Lost Boys: The Thirst

I love The Lost Boys. It's without a doubt one of my favorite films of all time. A couple years ago, I saw that a sequel had been made, Lost Boys: The Tribe. I knew before I even hit the play button that this wasn't going to measure up to my beloved 1987 classic. That state of mind allowed me to watch The Tribe and not be too critical of it. Was it a worthy follow-up to its predecessor? No. Of course not. But I didn't expect it to be. Although flawed on nearly every level, I did find some redeeming qualities in the film. Now, two years later, yet another sequel has been made, Lost Boys: The Thirst. I watched it with that same mindset I had for The Tribe and , I'm sad to say, I was still very disappointed.

Lost Boys: The Thirst takes two of the most recognizable and cherished figures from the original and tries to turn them into the main characters. An idea that doomed the film from the beginning. Don't get me wrong. I love the Frog Brothers. I think they're two of the greatest supporting characters in movie history. Emphasis on SUPPORTING Characters. Neither Corey Feldman nor Jamison Newlander have the charisma to be leading men. Feldman's uber-macho voice was funny in 1987 when he was a preteen vampire killer. But now that he's grown, it seems so forced that it borders on pathetic. And Newlander's acting is so bad that I didn't even complain that he's barely in the movie.

Lost Boys: The Thirst gets some brownie points for trying to be original and not copy the first film too much, which is what The Tribe attempted to do. As a matter of fact, this movie does too good a job establishing itself as a stand-alone film. To the point where it doesn't even feel like it belongs in the Lost Boys series. Sure, there are references to old characters and even footage taken directly from the 1987 original, but to be honest, seeing that just made me want to watch the first movie again.

All in all, The Thirst is a big disappointment. Even if your expectations are already low.

I just got finished watching my new blu-ray copy of "Lost Boys : The Thirst" and I must admit I was very surprised at how well done it was. I've heard a few criticisms regarding the acting etc, and I can't imagine what they were referring to. Corey Feldman was very good (It's about time he got another American lead role. He was excellent in Lucky Fritz and The Birthday) and all the main characters played their parts well. The women were even age appropriate and had character, which is very rare in a horror movie these days. It didn't even feel like a low budget movie (smart scripts can fix that) unless you compare the cast of the Original which is always unfair. It must be judged for what it is, a high energy, funny, gory and entertaining movie! Well worth a watch...or 2 or 3 maybe.

Now Feldman can use his DVD star power to executive produce Meatballs 5 and Rock'n Roll Highschool Forever and Ever and Ever!...Or just keep making good movies.

'LOST BOYS: THE THIRST': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Corey Feldman takes the lead for the first time in a 'LOST BOYS' film returning once again as Edgar Frog. Jamison Newlander reprises his role of Alan Frog for the first time in this third installment. It's not the 'Frog Brothers' reunion fans were hoping for though as Newlander's scenes are extremely limited. It is nice to see them back together in action again, for what little time they are on screen together though and that's the highlight of the movie. As far as the rest of the film goes it's definitely disappointing. I prefer the second film to this one, although it's not much better.

The film opens with a flashback of Alan Frog being turned into a vampire. If you saw the second film you know this, as well as the fact that Sam (the late Corey Haim) was turned as well and Edgar was forced to kill him. Edgar is now haunted by these painful losses as we see through several flashbacks, using clips from the classic original. He's also broke and being evicted from his trailer. So when a beautiful woman ( the gorgeous Tanit Phoenix) shows up at his door offering him a job to rescue her brother from a gang of ruthless vampires he eagerly takes it. He recruits the help of a comic book clerk (Casey B. Dolan) and reluctantly teams up with a reality TV star and his cameraman (Joe Vaz) and the group raids the vampires' den where they attempt to convert a rave party full of unsuspecting victims into vampires.

The movie is about what you'd expect from a direct to video sequel. The acting, dialog, and over all production values are a little weak. I'm a huge fan of the original film and I think it's still popular enough, and developed a big enough cult following, that they could have made a decent theatrical sequel. So it's extremely disappointing for me to see one sequel after another turned out (so far only two but they're could very well be more) in depreciating value. I guess you might say it's better than nothing and like I said seeing the 'Frog Brothers' reunite is pretty cool. This franchise could have been so much more though.

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Im a big fan of the original and I really just treat these new films as separate fan films rather than proper sequels and if you do that you can forgive them for some of the cheese that you'll see. Like the other guy said not sure about the ending or where they are going with it but i know Corey hasn't had the best time of it over the years and if it will help him to regain some of his former glory and get him back on his feet again I'm all for it, everyone deserves a second chance.

If you like the original film and have watched the "tribe" then don't stop now you may as well give this one a go but don't expect anything other than a fan film.

The cash grab that was The Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008) was never likely to set the world on fire but managed to deliver a watchable if a tad contrived bit of entertainment.

The Thirst follows on from the previous movie but this time Edgar Frog is our lead and we get the see the reuniting of the Frog Brothers for the first time since the original movie back in 1987.

This time our hero is recruited to save a woman's brother from the clutches of the vampire alpha who is peddling vamp blood as a new designer drug.

Much alike the previous film you'll find no surprises as this is justifiably straight to DVD stuff but it's a harmless enough vampire fix.

There was supposed to be a fourth movie featuring Corey Haim but after his passing in 2010 it brought into question its likelihood. Were now almost 8yrs later with no sign so this is likely Mr Frogs final outing.

The Good:

Corey Feldman

Great soundtrack

The Bad:

Hardly mind blowing stuff

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

They absolutely have to fit Cry Little Sister into these films wherever possible