#absolutely smitten with the murderous noodle man

[rubys-forest]

Omg I think she's gotta crush

[gravecinema]

Why The Lost Boys Made Us Want to be Vampires - 05/16/2020

The Lost Boys is one of the most classic and well-known vampire movies ever made. It is also what I feel to be the first representation of the modern vampire. The tagline of the movie says everything you need to know about these vampires: “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire.”

These aren’t your classic vampires that you’ve seen in movies from years before. More than anything, The Lost Boys shows just how cool it is to be a vampire. You go where you want. Do what you want. Wear what you want and take what you want. Not to mention, you get to ride motorcycles with a pack of friends right off the beach boardwalk. If you were a teenager watching this movie for the first time, there were no cooler vampires than the Lost Boys.

Released in July of 1987 and directed by Joel Schumacher, The Lost Boys tells the tale of two brothers and their newly divorced mom moving in with their grandpa near the fictional beach town of Santa Carla, California; the so called “Murder Capital of the World.” The older brother Michael, played by Jason Patric, soon becomes smitten with the beautiful Star, played by Jami Gertz. Star just so happens to be a part of the local boardwalk motorcycle gang lead by David, played by Keifer Sutherland, and Michael soon finds himself embroiled with the antics of the boys as they make plans to initiate him into their club. Unknown to Michael, it just so happens to be a club of vampires.

Meanwhile, Michael’s younger brother Sam, played by Corey Haim, befriends two local comic book geeks named the Frog Brothers, played by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander, who try to warn him about the vampires, and that his brother is in danger of becoming one of them. Michael and Sam’s mom, played by Dianne Wiest, also starts a relationship with the mysterious Max, played by Edward Herrmann, who may have a history with the gang of vampires.

While Sam and the Frog Brothers hunting of the vampires drive the plot forward through most of the final act, it is our first interactions with the Lost Boys that really make the film memorable, and the classic that it has become. When a security guard kicks them off the merry-go-round at the start of the movie, the vampires retaliate by attacking and feasting on him later when he’s alone. The motorcycle ride on the beach with Michael shows the joy that the vampires express by doing whatever they want. They show their complete fearlessness and carefree attitude by hanging off a train bridge as a train goes by, all while trying to entice Michael to join them.

The most iconic scene has to be when they first take Michael to their underground lair, where they offer Michael to join in on having some Chinese food. David then plays some vampire mind games with Michael by making him believe that he’s eating maggots instead of rice, and worms instead of noodles. This is actually a very nice setup that David is playing on Michael, since when he offers him a bottle filled with the blood of their master vampire to drink to start Michael’s transformation into becoming a vampire, Michael then scoffs at Star’s warning that the bottle is filled with blood, believing that it’s just another mind game like with the maggots and worms. He then drinks it thinking it’s probably only just some wine. This whole scene is absolutely great and gets referenced many other times in other media. Most notably recently in the 2014 vampire movie What We Do in the Shadows.

The design of the Lost Boys is also a great influence for future vampire characters and stories. The distinct monstrous brow over their eyes that they develop when they transform their faces right before they feed is a technique also used again most notably in the movie From Dusk ‘Till Dawn, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. The popular bleached-blonde trench-coat-wearing bad boy vampire Spike from the Buffy series is also quite clearly highly influenced by the character of David from The Lost Boys. Spike was created in the 90’s though, so that glorious mullet that David had was left back in the 80’s where it probably most belongs.

The Lost Boys also has one of the best movie soundtracks ever. The signature song of the movie titled Cry Little Sister has been covered by many different artists and sets the perfect mood for the entire movie, starting with the opening title, and then later with Michael and Star’s sexy love scene. The song Lost in the Shadows that plays during the bike ride on the beach is also another fantastic mood setting song that really makes you want to hop on a motorbike yourself and ride alongside them. Also, no mention of this movie’s soundtrack can go without the truly iconic 80’s performance on the beach of I Still Believe by Tim Capello, who will forever be known to fans as the shirtless greased up muscled sax guy. I got to see Tim Capello perform I Still Believe as well as other songs at a convention recently, and the man still puts on a fantastic show.

