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Why The Lost Boys is Still Relatable and Reliable 30 Years Later

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Vampire Cult-Classic The Lost Boys Turns 30 Today!

Thirty years ago today director Joel Schumacher (The Phantom of the Opera, Phone Booth, 8MM) gave us a fresh take on a beloved monster in his stylish cult-classic, The Lost Boys.

Image courtesy of IMDB

We know about vampires.

They are the undying monarchs of the nocturnal realms suspended between the twilight-hue of mortal imagination and taboo desires. They defy the revered laws of the grave and stand in the veil of eternal night beckoning us to draw nigh to their cold embrace. They are the vampire, the nosferatu, children of darkness and seeds of destruction. They are our death and we can’t help but love them.

Image courtesy of IMDB

Vampire lore has been explored in countless films, and has proven to be just as immortal as the creatures themselves. From the earliest days of the haunting era of silent cinema the Vampire has cast its living shadow over audiences and cunningly bewitched every new generation.

Added to the enormous lore of the Vampire is Joel Schumacher’s generation-defining hit The Lost Boys.

Schumacher did something only a true visionary can pull off – redefine a classic icon for a new era.

Image courtesy of IndieWire

At its heart the movie is a story of two brothers – Michael (Jason Patrick) and Sam (Corey Haim) – who must deal with the trials of resettling to a new area that is now called home. Moving is never easy and neither is fitting in. It isn’t long before Michael is swept away by the beauty of Star (Jami Gertz) a local girl with a bewitching spark he can’t ignore. Through her, Michael soon meets David (Kiefer Sutherland) and his hip coven of vampires. Yup, not only does it suck to be the new kid, but what if the town you just moved to was infested by the undead? Well, personally I’d love it, but I’m a freak.

Meanwhile, Sam befriends the legendary Frog Brothers – the very group all of us 80’s brats aspired to be. Who didn’t want to be friends with Corey Haim and Corey Feldman while spending all day long at local comic book stores, planning how to save the world from vampires? Fighting monsters with your best friends would have been a dream come true! This movie knew how to relate to all of us.

Image courtesy of IndieWire

Even while writing that basic synopsis of the movie it strikes me why the film still works. The older kids could easily relate to the teenage angst Michael was facing. You know, stuff like how to impress a pretty girl, how not to look like a dork in front of the cool crowd, and that overwhelming need to fit in and stop being the new kid. Also the basic trials of accidentally getting wrapped up with the wrong crowd – and not on purpose either.

Michael isn’t a bad kid. He was looking out for his little brother. He was not really that much of a jerk at home to his mom, and sure, he just wanted to make friends. Unfortunately the crowd he befriends just happen to be Hell-spawned vampires. An honest mistake any of us could have made.

Sam spoke to the younger kids in us – the natural face of innocence – who always suspected there were monsters out there in the shadows. Monsters who threatened to upset our family and ruin the stability of our happy-go-lucky lives. The Lost Boys pits both brothers against some very real and identifiable issues we’re all very familiar with.

Image courtesy of IMDB

The movie became an instant classic among fans both young and old. It’s a film that is intimately relatable on nearly every level – and that’s part of its immortal charm. It deals with some very difficult real-life challenges. Moving to a new area. Fitting into a new social group. Single parenting. Peer pressure. Things you and I have to put up with – and not typically the sort of setting you might first consider for a horror movie.

Speaking of unlikely settings, The Lost Boys is filmed around coastal areas of sunny California – Heck, even my backyard is practically in the movie. This film takes its vampires out of the gothic mausoleums we’re so used to and sees them boldly stomping around the Santa Cruz Boardwalk under the silver cast of the risen moon.

That’s right, this is the essential MTV vampire sensation that enchanted my generation. In the glory days of Rock n Roll, punk fashion, video arcades and biker gangs, David and his coven of undead blood-suckers slipped in among society and became one of us.

Image courtesy of IMDB

It made David’s brood of vampires a little more disturbing too. They were just kids, older kids sure, but still they were kids like us. Nothing about them on the outside made us suspect anything out of the ordinary, and what an ingenious idea for a monster. The monster that is more related to our humanity is the very monster you should be most afraid of.

That’s the kind of monster you could be sharing a beer with. Or your bed with. He’s the next-door murderer that you don’t suspect. You’ve been to his barbecues, or as Michael did, had some Chinese noodles and rice with him.

Image courtesy of IMDB

David is the face of modern-day monsters. He’s the one that walks beside us and takes us out before we’re ever the wiser.

Stylish, sexy, and relatable – The Lost Boys still holds up thirty years later. We applaud you.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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