Lost Boys 2 has been seen!

I’m absolutely psyched to see “Lost Boys : The Tribe” – hitting DVD in a few weeks. You could present me with the most negative review possible of the film, and I’ll still be first in the store to rent it on release day… and I’m betting I’m not alone, right?

There will undoubtedly be mixed feelings about the film, that’s inevitable, but I think we can all agree that Warner Bros has, from the outset, got a couple of things right from the beginning : Bringing Corey Feldman and Corey Haim back, throwing in nods to the original movie (The Saxophone player is apparently in there somewhere), casting Kiefer Sutherland’s brother as the head honcho vampire!, and most notably, re-inserting “Cry Little Sister” (albeit a new version) into proceedings. In my book, it’s already scored a couple of points.

We’ve received two reviews this week, both from overseas and from guys I know (they’ve supplied reviews in the past), which both state that Corey Feldman is the highlight of the movie (His manager will be glad to hear that!). At the same time though, one of these reviewers didn’t go for the movie, the other did – in fact, the other loved it! (I’m really intrigued by one thing he said – that it’s more “Near Dark” than “Lost Boys”, that could be a good thing!). Here they are…

Both of these reviews are Non-Spoiler Reviews (I have edited them a bit to make them so)

Lost Boys : The Tribe
By ‘Kerag’
If you take a while and think about the question how should the sequel to the modern classic “Lost Boys” look like, the answer seems to be a simple one. Let’s bring back two Coreys and explore their famous characters. Of course the film’s heroes should be Sam Emerson (Haim) and Edgar Frog (Feldman). Let’s see in depth what have happened in their lives for the past two decades and let’s give them a new adventure in their lives. If anyone bothers to see the sequel to the 20 years old movie, it’s because of these characters after all, isn’t it? Well, the makers of “Lost Boys: The Tribe” have a very different and quite odd answer to this question.

“Lost Boys: The Tribe” looks like two movies contained in one. The first movie is a impersonation of the original “Lost Boys”. It is not a sequel, it’s not a remake, not reimaging but impersonation – “impersonateuquel”TM – the new phenomenon in movie biz. And it goes like with an Elvis impersonator, he tries to look the same, he tries to sound the same. But he doesn’t have the voice nor looks and he sings in some cheap bar in the middle of nowhere.

The plot of the new film is shamefully similar to the original “LB” and many parts are simply re-used. Brother (Tad Hilgenbrink) and sister (Autumn Reeser) move to a small seashore town Luna Bay to find out that the place is ruled by a group of vampires led by the charismatic *uber*vampire Shane (Angus Sutherland). The sister tricked to drink blood turns into a vampire. The brother tries to help her and finds support in a militarized vampire slayer…It’s almost feels like the creative team behind “The Tribe” was forced to repeat the movie by the studio which doesn’t believe that the viewers have enough brain cells to develop memory.

Young actors who are the real leads in this movie are ok, but nothing above ok. It’s nice to see that Tad Hilgenbrink (who was Stifler’s mimic in a pathetic direct to video “American Pie 4”) has grown a bit as an actor. Autumn Reeser is very cute. Angus Sutherland was hired here because of his surname , although he does tries to be scary and mysterious so hard that sometimes he’s unintentionally funny. In general, the problem with this young actors’ little horror flick is it doesn’t surpass a random pick at your video store. It’s yet another “LB” rip-off. It’s not tragically bad, but it’s not good either… Unfortunately they officially call it “Lost Boys” and the attachment of that title to this very so-so movie is what makes you not like it. You see, the comparison with the original “Lost Boys” is a fatal blow for “Lost Boys: The Tribe”. The new film is in a totally different (and of course minor) league than its predecessor. “The Tribe” is a very tiny flick and almost claustrophobic in feeling. The lighting, the editing, the special effects, everything smells like tv. From the technical standpoint the quality of “The Tribe” is substandard for the feature. Honestly even “Buffy”the tv series had better production values. It’s obvious that the director and his crew struggle with a very small, in fact too small budget. Gone are the wide angle shoots for the first movie, or beautifully photographed&extremely long aerial point of view sights. Even the final showdown is too short and anticlimatic. The original had some metaphorical scenes, here there’s nothing like that. The original had a breakthrough performance from Kiefer Sutherland , nothing like this in here. And you could go on like this forever. It’s like 10:0 for the original. In fact it does do more harm than good to add “Lost Boys” to the title of this movie and promote it as the sequel.

