Dracula

Director: Tod Browning
Writer: Garrett Fort
Released: 1931
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloane, Herbert Bunston, Frances Dade

Lifeforce

Director: Tobe Hooper
Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Don Jakoby
Released: 1985
Cast: Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Mathilda May, Frank Finlay, Michael Gothard, Aubrey Morris, Patrick Stewart

Fright Night

Director: Tom Holland
Writer: Tom Holland
Released: 1985
Cast: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Chris Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys, Jonathan Stark

STEVE says: Score two for Tom Holland on the Guilty Pleasure-o-meter!

No, look - I love Fright Night, always have. I saw it five times in the theatre when it came out because it was Just So Cool. But then the 80s ended.

Fright Night does not hold up well in the new millennium. The soundtrack, the fashions, the hairstyles - it's all pretty embarrassing.

Still, Holland's storytelling techniques again stand out... and are again let down by simple logic. (Charlie Brewster watches movies about vampires constantly, but has to go to his friend Ed to find out how to kill one?) But, you know, guilty pleasure.

And thanks again to Icons of Fright for the TWO Fright Night Pirate Commentaries! You guys rock.

3/5

NIKKI says: Never been the hugest fan of this movie. I think when I was little, I watched the second one more than this. In fact, I think this might only be the second time I've ever seen this movie? Maybe...

Steve is a big fan, so to have him sit there and come to the realisation that it's not really a great film worked double for me. I was quite bored. Maybe it's the cheese? It is a bit cheesy -- the effects and the style and Chris Sarandon's over the top performance.

Could be I'm just so much more into I Was a Teenage Vampire, which doesn't suffer from the logic issues this one does.

I can't see myself going back. Sorry Fright Night.

2/5

Lost Boys: The Tribe, dir. P.J. Pesce (2008)

STEVE says:
The only reason - seriously, the only reason - to watch this movie is to see Corey Feldman reprise his role as Edgar Frog.

You know it's bad when a Feldman cameo is the selling point, eh?

1.5/5

The Lost Boys, dir. Joel Schumacher (1987)

STEVE says:
I saw this in the theatre in 1987, and I remember being a fan (even bought the soundtrack - on vinyl!), though today I can't remember why. It's all style-over-substance, everyone being so ultra-cool in a pre-goth, new-romantic kind of way that is completely belied by their mullets.

At first glance, the correlation of the Lost Boys of the title to the Lost Boys of Peter Pan is brilliant. Boys who never grow up, never age, never die. But the premise is handled so poorly, it almost seems as if it was dismissed entirely. It's hinted at during the opening credits sequence, with a "missing child" poster here and a face-on-a-milk-carton there, then completely ignored for the rest of the film. Surely that's a massive oversight. Did Schumacher not get the reference? Or was he too busy worrying whether Haim's wardrobe was gay enough?

Then there's the tone. Kiefer Sutherland's gang of Lost Boys are the prototype for the dead greasers from Sometimes They Come Back, all over-the-top with their tough-guy taunting and their inane giggling at inappropriate moments. All but Sutherland's David, who's still over-the-top, but in an Ace Merrill kind of way. Jason Patric plays Michael completely straight (in keeping with the homo-erotic theme, perhaps; Will he come to the other side with the Boys, or stay human and be with his new girlfriend, Star?), where Corey Haim, Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander play their roles for comedy. This all works fine until they all get together and the serious Michael is up against melodramatic David while Sam and the Frog Brothers are cracking wise. It just doesn't fly.

Worth noting is the fact that we were plagued with phone calls during this movie and not once did Nikki think to quote Tim Roth from Reservoir Dogs - "Motherfucker! I'm tryin' to watch The Lost Boys!" I mean how many times does that opportunity arise in life, huh?

2.5/5

NIKKI says:
Regardless of Schumacher's overall point, I still enjoy this movie. Is it great? No. Does it have some glaring issues? Yes. Still, it's a CLASSIC! Like all classics from the '80s -- think Mannequin -- it has its issues, its flaws, its hero-lines, and over-the-top outfits. Should a movie be faulted because it's a product of its time? For the most part, The Lost Boys follows the rules -- it's well-structured and well-paced, and scary when it needs to be. (Steve made me watch the scalping bit again and even though I know it's less than half a second long, it's still scary as hell!) So, give it a break!

...

Again, though, I have to agree, in part, with Steve. The main problem is a messing up of tone. Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland are so super-serious all the time that the Frog humour doesn't quite gel in the way it perhaps wants to. The humour grooves it all up for the teens, but no-one told Jason and Kiefer they were in a groovy teen flick. What we see in their performances is the pre-stages of two intense acting styles, both actors forceful on screen no matter what their roles, both never to be seen again in such lightweight fare. It messes with things, but perhaps the movie wouldn't have the intensity it does have were these actors acting any differently?

I just love this movie. And I love my memories of its key role in my life -- watching it with my mum, watching it at my 11th birthday party, getting accused of stealing it off a friend's sister, taping Corey Feldman's interview on Sally-Jessy after it where he wears the big spotted tie and says he's clean when you can tell he clearly isn't ...

3.5/5

30 Days of Night, dir. David Slade (2007)

STEVE says:
I didn't expect much from 30 Days of Night - and in that regard, I wasn't disappointed.

Great idea, I thought - vampires in Alaska during (you guessed it) their 30 days of night period - but it was poorly executed. The vampires appeared to wipe out most of the town in the first 10 minutes of their assault - so why'd they have such a tough time finding the last seven people alive? And these people, tucked away in an attic for nearly three weeks, they're eating what? And why didn't the vampires just dive in and attack like they'd been doing? No, not very well thought out at all.

Josh Hartnett was Tommy Lee Jonesing through most of it, Melissa George could have been more annoying, and Danny Huston was interesting as always as the head vampire, but that's about as positive as I can get. Whoever decided to cast Maoris as Ennuits needs some more anthropological schooling.

2/5

NIKKI says:
I know it was terrible, and made no sense -- Day 17? WHAT? WHEN? -- but I have to admit, it kept me interested. Maybe it was Hartnett, who has finally achieved the seemingly impossible by becoming a real actor and not just a cute guy trying to hang out with the big kids. He was great, actually -- all emotional and hard. He, truth be told, made the movie compelling for me. Something I never thought would happen and won't admit in a large crowd.

More points for this: the vampires were creepy as, the claustrophobic setting was creepier still, and the bloody effects turned my stomach, which I consider a great thing in these days of lame I Am Legend-like fakery.

Still, what the hell was with the super-fast passing of time? How did these people not get killed on Day 16? What were the vampires doing? I don't think our core group were that hard to find. And why did Hartnett decide to inject himself with vampire blood to save Melissa George when the life-saving sun was just hours away? They'd stayed hidden for 30 freakin' days -- another one surely wouldn't have hurt.

Anyway -- a mixed bag. Interesting elements, cool stuff to look at, but ultimately a failure.

1.5/5