Remember Lost Boys? The cult teen horror film directed by Joel Shumacher… Of course it’s a seminal work that is a staple of the 80’s teen horror genre. How about the sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe? If you haven’t then it may be a surprise to you that there’s a third film, The Lost Boys: The Thirst filling in the trilogy. How does it hold up against the classic?
Film 
Having not seen the second film “The Tribe”, I had to do a bit of research and rented the film. It consisted of a surfer named Chris who moves to a new town with his sister and end up stumbling upon a “tribe” of pro surfers who just happen to be vampires. Luckily Corey Feldman is a local surfboard shaper and helps Chris slay the vampires in order to save his sister. The entire time I felt that “The Tribe” felt very awkward, it seemed like the movie was slapped together quickly and the story had no depth.
I found out that it actually started as a werewolf movie, titled The Tribe, which was later reworked to be a Lost Boys sequel. So immediately I was worried that Lost Boys: The Thirst would be more of the same lackluster cash grab.
Lost Boys: The Thirst follows Corey Feldman’s character, Edgar Frog, shortly after his brother is converted into a half-vampire. He learns about a group of vampires who are holding a giant rave and giving the partygoers a new drug called “The Thirst” which is actually vampire blood (Tru-Blood lawsuit pending). Edgar is approached by a writer whose brother has been kidnapped by the group of partying vampires and is asked to help rescue him for a hefty reward and thus the adventure begins.
The film, albeit a little similar to a show on HBO, felt more put together than “The Tribe” and it continued to enhance The Lost Boys universe, which may be a stab in the heart to the diehard fans, but considering Corey Feldman recently stated there were plans to make a new trilogy and potential TV show, it’s better to just accept that we may soon be overrun with Lost Boys’ offshoots.
The film is tongue in cheek and definitely ends on a very cheesy cliffhanger which makes room for the aforementioned sequels and spin-offs. Unfortunately neither sequel had the same charm as the first film and when it came down to it with Lost Boys: The Thirst I never felt connected to any of the characters, good or bad. If you liked the original and are considering the sequels, don’t expect much.
Video 
Lost Boys: The Thirst’s video is displayed using the VC-1 codec in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The film looks pretty good for a direct-to-video film. The film is free of artefacting, dust or scratches and doesn’t have any real grain until the lower lit scenes, but even then it’s not distracting.
The colour palette is warm and the skin tones come through nicely. The black levels are a bit gray but the contrast isn’t effected. There’s a bit of softness and lack of detail at times, but in some of the close-ups you see some nice textures and the sharpness does pull through.
Audio
Lost Boys: The Thirst’s audio comes at us using the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 codec and it’s on par with the video quality. Although the mix is front heavy it still has a few moments where the surrounds speak up and provide some nice atmospheric qualities.
The dialogue is clear and the sound effects are blended nicely, however the dynamic aspects of the mix don’t really get played up until scenes with music in the background kick in. The subwoofer gets most of its exercise during said scenes with music and the low frequencies are deep and rich.
Special Features
The extras are a bit light; the only aspects covered are Behind-the-scenes featurettes and some mock videos. There is a “How to Kill a Vampire” video which has Feldman in character as Edgar Frog discussing the weapons used to kill vampires. “What is the Thirst” which consists of fake commercials for the drug “The Thirst”. “The Art of Seduction” hosted by Buffy and Angel’s Charisma Carpenter, which covers the sexual nature of vampires and finally a weird interview video entitled, “Return of the Frog Brothers” which has Corey Feldman interviewing the two Frog Brothers (which includes himself in character. Nothing really stands out and the videos which involve the actors playing their roles end up feeling very forced, however they’re better than nothing.
Final Thoughts
The film is nothing special and although it’s a decent looking and sounding Blu-ray the fact that the film is very mediocre makes me say that this is for fans only. With only a few special features that feel thrown together the disc doesn’t hold its own.