But as I said, it’s two films in one, didn’t I. Well, the second movie is the Edgar Frog movie and it’s a much better film. Corey Feldman reprises his role of the fearless vampire killer and he’s amazing in this. Unfortunately it’s only a supporting role. Edgar Frog has less screen time than in the original film and is misfortunately paired up with the young lead (no chemistry there). But – despite it all – Whenever he’s on the screen, the film becomes interesting. He overacts big time, but in a good way. Feldman still has a very strong screen presence. It’s even not about the nostalgia factor, his performance would be interesting even with the original “Lost Boys” wiped out of its existence in our hearts and minds. The other treat is the return of the second Corey – Haim, its nice to see him, although it pretty clear he was added to the mix too late and has too little time on the screen. If you count on the true reunion of two Coreys and a cool interaction between them, there is some but it’s way too little and too late in the movie.

All in all “Lost Boys: The Tribe” as a stand alone movie is mediocre at best and as the sequel to the original cult hit is somewhat disappointing. Luckily Feldman saves the day and makes this low budget video film at least watchable. A year from now, no one will remember “Lost Boys: The Tribe”, but there still will be the big army of fans of the original film. The best thing you can say about “Lost Boys: The Tribe” is that maybe it’ll convince Big Guns from the Studio to greenlight the third movie as the “Edgar Frog: The Vampire Slayer (and surfboard shaper) movie” without new faces in the lead roles and better production values.

Lost Boys : The Tribe
By Boston Blade

Let me start off by saying : This is not your older brother’s “Lost Boys” movie (My older brother loved the film. I didn’t see it until it came on VHS – and even then, years later). But then, I don’t think it was ever intended to be. For a start, that film – if you go back and watch it – has a campy 80s tone that could only have been the result of shooting it at a time, and a place, where Joel Schumacher was behind the camera.

“The Lost Boys : The Tribe” may feature a similar storyline to the original – in some respects it could have been a remake of the original; wonder whether that was discussed at one stage? – but for all intents and purposes, it’s a different beast. Scarier than the original, and not as glam, it’s more “Near Dark” than “Lost Boys” – and you know what? I welcomed it! Who needs Cheese, when you can get a good meaty steak (or is that stake!)

P.J Pesce has done his own thing here, rather than simply copying Joel Schumacher, and the result is an out-and-out good time….. that may just put Corey Feldman back into the big leagues! (The guy is insanely good in this! He’s really funny – and kick ass!).

You all know the plot, right? Michael and Starr’s kids move to a small town. They run into vampires. Edgar Frog enters the picture – albeit he hasn’t got a lot to do until half-way through the picture – to save the day. Sam has little to do with the plot… but turns up at the end for old time’s sake (it seems like a last-minute add-on, betting it was).

As I said, the storyline is pretty much the same as the first – but not to the point where it becomes annoying. Tad Hilgenbrinck and Autumn Reeser carry themselves well as the innocent heroes/victims here, and Angus Sutherland proves he’s much more than just Kiefer’s little brother – he sinks his teeth into this role, and is a lot of fun to watch. But mainly, this thing is a showcase for Feldman – he takes charge from essentially the moment he appears on screen, and when he’s not on the screen, you notice it. He’s that good. I’d go so far as to say if the film were theatrically released for any reason, it’d be because of Corey – audiences will really enjoy his character.

There are some noticeable flaws – largely in the special effects department (the budget was obviously lesser) but considering how poor this could’ve been, I’m really pleased it’s turned out like it has (wipes brow).

The direction, combined with the rejigged template (Hans Rodionoff has done a good job at the script), and some great new characters – and old ones too! – make for a very good follow-up. Don’t expect EVERYTHING and you’ll get MORE than you asked for! Bring on “Lost Boys 3”!