She’s sexy, sensual, funny where she needs to be and does a good rounded job. It could actually be the case that she’s awful but when a) she’s this gorgeous and b) surrounded by such inept actors, she comes across like Meryl Streep!

I guess the way that you have to look at it is that this could have been a flat out travesty and, whilst it’s far from great, it isn’t an ABSOLUTE disaster. If this is the start of a whole straight-to-DVD franchise for The Lost Boys (and rumour has it that pre-orders for the movie in the US had Warner Bros excited enough to get a screenplay commissioned for a third) then they’ve REALLY got to go with what was suggested within the end credits or in the alternate ending. Who wouldn’t be interested to find out how Sam and Edgar came to stand on either side of the “war” or how The Frog Brothers came to be “Masters” in vampire/hunter roles? Why it isn’t covered in this movie beggers believe!

But all in all, flame away all you like, but I’m going to judge this in accordance of the fact that it didn’t suck (punnery again, I apologise!) anywhere near as badly as I thought it would and I had a fair bit of nostalgic fun with it. I think anyone who adores The Lost Boys may find it’s not SO terrible either.

Fuck it. Say it as you see it, I say:

Popcorn Ratings Explained

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Posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 8:55 pm under DVD Reviews (R1) by Gazz.
Tags:DVD Review Region 1

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8 Responses to “[DVD Review (R1)] THE LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE”

Gareth Said on August 4th, 2008 at 9:22 am 1

Sounds…….ok. I have to admit that the idea of Sam & Edgar as vampire/hunter sounds pretty good and THATS what I’d have liked to have seen but at least it doesn’t sound too bad. I guess the real litmus test will be when I watch it with my wife as she is a pretty big Lost Boys fan - if she likes it then that’ll be all questions answered!

Gazz Said on August 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am 2

Have you heard about the R2 LOST BOYS 2 release in September?

It’s NOT getting a separate release! If you want it and you already own the original (and who doesn’t?!?) you have to buy a double-pack!

Gareth Said on August 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm 3

Now that sucks. I already own the first bloody movie! Why try and force me to buy it again? That’s just going to make me more likely not to buy the R2 release! Guess I’ll be importing this one. Least I won’t have to wait until September for the release though.