*spoiler alert*
The Lost Boys is a 1987 horror/comedy film that revolves around the typically scary theme of vampires. Director Joel Schumacher is careful to incorporate a number of visual techniques that ensure the classic definition of horror is kept true throughout the film.
The film follows the lives of two teenage brothers who, with their mother, move to the small coastal town of Santa Carla in California. They soon discover that the town is riddled with blood thirsty vampires, disguised as delinquent bikers. Younger brother, Sam (Corey Haim) befriends two local boys claiming to be active vampire hunters. The hunters, Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander) are completely fixated on the existence of vampires and religiously follow the idea that their town is home to some of these deadly creatures. While Sam is initially not convinced of the reliability of the Frog brother's horrific tales, his mind is quickly changed after his older brother, Michael (Jason Patric) gets sucked into the gang of bikers. Michael is initiated into their group and declared one of them despite him expressing feelings against his new gruesome lifestyle.
The film then goes to focus on the boys and their journey to stop Michael from fully transitioning into an abhorrent corpse and them trying to figure out if they can identify the leader of the local vampire colony. I am going to focus on a particular scene in the film in which Sam first discovers that his once loving brother is changing into something slightly less friendly.
The scene starts at night; this suggests something may go wrong as darkness in horror films is commonly associated with evil and tells the audience that it may be time to start feeling the tension. It's night time and Michael is walking around his house after experiencing a rather interesting night out with his new friends, following them around as they introduce him into their lawless ways. The house is almost silent with only the sound of Michael's footsteps being heard as the camera tracks his movement into the kitchen. Chilling non-linear tunes played by violins are faintly playing over the scene which really heightens the tension because as the music softens, the viewer is lured into a false sense of security only to be met with a peak in the music therefore a peak in the tension. After, a long shot is used to show Michael taking milk out of the fridge, he is struck with a pain in his chest which forces him to drop to the floor clutching his heart. The camera focuses on the spilt milk pouring out onto the floor as the sound effect of a heart beat is placed on top of Michael's panting. The use of the enhanced heart beat sound effect speeds up the scene and stresses the intensity in the scene. This is contrasted by the camera cutting away to younger brother, Sam who is upstairs in the bath blissfully unaware of the drama taking place in his own kitchen. The way the scene is split between Sam comically singing in the bath and Michael starting his painful transformation to becoming a vampire creates a contradiction in themes with humour and comedy being portrayed through the character Sam and horror and drama being portrayed through the character Michael.
The cuts between the two brothers continue as Michael makes his way upstairs as the vampire instincts start to take over and he is overcome with the need for human blood and the only source of this in the house is sat in the bath tub. The camera tracks Michael from a high angle as he slowly makes his way up the steps, this gives the audience the sense of standing at the top of the stairs and watching blood craving creature crawl up to them. It is a technique that puts us in the shoes of the victim which increases the anticipation and creates a very creepy atmosphere. The lighting in this scene is also contrasting between the two brothers with Sam being surrounded in bright light and white walls and Michael being hidden in the shadows, his facial features barely being visible. I think that this is a very clever way of illustrating the characters personalities as Sam is a bubbly child who is very incapable of being mean whereas Michael is more drawn to the risks in life, shown by him joining a mysterious group of bikers after moving to their new house. A massive clue in this scene that triggers the audience to react is when Sam's dog, Nanook senses the danger in Michael as he edges closer to the oblivious Sam.
Tension is built as the cameras focus rests on the low growl coming from Nanook, it is commonly known that animals such as dogs have heightened senses when in comes to the supernatural therefore we are lead to trust the instinct of the dog and also associate danger with Michael's character. As Michael approaches the door of the bathroom, we see a close up of Nanook which is a trigger for the viewer to get scared. The camera then cuts to a close up of the door handle slowly twisting which increases the anticipation, leaving the apprehensive audience on the edge of their seat. The door opens. A close up of Michael's face is the focus of the shot, it forces the audience to take in his evil glare and is proof that Michael is not the same person he was before however, the dog is the only one that senses this making him the most reliable character in the scene.
Although parts of this scene are very bright and comical, the horror aspect is not lost. Lighting is used frequently to distinguish between good and evil with low key lighting being employed to create shadows and mystery around Michael's character. This leaves the audience in a sense of uncertainty and fear due to humans natural phobia of the dark. Camera angles are used in creating tension through close ups which force to audience to focus on a specific aspect which may cause the horror factor of the film to be stressed even more. Overall, the film does a brilliant job in creating very typically scary creatures and uses techniques that contribute to empathising tension and fear throughout the scenes. The Lost Boys is also an extremely reliably source for information on vampire hunting should the need to research ever present itself.
