You want to see something ridiculous? Go look at the run of films that Corey Feldman strung together before turning 16 years of age. Starting in 1984, Feldman’s character was responsible for slowing down Jason in Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter. He followed that with appearances in Joe Dante’s Gremlins, Richard Donner’s The Goonies, Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Body (titled Stand By Me), and Joel Schumacher’s stylish vampire thriller The Lost Boys. That final one – one of the best horror movies of the 1980s – is turning 35 this year, so Warner Bros. Home Video is giving it the 4K polish for a beautiful re-release with an incredible cover. And to promote the film, Feldman and his fellow Frog Brother Jamison Newlander sat down with CinemaBlend to reminisce about filming, and the movie’s legacy.
Rewatching The Lost Boys for the first time in years, I realized just how involved The Frog Brothers, played by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander, were in the decimation of the main vampires in the movie. Yes, it’s Nanuk the dog who knocks Dwayne (Billy Wirth) into the bathtub filled with Holy Water. And the “Death by Stereo” moment is iconic. But when Edgar Frog stakes Marko (Bill & Ted star Alex Winter), the brothers are coated in sticky fluids, which Feldman says traumatized him to no end on the movie’s set. Said Feldman:
I personally was traumatized by the slime. People don’t realize the slime that was… every time we killed a vampire, Joel had decided he didn’t want to be bloody and gory. He wanted it to be able to appeal to kids still. So he knew that if it was like real blood, and it looked really dark and intense, that kids would be afraid to go see it. Parents wouldn’t want to show it to the kids. So instead, he created this mixture of goo with glitter in it. It was full of glitter, to give it a sheen, or whatever. And it was real slimy, and real gooey, and so once we killed the first vampire, of course, we had to match every day.
That’s a behind-the-scenes fact you might not think of when you are watching The Lost Boys. Corey Feldman is referring to the moment where Sam (Corey Haim) has followed the Frog Brothers into the vampire’s lair. The creatures are all hanging upside down, sleeping. And Edgar Frog (Feldman) stakes the nearest one, Marko. This is what happens.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EN8IHljaaE
As you can see in the lip, the boys get doused with vampire innards, and that leads to a complicated clean up. As Corey Feldman went on to explain to CinemaBlend:
What they would do is they would bring us onto the set, and they would goo us up, with the slime all over us, and then we’re doing this scene. … And then you’d get out of there, and you’re pulling chunks of stuff out of your hair for days. And then they’d be like, ‘OK, next scene we’re doing is page seven from the movie, beginning when you’re in the comic book store. Go clean up!’ SO we’d rush off on bikes to Dick Donner’s office, and we’d shower and get changed real quick, and Joel would be screaming at us, ‘Where’s Feldman? Where’s Newlander? I need them on the set!’
The glamorous side of Hollywood moviemaking. And yet, this effort helped The Lost Boys to become a classic for a generation, one that hasn’t been rivaled despite rumors of making it into a TV series or, worse, trying to stage a big-screen remake with new people. Maybe one of those would have included the alternate ending Joel Schumacher had planned for his original movie. I wonder if it also included glitter?
Look for The Lost Boys, which is available on 4K Ultra HD and Digital right now.
