The Lost Boys (1987)

If you asked me what the best vampire movie was, I'd probably say either Interview with a Vampire or the original Nosferatu. That's just in terms of quality. If you asked me what my favorite vampire movie was, I'd say The Lost Boys.

Overall, this is a very flawed movie. But to me, this made vampires cool in the '80s. Joel Schumaker is probably one of my least favorite directors, and would be considered worse if it weren't for little gems like Flatliners and Falling Down. These films never really have a purpose, aside from giving us concepts attached to unrelatable characters. These roles can vary from teenage vampires to disgruntled, former employee for governmental defense. The Lost Boys delivers the director's usual goal, all the while supplying what I describe as The Goonies mixed with coming of age and urban surrealism.

The film does manage to capture the atmospheric mystery of moving to a new town for the main character and his little brother, which eventually introduces a group of teenagers who obviously resemble the "bad crowd" that everyone's mother warned them about. Michael's attraction to the only girl of the group leads to his indulgence into the gang's influence and activities, leading to him joining their league of vampires. Though he makes this transformation, the sense of good and evil still exists, and leads to his alliance with his brother and a young vampire hunter to kill them off.

There's also an underlying plot about a missing girl, who suddenly appears without justification. Many other nonsensical things occur, like the mother's well dressed and clearly middle aged boyfriend suddenly revealing he is the leader of the biker-vamps.

After saying this is my favorite among vampire movies, it probably doesn't make much sense that I've been criticizing it this whole time. Truthfully, I liked this movie so much because it's a crowd pleaser. It delivers every appropriately-placed piece of camp and gore you could ask for, and generally anyone who watches this will be entertained by it a la guilty pleasure. It also has one of the best vampire fight scenes I've ever seen. Oh, and Sutherland makes a pretty bad-ass vampire too.