Lost Boys: The Thirst (2010)

Edgar Frog (Corey Feldman) is back to his vampire slaying shenanigans again.  This time around he is approached by a famous author who says that a group of vampires has kidnapped her brother.  She needs Edgar to help her save him.  After some hesitation Edgar finally agrees to help her and do battle with the master vampire.  If he can slay the master then it will free every other vampire in the world and end the bloodsucking menace.  This is especially important to Edgar for a reason that we soon find out in the movie, but that I won’t spoil in my synopsis. 

I wasn’t sure what to make of this 2nd sequel to the original Lost Boys.  The 1st one they made really didn’t do much for me, so I waited until I was able to check this one out on Netflix before I took the risk.  I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed this time around.  While The Thirst isn’t nearly as good as the first Lost Boys, which is still one of my favorite vampire movies, it doesn’t tarnish the franchise.  The story is solid, if not a bit predictable.  The writers and director know to work they need to keep the action coming at the audience.  This means plenty of vampires popping out of everywhere, only to be done away with in interesting ways.  I was interested in what I was watching from start to finish. 

They also do a great job of tossing a few clips from the original movie as flashbacks just to reinforce the connection between this and the first Lost Boys movie.  This is something that the 1st sequel did a terrible job doing, so as a fan I appreciated it.  I also have to say that the movie has some humorous stuff in it, including a few fun swipes at the current vampire craze by having an author character that writes some books that romanticize vampires.  And as much as fans, including myself, like to goof on Corey Feldman, he is rather good here as Edgar Frog.  Seeing him as that character and hearing him use the voice was fun.  Yeah and the one-liners, especially from Feldman, are a good time as well.

Now it is time for me to talk about the special effects.  It is obvious that the vampire kills are all CGI, as are several other sequences.  You have some vampires jumping from an airplane and I think that many of the acrobatic vampires are at least assisted by CGI.  But for the most part the CGI is polished and looks good.  For the vampires themselves the makeup is fairly simple, but this also works for me.  The vampires look a lot like those in the original movie and that is something that I appreciated.  It is just another thing that ties this one in with the first movie. 

Now not everything is great about this movie.  You have a really obvious plot twist with one of the characters that I kept waiting to happen.  I’m sure that the big reveal was supposed to be shocking, but it wasn’t.  Also some of the fight sequences are sort of lame.  I mean after seeing Corey Feldman handle a sword you would think that the filmmakers would maybe try and switch things up.  There is also a final twist that hints at other sequels with the Frog brothers maybe doing battle with other creatures (I mean all the vamps are gone now!).  I like this movie, but I don’t think I want to see any more sequels. 

One final thing that I needed to mention before I’m finished.  I’ve already stated that I think they do a great job referring and connecting this movie to the original.  But the one bit that I think they over do it on is the song Cry Little Sister.  They use this song again and again as if we keep needing to be reminded that this is a Lost Boys movie.  I like the song and even I was getting sick of it.

This isn’t’ a perfect movie, but for what it is (a direct to DVD low budget vampire flick) I liked it.  The added bonus for me as a Lost Boys fan is that this one sort of clears the stain of the first sequel from my mind.  I think they should let the Frog brothers retire. 

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer