Sleep all day. Party all day. It’s fun to be a vampire.

If you’re stuck indoors this Halloween, you’re probably looking for a different way to spend your evening. While there are plenty of classic Halloween films, I’d like to recommend one that you might not have heard of. The 1987 horror comedy The Lost Boys directed by the late Joel Schumacher!

Having passed away earlier this year, this film is not only a great example of his talent but a fantastic film to watch this time of year too! 

The premise of the film follows two boys named Michael and Sam (played by Jason Patric and Corey Haim), as they move to Santa Clara, California.

From there a lot of strange deaths begin to occur, and Michael hangs out with this mysterious group of people led by David (played by Kiefer Sutherland).

Afterward, Michael acts strange and his brother befriends two vampire hunters Edgar and Alan Frog (played by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) to help. 

Similar to how 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead was an 80s take on the zombie genre, Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys is an 80s comic twist on the vampire genre. Unlike the original vampire films like Nosferatu or Dracula, The Lost Boys doesn’t take itself seriously and has a lot of fun with its concept.

One of the standout aspects of this film is the production design and style! 

From the opening scene, The Lost Boys sucks you in (no pun intended) with it’s visual style. Rather than darker colors and production designs from classic vampire films, The Lost Boys has a lot of bright colors from its sets to the clothes that people wear, even some of the vampires have colorful clothes. The 80s clothing and design really allow the film to stand out in the genre, and help to establish the more comedic and fun tone. 

Speaking of tone, the film does a perfect job of blending horror and comedy.

When the vampires lead by David (played by Kiefer Sutherland), first transform into vampires it is actually pretty scary. The scene itself is surrounded in darkness and haunted by people’s screams, but to me it’s the incredible makeup work that really makes them menacing (particularly their orange eyes).

As mentioned before, the film does contain a lot of great comedy. Blending two genres isn’t always easy, as you don’t want to have one overshadow the other. But The Lost Boys has a good balance, in this case, the comedy adds a lot of great levity to the more scary scenes. A lot of the humor comes from the two vampire hunters, particularly Corey Feldman as his deep voice for the character is hilarious. It suits the tone of the film and really makes him stand out from the cast. 

The performances from the cast all around are pretty good, Jason Patric as the lead Michael does a good job of acting like a punk when he’s feeling the effects of being a vampire. Being a teen film as well, The Lost Boys has more freedom to stand out from others of its genre and give the actors more to work with.

I like how the vampires in this don’t act like gentlemen like previous actors such as Bela Lugosi, since they are teenagers they wear baggy clothes and leather jackets and are very unapologetic. Kiefer Sutherland as David was a real standout character for me, he is a complete jerk who you don’t trust from the moment he is on screen. But Sutherland adds so much cool, cockiness, and just the right amount of cheese to make him a very entertaining antagonist. 

If the older vampire films from the 30s or 50s aren’t your thing, then I recommend you give The Lost Boys a watch. I feel like the younger characters might appeal more to a younger audience.

The film is also one of the best horror comedies, perfectly blending the right amount of both genres, has a great sense of style, and entertaining performances. The film isn’t a complete frightfest and has a lighter tone, which makes it a great choice to watch one Halloween.

As even your friends who don’t like horror movies, can enjoy it as well!