THE LOST BOYS (1987)

 

(Director: Joel Schumacher. Screenwriters: Jan Fischer, James Jeremias, and Jeffrey Boam.)

Review

Lucy, recently divorced mother with two teenage sons, relocates to Santa Carla, California, to live with her father (played by a hilarious Barnard Hughes). Her teenage sons are Michael Emerson (Jason Patric, ROGER CORMAN’S FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, 1990) and his slightly younger brother Sam (Corey Haim, SILVER BULLET, 1985). As they enter Santa Carla, its greeting sign sports a spraypainted warning on its wooden backside: “Murder Capital of the World*.” An excitable Sam notes the graffiti, while Lucy and Michael tamp down his proclamations that they shouldn’t move there, though Michael isn’t thrilled about the move either.

When Sam and Michael go to the local Boardwalk (actually, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California), Michael is instantly smitten with Star (Jami Gertz), a pretty, young woman who runs with a pack of motorcycle-riding punks.  It appears she’s an item with the menacing David Powers (Kiefer Sutherland), leader of the vampire gang. Star is not alone in noting Michael’s attention toward her; David is aware of it too and means to do something about it.

Before long, Michael—like Star—is a reluctant coffin convert. Michael’s change affects those around him. David and his crew relentlessly push Michael to join them and if he doesn’t, they’ll kill everyone Michael cares about.

Meanwhile, Sam has made buddies with the adolescent Frog brothers, Edgar (Corey Feldman, FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984) and Alan (Jamison Newlander, THE BLOB, 1988), self-proclaimed vamp-killers and comic bookstore owners. When Sam, Alan, and Edgar find out that Michael is wavering between life and undeath—his out-all-night lifestyle symptomatic of drug addiction—they, with Michael and Star’s help, seek out David and his cohorts to destroy them, even as Lucy is drawn to her video store employer, Max (Edward Hermann, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, 2014).

This popular horror comedy—which effectively manages both elements—was released stateside on July 31, 1987. It’s a respectful, more violent, and bloodier spin on J.M. Barrie’s 1904 stage play PETER PAN; OR, THE BOY WHO WOULDN’T GROW UP, later a 1911 novel by Barrie. LOST’s title—reference to Pan’s eternally young companions—as well as its themes and structure also stem from Barrie’s PAN.

LOST delights on all levels. Its visual aspects, camera movement, pop culture-savvy and quotable dialogue, and other elements make it stand out in a genre glutted with tripe. LOST is further elevated by its all-around stellar players, who include Dianne Wiest (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, 1990) as Lucy, and Alex Winter (FREAKED, 1993) as Marko.

LOST is one of the best bloodsucker flicks in its genre, an on-the-surface R-rated teen-themed B-flick made by all-around great talent and book-based thrills. Worth watching and owning, this. Followed by two direct-to-video sequels, LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE (2008) and LOST BOYS: THE THIRST (2010).

[*Santa Cruz, California, where much of LOST was shot, was given this macabre moniker after three different killers, in a short period of time, did their foul deeds sometimes in the 1970s.]

 

Deeper film(ic) dive

According to IMDb, LOST ‘s other references include:

Lucy, Sam and Michael’s mom, is named after Lucy Westenra, a character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel DRACULA;

Alan and Edgar Frog’s first names acknowledge macabre author Edgar Allan Poe.

AVA’S POSSESSIONS (2015)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Jordan Galland)

Review

Ava, a young woman recently possessed by a demon (Naphula), tries to rebuild her post-demonic life and make amends, a frustrating endeavor for a number of reasons: she can’t remember what she did (though there’s a mysterious blood stain on her floor); her family, while supportive, are hiding something about the month she spent assaulting and sleeping around with people; and Naphula, tormenting her with unsettling flash-visions, still wants her as his vessel. On the plus side, the law will forgive her crimes if she attends a possession recovery group run by the no-nonsense Tony (Wass Stevens). There, she also befriends Hazel (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), one of its group members whose unhealthy fascination for her former devil may also imperil Ava.

AVA'S is a tightly written and edited possession-as-addiction drama, entertaining and brisk with its fresh, unsettling and sometimes comedic take on its whiff-of-brimstone theme, although one of its twisty subplots feels forced, an unnecessary ingredient that briefly jarred me out of AVA’S spell.  Its overall look, camerawork, feel and Sean Lennon’s score also work on all levels, making its behind-the-scenes talent a group to take seriously, as are its onscreen players.

AVA’S players include: Louisa Crause as the fully realized Ava; William Sadler (THE MIST, 2007) as Bernard, Ava’s father; John Ventimiglia (ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE UNDEAD, 2009) as Father Merrino—AVA’S director, Jordan Galland, also helmed ROSENCRANTZ; Dan Fogler (HELLBENDERS, 2012) as J.J. Samson, Ava’s lawyer; Lou Taylor Pucci (EVIL DEAD, 2013) as Ben Branson; and Carol Kane (WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, 1979) as Talia, owner of a magick shop Ava visits.

