You know originally there was supposed to be a sequel to “The Lost Boys” or at least an allusion to one in the original script for Schumacher’s vampire comedy that revealed the origins of Max, and that there were many, many more lost boys and girls out there looking to do his death some justice. Frankly, I would have preferred “The Lost Girls” a movie I pictured as a vampire thriller with less comedy and an all star cast of young female actresses currently taking Hollywood by storm. That was about six years ago. “Lost Boys: The Tribe” is that sequel I wouldn’t have completely wanted, but found reason to anticipate it anyway. I think that there could have been much more added to “The Tribe” to make it feel fresh and unique.
The writers were obviously so intent on reminding us that it’s a sequel that they parallel the original’s premise so greatly and lift many of the same scenarios. There’s the older well meaning brother and his young slacker sibling, they’re new residents in Santa Carla, they move in to town to live with a quirky relative who takes them in and gives them room and board, and at one point they even mock the house they’re forced to hole up in. How original. More so, the initial romances between both protagonists and antagonists were incredibly predictable and insanely boring to sit through. Without that one integration we had through Max from the original film, there’s really no reason for these two to target the brother and sister of the story.
Here the sudden interest in both of them seems to just happen for the sake of keeping the story moving forward and really nothing more. You can throw in all the nods to the original that you want, but writer Hans Rodionoff can never capture that energy and wit of Schumacher’s film and doesn’t even seem to try. Why does Frog seem so intent on killing Nicole and insist he’s only trying to save Chris when he’s experienced the whole sibling vampirism ordeal before? How did he get in to Chris’s house? How did he know Nicole became a vampire? And why in the hell do the vampires turn in to stone and explode in to bits when they die? What happened to simply phasing out or bursting in to flames?
And what in the name of Zod was the point of the vampires causing trouble at the police station if nothing would come of it? As for Corey Feldman, fun as it may be to have one Frog brother here, it may not be a surprise to see Feldman’s acting generally painful to watch. Feldman is so anxious to recapture his character that he growls his way through his role and sucks all the fun out of this guest appearance, and the heavy lifting of famous one-liners from “The Lost Boys” are used here ad nauseum with Feldman even providing his famous monologue about the various ways vampires die from exploding, imploding, etc. I really wanted to love “The Tribe” and I looked forward to it since the first trailer, but it leaves little argument for its quality with such a rushed vapid plot, little to no engaging characters, and an anti-climax that’s horribly abrupt and disappointing.
“The Tribe” has some pretty entertaining notions that make it a sequel while also individuating itself from the original horror film, particularly the energy that’s reclaimed as much as possible to capture that same desolation and futility we saw when first introduced to the beach town. “The Tribe” is severely flawed but thankfully finds its footing in the final thirty minutes with some rather entertaining vampire carnage that shows off some of what it could have been. I just wish we’d seen more of this in the whole film. All “The Tribe” accomplishes is reminding you that “The Lost Boys” is still a better film, and can’t be topped, and while it’s not all that surprising it’s still a disappointment to fans anxious for the storyline to continue. I was really looking forward to a sequel to one of my favorite horror comedies that would honor the original while working in some more explanation on the lost boy vampire tribe. Nothing doing here. It’s mediocre, and mediocre movies are always so much more irritating than bad movies.