THE LOST BOYS
Flight night…
KIEFER MADNESS
Kiefer Sutherland’s David and his posse visit a train bridge to initiate Jason Patric’s Michael in thrill-seeking vampirism. In his post-Stand By Me breakout role, Sutherland oozes charisma. “He has the least amount of dialogue in the movie,” gushes director Joel Schumacher, “but his presence is extraordinary.”
HELL’S ANGELS
The vamps taunt and seduce Michael. Original director Richard Donner’s Goonies-ish Boys outline skewed younger but Schumacher wanted something hip, hot and hedonist. Aristo-vamp stylings also met the stake: Schumacher looked to avant-garde music mags, punk, hair-metal and MTV for fashion tips.
BRIDGE TO TERROR
Boys is set in Santa Cruz, renamed Santa Carla onscreen to dodge any negative ‘murder capital’ connotations. The Iron Horse Trailhead trestle bridge itself is based in Santa Clarita, near Magic Mountain: Schumacher shot carefully so the theme park did not impinge on his contempo Cali-gothic vision.
JUMP SCARES
The vamps step cheerily off the bridge, hanging from railings below. As the bridge stands just 15 feet above a gulley, a section was built on a Warners soundstage, with the cast wired – “the cheapest thing to take out with special effects,” says Schumacher, who worked to a modest $8.5m budget.
FOG DAZE
To Michael’s alarm, the vampires let go. Effects company Dream Quest Images (Gremlins, E.T.) conjured up a great bank of goth-fog for them to drop into; stuntmen replaced the cast to dangle from the ceiling of the large soundstage. Layers of cardboard boxes were provided to cushion their fall.
UNDEAD AND ALIVE
Michael falls… into bed. Schumacher credits the influence of pop promos for his “nonsequitur images”. Boys’ success helped ensure its own influence: Twilight may have lifted soundtrack tips, while Joss Whedon certainly transfused its monster aesthetic into Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Never die, indeed. KH