Save for the half-hearted presence of Corey Feldman (in what amounts to an extended cameo anyway) and the very brief end credits cameo of Corey Haim (in an appearance so lame you’re not surprised it’s relegated to a portion of the end credits that most viewers will probably miss), this twenty-years-later sequel to THE LOST BOYS is interchangeable with any number of equally useless straight to DVD vampire flicks that have slumped down the pike in the past two decades. The making of LOST BOYS THE TRIBE, vividly documented in the Two Corey’s’ reality TV show, would appear to be far, far more interesting and entertaining than anything in the movie itself.
Set to a listless soft-rock soundtrack – at least the original’s song selection had cheesy 80’s charm – this turgid flick is content to lazily retread moments from the Joel Schumacher film while introducing a new bunch of personality-free characters. You wouldn’t know it from the film itself, but the new protagonists, played by the dull Tad Hilgenbrink and the THE O.C.’s normally appealing Autumn Reeser, are the cousins of original hero Sam (that’s Haim’s character, who emerges as a pathetic vampire in the aforementioned credits cameo).
After a pointless prologue in which a vampiric Tom Savini (he gave up make-up effects to act in movies like this?!) gets his head ripped off by vampire surfers who use it as a football, orphaned bro and sis Hilgenbrink and Reeser move into the same community.
Almost immediately Reeser is successfully wooed by motorbike riding surfer legend / head vampire Angus Sutherland…for those that care, he is Kiefer Sutherland’s untalented half-brother. (At least Don Swayze could claim he was Patrick’s actual brother). While her bro gets it on with undead hottie Gabrielle Rose, Reeser is tricked into drinking Sutherland’s blood – masquerading as red wine, doh! – and Hilgenbrink spends the rest of the flick trying to save his half-vampy sis (“I’m a vegetarian!” she cries upon discovering the truth about her new lifestyle).
Beyond Sutherland’s staggeringly wooden performance – devoid of all charisma and menace – the movie staggers sadly through a flurry of heavy handed in-jokes (the heroes’ landlady rents THE GOONIES on DVD and holds it up to the camera in case we didn’t know which GOONIES she meant) and references : Aiden’s dull cover of “Cry Little Sister” accompanies a soft-focus love scene modeled on a notable scene in the original. There’s an array of unrated splatter, including Rose impaled on antlers a la Linnea Quigley in SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT and vamps that vomit geysers of blood when staked, but, as is typical these days, the prominent use of CGI gore in many of these scenes stands out in the worst way. And what have we learned about CG fire in low budget movies? Don’t do it guys!
With Haim’s presence a non-event, the film’s main drawing card for fans of the original is the return of Feldman. Edward Frog is now a “surfboard shaper and vampire hunter” and lives in what is referred to on-screen as “the creepy TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE trailer”. He drinks “Frog Juice”, a tasty combination of raw eggs, garlic and holy water. This character, fun in 1987, is now sunk by a horribly forced performance from a washed-up ex-heartthrob, self-consciously attempting to revive his long-dead movie career and speaking in an embarrassingly fake gruff voice for no known reason. “Who ordered the stake?” pretty much sums up the quality of the deadpan actor’s one-liners.
It’s an all-round duff movie, an insult to the memorable original, with twists on vampire mythology that insult the vamp genre as a whole, including the undead surfers’ JACKASS-like fondness for slashing each other’s bellies open so they can put the gory footage on You Tube. There are S.T.D.s with a higher fun factor than LOST BOYS THE TRIBE.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
