Horror Movie Review: Lost Boys 3: The Thirst (2010)

I love The Lost Boys (1987). It is one of those quintessential 80s horror movies that I will never tire of. It seemingly ties everything up neatly with its ending as well. Still, when there is money to be made…. In 2008 we got a sequel named Lost Boys: The Tribe. Unfortunately, after 21 years it failed to live up to expectations. In fact, it was quite awful. There were a lot of problems with the film but one of my major criticisms was that it focused on newer characters that were not very interesting. After such a long hiatus, I wanted to see what had happened to the characters that I had known and loved. Corey Feldman was the only member of the original cast that returned. Yet even he was relegated to be even more of a side character than he was previously.

Regardless of any of the above, in 2010 a third film was made; Lost Boys 3: The Thirst.

In San Cazador, California, Edgar Frog is facing eviction from his trailer and tries to raise funds by selling his collection of old comic books to his friend Zoe, who works at a local comics shop.

Edgar is approached by Gwen, a writer of romantic vampire novels. Her brother Peter was kidnapped during a rave in Ibiza, Spain and she suspects vampiric activity. She gives him a vial of a drug called “The Thirst” which is given to people at raves hosted by a person known as “DJ X”; he determines that it is vampire blood. Gwen offers him a large sum of money to rescue her brother, but he turns it down.

Edgar visits Alan, who is now half-vampire and satisfies his thirst for blood by feeding on animal blood acquired in his job as a taxidermist. Edgar tries to enlist Alan’s aid in stopping DJ X from raising an army through his raves, but he refuses, having lost all hope that he can be saved and believing that the whole Alpha Vampire theory is just a “never-ending pyramid scheme”.

Remembering his youthful days with Alan and Sam Emerson, Edgar resolves to take the job alone but Gwen introduces him to Lars Van Goetz, a former reality TV star hoping to use the mission to make him famous again; Edgar reluctantly accepts his help.

After a visit to the grave of Sam Emerson (who Edgar was forced to kill when he turned into a vampire), in which Edgar returns to Sam the Batman #14 that Sam had boasted having when they met. Edgar finds that Alan has left him a book of vampire history to help in his mission. Edgar gives the book to Zoe to research. She is attacked by a vampire, but she and Edgar defeat it, and she explains what she has learned about a ritual sacrifice during a Blood Moon, such as the one that will occur the night of the rave.

Will Edgar Frog be able to stop the filthy blood-suckers once again? Or will this be his final mission?

On a positive note, Lost Boys: The Thirst is an improvement over its predecessor. I asked for a movie that focused more on the characters that I cared about, they delivered. This is the Edgar Frog show and it’s pretty much what you would expect from that character. It may have been 23 years but Corey Feldman manages to slip back into character with apparent ease. However, Edgar is much older so you get a real sense of how much he has been ground down over the years. He still has the same dry sense of humour; he has some enjoyable pieces of dialogue.

The storyline functioned well, it served its purpose. The vampires in the film felt more Blade than Lost Boys but that’s just me. Basically, as a horror movie it isn’t anything special but it isn’t terrible either. This is clearly a movie that was made with the fans in mind and as a sequel to The Lost Boys, it’s actually surprisingly good.

There are some moments of real emotion. You get to see Edgar visit Sam’s grave, the flashback scenes were very effective. It hits harder when you consider that Corey Haim had sadly passed away not long after the film’s release. Apparently they were planning on bringing Sam back for the sequel, Heart-breaking.

Lost Boys: The Thirst is a fun vampire flick that doesn’t take itself too seriously. After the huge disappointment that was The Tribe, the fans deserved this. I appreciate what this film tried to do. It’s a little bit hit and miss but I felt satisfied with what it delivered. If you want to see the Frog brothers kick vampire ass one last time then you won’t be disappointed. Just lower your expectations and I think you’ll find enjoyment.