Lost Boys 2: The Tribe
First off, thereâs no way that this follow-up 20+ years later could EVER be as good as Joel Schumacherâs seminal 80s classic about hard-partying teen vampires, but this 2008 effort makes a decent try in some aspects, most notably in some of the acting and cinematography, but still falls flat in others, most notably a leaden script and haphazard story. The plot concerns the now-orphaned children of original lead characters Michael and Star (though no reference or significance is made of this in the dialogue), a brother and sister duo who move out to ol Santa Clara and move into a dirty shack where they are charged rent by their overbearing, unlikable, hyper-reactionary aunt. It isnât long before the vampires come calling looking for new recruits, with many story elements recycled from the first movie, just not as well. In the lead role of the surfer brother, Tad Hilgenbrinck is ill-suited to carry a 30-second commercial, much less the lead role of a franchise sequel, and his creepy, almost incestual attachment to his sister causes the viewer to detach from him and his predicament. On the plus side, Autumn Reeser as the sister shows hints of star quality, looking hot as she is seduced to the dark side or turning down the advances of a white male liberal virgin (who becomes fodder for the vampires); As the all-important head vampire, Angus Sutherland (younger brother of Kiefer) brings the magnetism and charisma necessary, and admirably doesnât play the part as a copy of his older brotherâs legendary turn in the first movie, instead making him a seductive surfer dude who seems to care about his recruits, even though the script itself ultimately lets him down; and of course the returning Corey Feldman is a lot of fun as Edgar Frog, now living in a trailer and still acting like an ultra-tough pre-teen, though the scriptâs idea of having him recycle a lot of his choice dialogue from the original seems a bit sad. Indeed, the script seems to get some cool ideas at times that develop into nothing, such as the opening scene with Tom Savini that hints at a vampire turf war, but doesnât make anything out of it for the rest of the movie. The story actually makes one appreciate the pacing of the first film, which developed the initiation as a methodical process where the recruit was slowly turned on to the dark side, but here, characters are made to drink the blood of the head vampire as before, only to have them start vamping out five minutes later. The rushed pace is also slowed down by a needless âthrillseekingâ scene where the vampires start a chase with the cops all over town, only to cause them to have a big pile-up (and probably make them the most wanted people in the town, not a good idea if you want to keep a low profile). Worse still is a sloppily resolved anticlimactic final showdown with not a tenth of the originalâs tension, and then a tacked on, almost meaningless final scene between Edgar and his old comrade Sam (the late Corey Haim) which like the opening, hinted at a much more cooler plot concept that could have been for this sequel that we never got. The music score (including a tune by director P.J. Pesce) is nothing memorable, excluding a reprise of âCry Little Sisterâ during which it finally feels like a Lost Boys movie. Overall, a great disappointment, and hopefully an improvement will be made with the impending third chapterâŚ
5/10