Lost Boys : The Tribe

Alternate titles : Lost Boys 2 : The Tribe

Tagline : "Never grow old. Never die. Never know fear again"

Some 20 odd years after the original came out, someone surprisingly decided to make a sequel to it, albeit a somewhat belated one. In this, brother and sister, Chris and Nicole (Tad Hilgenbrink and Autumn Reeser), move to a remote coastal town to be with their aunt, where they quickly fall in with a bad crowd, who seem to resemble the adrenalin junkies from "Point Break", lead by a surfer named Shane (Angus Sutherland, yes that's Keifer's younger bro).

Anyway, it just so happens that Shane and his group turn out to be vampires, so if you've seen the original, you can pretty much see where this is leading. But anyway, the younger sister happens to drink something one of the group gives her, which you just know isn't wine, and as a result becomes a vampire herself (like what happened to Jason Patrick in original). So it's then up to her brother Chris to try and find a way of turning her back again before its too late.

Corey Feldman turns up as the surviving member of one of the Frog brothers, who offers to help him wipe-out the vampires and turn his sister back, and horror veteran Tom Savini makes a brief guest appearance as a wealthy landowner who thinks he has a surprise for some trespassing surfers, but ends up getting one himself.

Essentially a retread of the original, the film isn't a total loss, but I do think it's a shame they couldn't come up with anything a bit more original. Also, I was somewhat surprised to see quite an excessive amount of blood and gore in this. Whilst I enjoy a good gory horror film as much as the next person, the original was extremely tongue in cheek. So it came as something of a shock to see them ladling it out here.

I also thought that the casting of Keifer Sutherland's younger brother Angus as the lead vampire was a bit of a corny way of trying to maintain a link with the original film. Whilst he might be a reasonable actor I think it goes without saying if it wasn't for the fact Keifer played the lead in the original, then he wouldn't be in this.

But, it was good to see Corey Feldman back, who actually provides the film with some of the funnier moments, particularly where he's explaining how he got ordained online so he can produce his own holy water, and there are some decent rock songs in this by the likes of "Aiden" and "Airbourne".

To summarise, worth a watch, but fans of the original may come away feeling a little disappointed.

Overall Marks : 4/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Director PJ Pesche also Directed the vampire film "From Dusk till Dawn 3 : The Hangman's Daughter".
• An interesting mistake appears at the start of the film. When Tom Savini's character is looking at the surfers trespassing on his beach you can see their reflections in his glasses. However, as they are vampires this should not be possible.
• Despite mixed reviews, the movie was a financial success and became a top selling DVD in the US, selling double the amount expected. A third film was hastily commissioned on the back of this.
• The films budget was $4,200,000.
• Original cast member Corey Haim makes a brief appearance in a scene part way through the end credits.
• Set on the West coast of America, the film was actually shot in Canada.
• Whilst shooting some backstage footage, as part of the US pseudo-reality show "The 2 Corey's", Corey Haim had a major bust up with the production crew and repeatedly missed his shoots, whilst apparently intoxicated. One disturbing scene appeared to catch evidence of him indulging in substance abuse, after his chest mic was left on whilst he was in his trailer. The footage aired as part of Series 2, during the summer of 2008, and can also be found on various video sharing sites, such as YouTube.
• Jason Newlander, who played Alan Frog in the first film, had a brief role as a vampire. But this was cut out of the finished film. It was however included on the DVD as part of an alternate ending.
• The film was released in the US in both an an uncut/unrated version, and in a cut R rated version, which toned down the scenes of blood, nudity and gore. The UK release was of the uncut version.

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