AVA’S is a worthwhile flick if you can overlook a clutter-twist, and enjoy cut-to-it, character-centric drama that blends horror, crime thriller and underlying humor. Highly recommended, this.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997)

 

(Director: Jim Gillespie. Screenwriter: Kevin Williamson.)

Plot: A year after a Fourth of July hit-and-run accident, those responsible for or witness to the death reunite, and are terrorized by a mysterious murderer bent on revenge.

 

Review

Loosely based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 bloodless suspense YA novel of the same name, this violent, R-rated film is considerably more violent when compared to Duncan’s book.

Kevin Williamson’s script (penned before he wrote SCREAM, 1996) is sometimes-clever, genre-knowledgeable and, for the most part, tight. Williamson fans may appreciate KNOW’s brief dialogue nod to one of his other creative gigs, DAWSON’S CREEK (1998-2003). Make no mistake—KNOW is nowhere near as good as SCREAM, but, judged on its own dumb-character merits and intended audience (horror-lite fans), KNOW mostly works.

The acting, often melodramatic (especially Jennifer Love Hewitt’s), suits KNOW and its late-adolescent audience, as does its now-dated 1990s soundtrack, settings (primarily Southport, North Carolina) and its overall look. Its stalk-and-slay scenes are effectively tracked and relatively bloodless, and while there are too many jump scares, the twists, for the most part, work, making KNOW a solid soft entry into the mainstream thriller genre for those who aren’t hardcore about their terror films—and, just as importantly, can forgive its young characters who do massively stupid things. (Thematically, Duncan’s relatively low-key KNOW was about young adults struggling to transition from high school to adulthood, something that gets less play in the noise of its cinematic counterpart.)

KNOW has a solid-to-good cast. Jennifer Love Hewitt played Julie James, the oft-hysterical embodiment of the hit-and-run group’s conscience. Sarah Michelle Gellar (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, 1997-2003) played Helen, the blond, uncertain opposite number of Julie. Freddie Prinze Jr., Gellar’s now-husband and co-star in the SCOOBY-DOO films, played Ray Bronson. Ryan Phillipe (Gellar’s co-star in CRUEL INTENTIONS, 1999) played an angry, alcoholic Barry Cox.

KNOW’s support players include: Anne Heche as Melissa “Missy” Egan, grief-haunted sister of David Egan─Anne Heche, in a later interview, said she was hired “to be scary,” and she is; Johnny Galecki (RINGS, 2017) as Max; Muse Watson as Ben Willis/Fisherman. An uncredited Patti D’Arbanville, seen briefly in one shot while Helen is on the phone, played Mrs. Shivers, Helen and Elsa’s mother.

The ending doesn’t ruin the movie, but it comes close. On a story level, it’s forced and perhaps studio-mandated, an unnecessary finish that demands an unnecessary sequel. Despite its unfortunate wrap-up and its melodrama, KNOW is a mostly solid entry in the barely-an-R-rated thriller genre, made for viewers who aren’t big horror fans and are fans of pretty actors.

Two sequels, I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1998) and I’LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2006), followed, as did an Amazon Prime/streaming show. A remake of the original is said to be in the works.

THE WRETCHED (2019)

 

(Directors/screenwriters: Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce)

Plot: An angry adolescent boy discovers that a thousand-year-old witch is living next door and tries to keep those around him safe.

 

Review

WRETCHED is half of a good movie, setting up what could have been a solid creepy-supernatural-neighbor work, with unsettling atmosphere, palpable (and well-acted) character emotions, and witch-centric-effective storytelling. Unfortunately, the second half is an unfocused mess of missed spooky, tight-tale-telling opportunities. WRETCHED’s leaves-room-for-a-sequel end-scene is solid, not shocking, but not egregiously bad either. Despite my criticisms of this film, the first half of WRETCHED makes me want to keep an eye on future works of its director-screenwriters, sons of Bart Pierce, who created the visual effects for Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD (1981).

CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984)

 

(Director: Fritz Kiersch. Screenwriter: George Goldsmith, his work loosely based on Stephen King’s short story, republished in his NIGHT SHIFT anthology, 1978.)

 

Review

Gatlin, Nebraska, the early 1980s. One Sunday morning, during a “corn drought,” most of the kids kill the adults in town. This brief-segment event is narrated by a young boy (Job, shown later) after the fact.

