Lost Boys – The Thirst (2010/Warner Premier Blu-ray) + Night Of The
Demons (2009 remake/eOne Blu-ray)
Picture: C Sound: (Thirst:
C-/Demon: C)
Extras: C+ Films: B-
The 80's have been prominent in pop culture for a few years now, and the horror
genre has finally been taking notice of this trend with revivals and long
overdue sequels to classic 80's hits coming out of the woodwork. Many of these movies have certainly been of
poor construction, but there have been several films in recent memory that have
actually paid attention to fans' desires. This October we've been treated to entries in
some franchises that have been long overdue for new installments. While the two films reviewed here are uneven,
they are definitely made for longtime followers.
Lost Boys - The Thirst follows up on 2008's The Tribe. The film itself is a slight improvement over
that sequel, as it at least serves to further the story from the first movie. At times, The Tribe felt much more like
a remake rather than an actual continuation of the series. This latest adventure features the return of
Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander to the roles of Edgar and Allen Frog. Thankfully, they have a significant role to
play in this outing, rather than being added as an afterthought; or cut out
altogether - as Newlander's scenes were deleted from the last film.
The movie falters about midway through, and relies on winking nods to the
original film in an attempt to hold your attention. It even resorts to using stock footage interspersed
as flashbacks, which merely make you want to run to your copy of the first film
instead of seeing this one through. By
the end, it manages to come back and there is just enough here to warrant a
viewing for the die-hards out there.
Night of the Demons was constructed with more reverence to the original,
and better understands what fans of the classic would want out of a remake. It follows the same admittedly simple path
that the 1987 film took, and thus has fewer places where it might get lost. Angela throws a party, some teenagers end up
locked in a house, and then begin to get killed and turned into demons.
The movie is gory, funny, and written with enough sense that you aren't
groaning for it to be over. I could see
this catching on in time with audiences - even winning over those who did not
enjoy it their first time around. Several times the film pays homage to the
original, but always in playful ways, and while also putting a new spin on them
instead of wearing them into the dirt.
I'm glad that they decided not to meddle with the original structure of the
movie to any extremes. This film is
recommended to those 80's fright fans who want no more than a fresh coat of
paint on the same old house. Anything
more usually just ends up destroying the foundation on which it was built.
There is a lone special feature on the Lost Boys disc in the form of a
largely unnecessary documentary on the appeal of the vampire, entitled The Art of Seduction: Vampire Lore. Being very typical of the documentaries of
this sort, it is rather uninformative and its only purpose seems to have been
to fluff out the short run time of the main feature. Night of the Demons sees more in the
extras department, with commentary, a featurette, and Comic-Con footage.
The image for these films is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, and
looks good for what were certainly low-budget productions. Audio is presented in surround sound with DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mixes provided for the film’s audio tracks. Not extremely good in either case, but Night
of the Demons edges out the Lost Boys sequel only slightly.
- David Milchick
