THE LOST BOYS (1987)

"My own brother, a goddamn shit-sucking vampire...wait til mom finds out!"

Teen brothers Sam and Michael (Jason Patric and Corey Haim) move with their mom (Dianne Wiest) to the small coastal town of Santa Carla, California.  They soon discover that the area is a home to a gang of young vampires that like to feed on the all the burnouts and tourists. After falling for a local girl (and half vampire), the older brother Michael is soon taken in by the vampire clan. Now it's up to the younger brother and his new friends to save Michael before he turns into a full blown bloodsucker!

Unless you've been living underneath a pile of garlic for the last 400 years, you already know that THE LOST BOYS is the greatest pure 80's, big studio, teen audience, vampire movie ever! Mohawks, Molly Ringwald poster, Rob Lowe poster, vampires dressed up like Guns N' Roses; Corey Haim's wardrobe itself should have its own wing at the Smithsonian; the first on-screen pairing of the two Corey's (who would change the course of the universe just a year later with LICENSE TO DRIVE); blood squirting, interior of a video store, soundtrack featuring Echo & The Bunnymen and INXS, Jami Gertz looking hot as fook, surprisingly good direction by Joel Schumacher, tons of iconic lines, performances and moments including one of the greatest moments in the history of Cinema: that sweaty dude with the fucking sax. What. the. fuck. was that?!   Even if the rest of the movie sucked (which it didn't) that completely uncalled for 40 second clip of some bizarre, shirtless, oily, chain covered, spandex wearing, muscly beau hunk motherfucker gyrating/pre-twerking while whaling on his sax as flames shoot up around him would make the movie completely worth watching.  And what was up with that crowd?!  That song was fucking horrible, but they were going completely nuts over it!  There was even some nerds headbanging to a sax solo!!! 

I honestly could go on about THE LOST BOYS for hours, but how about you just watch it instead.  Highly recommended for all lovers of everything 80's and/or just vampire movies in general.  If you need me I'll be in my room eating maggots.

Double feature with FRIGHT NIGHT.

Part 2 - Lost Boys: The Tribe
Part 3 - Lost Boys: The Thirst

REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS poster.

THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973)

Spain, 1940.  In a tiny secluded village a young girl and her slightly older sister see a traveling road showing of FRANKENSTEIN.  The younger sister, Ana, is shaken by the film.  Later that night, the older sister tells Ana that the spirit of Frankenstein lives nearby in an old deserted livestock enclosure.  During the next few days (and nights) Ana sets out to locate the spirit.

There's much more to THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE than that quick synopsis, but if I say too much I'll ruin it for you.  To do the film justice you should just watch it and decipher it for yourself.  Hint: the film is set in the early days of the Franco dictatorship and there's a lot of symbolism going on.

Haunting imagery, thoughtful pacing, incredible childhood performance by Ana Torrent (one of the best I've ever seen), gentle sound design, subdued emotions, beautiful soft colors and confident direction by Victor Erice.  At first I was a little underwhelmed by the film (and it is rough around the edges), but then I put my thinking cap on  and...ahhh!  Wow.

Highly recommended for lovers of foreign art house cinema.

In the Criterion DVD's supplement material they mentioned some similar films to come out of Spain.  The most notable were: DEATH OF A CYCLIST (1955), THE HUNT (1966), THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS (1970), ANA AND THE WOLVES (1973) POACHERS (1975), PASCUAL DUARTE (1976) and THE DISENCHANTMENT (1976).

For a more in-depth analysis here's an essay on the Criterion page.