October third, three years later. A doctor, Burt Stanton (Peter Horton, FADE TO BLACK, 1980), and Vicky Baxter (Linda Hamilton, THE TERMINATOR, 1984) a couple, drive to Seattle, Washington. They’re in day-bright Nebraska, near Gatlin, when a throat-slashed boy (Joseph, played by Jonas Marlowe) stumbles in front of Burt’s car—Burt can’t stop in time, he hits Joseph.

Burt and Vicky check the dead teenager, unaware that Joseph was fleeing the adult-murdering, corn god worshipping cult. Seeing Joseph’s non-vehicular (and fatal) wound, Burt places his corpse in the car trunk, intending to report the crime to the local authorities. The couple also doesn’t know they’re being observed, something revealed via killer-point-of-view (POV) shots—used throughout CHILDREN—while trying-to-be-creepy choral music plays.

A series of cultic designs detour Vicky and Burt onto Gatlin’s eerie, seemingly deserted main street. The rest of CHILDREN is a series of frenetic cycles of life-and-death pursuits and confrontations between the Seattle-bound “outlanders” and faith-rabid Nebraskan youth—much of it fueled by menacing cultist Malachai Boardman (Courtney Gains), a kill-happy, scythe-wielding adolescent looking for the next “Blue Man” sacrifice in the cornfield where He Who Walks Behind the Rows overtly manifests Himself.

Loosely based on Stephen King’s tale of the same name* and shot in multiple locations in Iowa, CHILDREN is more upbeat and streamlined than its source tale, making it an almost generic terror flick, e.g., its loose-thread, scriptural reference to the Blue Man (whose real-world source should’ve been revealed in the film), as well as its altered, less-grim ending.

Not only that, CHILDREN, mostly suspenseless, is overlong—unfortunate, because CHILDREN’s source-story set-up is perfect for a tightly penned, B-movie-fun episode of TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1989-96), CREEPSHOW (2019-present) or shows of that ilk, where there’s enough time for King’s key source-tale backstory and the visual economy of an hourlong program.

Some genre-familiar viewers might take issue with its soundtrack, composed by Jonathan Elias (LEPRECHAUN 2, 1994)—though it sounds like he tried to imbue CHILDREN’s aural aspects with innocence and eeriness, overuse of its jump-scare motifs and constant OMEN-esque (1976) choral-lite lifts makes the film’s score come off as heavy-handed and distracting at times, perhaps further reflecting CHILDREN’s monetary constraints.

CHILDREN sports cheesy (even for back then) effects and minimal blood spatters (when more was realistically called for), something—like the rest of its qualities—are attributable to its budget being halved shortly before its cameras rolled. More-ambitious effects and set-pieces were planned, but when King (supposedly) demanded more money to put his name on the title, those scenes were abandoned prior to filming. I would’ve liked to see what FX artists Wayne Beauchamp (EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, 1977, uncredited) and Eric Rumsey (PRAY FOR DEATH, 1985) could’ve done with more money.

One of the elements that has aged well with this film is its cinematography, provided by João Fernandes (THE PROWLER, 1981). His visual tones maintain the day-heat and nightfall of CHILDREN’s milieu; also, its set design (Cricket Rowland, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., 1985) and art direction (Craig Stearns, THE BLOB, 1988) are particularly effective.

Other notable, effective cast members include:

Robby Kiger (THE MONSTER SQUAD, 1987) as Job, opening-segment narrator and one of the two kids who help the “outlanders”;

Annie Marie McEvoy (INVITATION TO HELL, 1984) as Sarah, who, blasphemously, draws her future-event visions, and also helps Burt and Vicky;

John Franklin (THE ADDAMS FAMILY, 1991) as Isaac Chroner, Gatlin’s iconic and eerie-faced cult leader;

John Philbin (THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1985) as Amos Deigan, eager sacrifice for He Who Walks Behind the Rows;

and

character actor R.G. Armstrong (RACE WITH THE DEVIL, 1975) as Diehl, a gas station owner who directs Vicky and Burt to the safety of Hemmingford (“nineteen miles away”)—the same location that attracts, via dreams, many of the protagonists in King’s 1978 novel THE STAND.

Mitch Carter (THE FIRST POWER, 1990) lends his voice talent to CHILDREN as the over-the-top “Radio Preacher” Vicky and Burt mock, then dread.

Given its limitations, CHILDREN has fun B-flick parts, if you don’t expect much, don’t mind generic Eighties cheese, characters who won’t kill to save their own lives, and aren’t a book-to-film purist. I wouldn’t actively seek CHILDREN out, but it’s far from the worst King adaptation to grace the silver screen.

Nine sequels, starting with CHILDREN OF THE CORN II: THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE (1993), followed. A remake, also titled CHILDREN OF THE CORN, aired on stateside television on September 26, 2009, directed by Donald P. Borchers.

 

[*republished in King’s 1978 anthology NIGHT SHIFT]