I do find Joel Schumacher very hit and miss, when he's good, he is very good, when he is bad, he is very bad. The Lost Boys is a contender alongside Veronica Guerin as the best of his movies. Of course the feel is very 1980s, hence I can understand why some may find it dated. However, the 80s feel adds to the charm of The Lost Boys to me. The film looks very stylish and has a killer soundtrack, my personal favourite soundtrack of Schumacher's movies actually. The script has some cheesy moments, but it is still very entertaining, and the story is swiftly and intelligently told. Schumacher's direction is one of his more secure directing jobs too, no heavy-handedness, no over-saturated colour or frenzied camera work here. The characters are very likable, especially Corey Haim's, and the acting is great. Haim is adorable, but it is Keifer Sutherland who stood out to me as the most impressive and perhaps most dynamic performer of the cast. All in all, a lot of fun, one of my personal favourites of the late 80s. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In The Lost Boys Dianne Weist and her two sons are moving in with her father Barnard Hughes in the Pacific coastal town of Santa Clara. Some strange kids inhabit the place and when older son Jason Patric spots Jamie Gertz in a tight fitting blouse among them, the old raging hormones do take over. Kiefer Sutherland heads the gang and believe me they've got quite an initiation rite.

His older brother's strange behavior is concerning Corey Haim and the only people who share his concern are a couple of brothers named Frog, played by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander. It's rumored that Santa Clara has been a haven for vampires for many years, but the only two who want to do anything about it are the brothers Frog. Until now.

The Lost Boys was one of the great Eighties Brat Pack movies, with a cast full of tongue in cheek performances. The Coreys, Haim and Feldman, were at the high points of their respective careers as teenage idols and they both show why they were. Best in the film however are Dianne Weist as their absolutely clueless mother and Edward Herrmann who employs her at his video store.

There's a sequel coming out 21 years after this film made its debut. I'm trying to picture Haim, Feldman, and Newlander fighting another crowd of teenage vampires.

Anyway you got to love a film with a pair of characters named Frog.

At its best, Joel Schumacher's THE LOST BOYS is a witty and affectionate spoof of the vampire genre a la FRIGHT NIGHT, with good '80s effects work from Greg Cannom and a script that is littered with references to vampire movie folklore and films that have preceded it. At its worst, this is extremely dated and cheesy dumb entertainment, cynically aimed to exploit the younger market by mixing then-popular child stars with teenagers as their peers, and very few adults (I think perhaps three in total) in the cast. I know a lot of people hate Schumacher's work, but I remain pretty much ambivalent about this and his 8MM; I can enjoy the films for their merits but am also acutely aware of their failings.

At least THE LOST BOYS is fast-paced, and easy enough to just sit back with and enjoy at face value. Although the costumes and mullet-style hairstyles have sadly dated, the age-old story of human vs. vampires can never really grow old, whatever the setting, so the '80s cheesiness is never overwhelming (except in the soundtrack, occasionally, in which atmospheric singing is mixed with clunky heavy metal rubbish). Schumacher keeps his tricksy, MTV-style visuals to a thankful minimum and packs the film with lots of jokes for it to appeal to a wide audience. The idea of a youthful vampire "gang" of male teenagers is used for its showy value alone (motorbike riding at night; midnight dare jumps off railway bridges) yet the themes are never fully explored above a comic-book simplicity. The makeup of the vampires isn't used until the latter stages of the film, which is for the best, and largely effective (somehow a few prosthetics and scary contact lenses work wonders).

The trio of intrepid, GOONIES-style heroes are played by the two Coreys, that is Haim and Feldman, and the relatively unknown Jamison Newlander who takes a back seat in action. I'm pretty nonchalant when it comes to the two Coreys, but your mileage may vary: Feldman was always appearing in the movies I enjoyed back as a kid in the '80s, so I guess I was a bit of a fan of his, although I'm not too sure about his unsuccessful adult career later on in life. The ever-wooden Jason Patric (the "star" of the disastrous SPEED 2) is the handsome but poorly-acting male lead, complete with designer stubble, a greasy mullet and '80s padded leather jacket; unfortunately he has the most complex performance of the cast as he struggles to balance his human and vampire halves, although thankfully with so many minor characters he isn't focused upon too often. Jami Gertz is the bland female love interest, whilst Dianne Wiest and Edward Herrmann give strong support as the two lead adults.

As for the vampire pack, two actors are distinctive: Kiefer Sutherland and Alex Winter. Winter (better known for his role in BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE) manages to genuinely look creepy as his weirdo vampire, and that's good because that's ALL he has to do. Sutherland, meanwhile, puts in a thoroughly nasty turn as the chief vampire and it's a delight to see him get his comeuppance (what, you're surprised?) - in fact he's the best actor in the film and this is his most famous early mainstream performance as far as I can recall. The rest of the vampire gang are pretty unmemorable and just kind of blend into one.

THE LOST BOYS boasts an exciting, frenetic climax of spook house-show shenanigans as the vampires launch a frenzied attack on a rapidly-becoming-destroyed house, complete with taps bursting, stairways smashing down and all manner of huge explosions. Then there are the messy final disintegrations of the vampires which act as an interesting precursor and influence on the later mayhem of 1996's FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, with vampires dissolving in holy water, bleeding, getting impaled, and exploding. My only complaint is that Sutherland doesn't dissolve after being staked - surely a missed opportunity for a fine piece of gooey special effects work. THE LOST BOYS may not engage the brain particularly, but it's harmless stuff and quite entertaining if you don't take it too seriously.