The film also offers the viewer a visual lens of becoming a vampire through two different character perspectives. The older brother Michael seeks acceptance with the new crowd and longs for a relationship with Star. The younger brother Sam, influenced by the Frog Brothers and his comic books, sees the vampires as an evil corrupting force against Michael, and sets out to destroy them and the master vampire who may be controlling them. This allows viewers of differing ages to also enjoy the movie in different ways. When I was younger, I viewed the movie through the lens of Sam and wanted him and the Frog Brothers to successfully hunt and slay the evil vampires. Once I reached high school age, I was definitely starting to view the movie through the lens of Michael, and I would want to become the cool and sexy vampire and get the beautiful girl. I also suspect that once I get to the age of the Grandpa, I’ll probably be viewing the movie through his eyes as well. These lenses do a lot to help the viewer enjoy the movie at any age and helped to make the movie the classic that it has become.

It’s interesting to view the movie this way, since the characters of Michael and the vampire gang were supposed to be younger than they were portrayed in the final film. The initial concept of the movie was for it to be a sort of retelling of Peter Pan, only with the twist being that Peter and the rest of the Lost Boys were vampires, which is why they never grow old. Hence the title of the movie. Coming off the success of the Goonies, producers wanted another movie adventure with kids around the same age. It was when Joel Schumacher got directing duties that the decision was then made to age up the vampires and one of the brothers in order to make the movie sexier and to sell better to teens. The reasoning being that vampires are supposed to be creatures and metaphors for sex, and those themes would not play well with preteen characters. This change worked for the movie, since we still have that younger kid adventure story going on with Sam and the Frog Brothers, but we also now get the sexy part of the story with the older brother Michael and the gang of vampire Lost Boys.

The older content provided by the aged-up characters also presents us with some pretty fun and creative vampire death scenes. The scene where the vampires show their fangs for the first time to Michael gives us an intense moment where the vampires feast on a group of punks, with the punks basically being torn apart. The vampire deaths also get graphic with the Frog Brothers taking one of the Lost Boys out with a tub full of holy water. The most iconic death though without a doubt is the “Death by stereo” sequence. It is a moment and line so iconic that it has even inspired a song written about it. The Lost Boys certainly provides the viewer with a great deal of vampire slayage in the final act.

The death of David hits the audience differently though, since he is a very likable and charismatic character. He doesn’t explode when he dies like other vampires, and we’re meant to sympathize with him more. The character was so popular, he was even magically brought back in a comic book sequel to the movie. There’s a reason why the character of Spike from the Buffy series drew a lot of influence from the character of David. David is the absolute essence of cool when it comes to the Lost Boys and being a vampire. He’s the one character who makes us most want to be a vampire, and his death signifies a metaphoric death of that dream of becoming just like one of the Lost Boys.

The Lost Boys would eventually go on to spawn two direct-to-video sequel releases featuring the Frog Brothers in the later 2000’s, about 20 years after the original movie. They’re not bad sequels to watch for fans of the original and can still be entertaining at certain points, but they still come nowhere near to competing with the quality of filmmaking that the original film produced. That original film from the 80’s has continued to stand to test of time as being one of the true classics of the vampire genre. Many other great vampire films have been made since then and will continue to be made, but I doubt that any will quite make us want to become a vampire just as much as that motorcycle gang taking joyrides off a California boardwalk from 1987.

[leatherbookmarking]

cql “college au”, but

set in ?????????

yunmeng trio lives together, having moved out of their family house, and is (attempting to) using this chance to SHINE

in which jiang yanli succeeds, jiang cheng would love to Shine, whatever it means, but the thought of it makes him ridiculously stressed. wwx is just ridiculous, and bi

twin jades live w/ their uncle who’s some, idk, professor or some other fancy thing. they are a shining example of proper behaviour

in which xichen has started going to parties in his second year. he is a happy drunk. everyone loves him at least as much as he loves everyone, and

wangji has been to one (1) party. with xichen. he managed 15 minutes, ate one (!)potato chip, and, seeing his bro is in capable, responsible, big manly hands of nie mingjue, left, for he had homework

they also have a big house and a pleasant amount of dogs in it.

“why” what, are you a cop

wwx and lwj meet on one of those subjects you have to sign up for but you know it’s going to give you absolutely nothing. wwx is immediately smitten and spends the first class trying to hit on him. lwj doesn’t notice he’s being hit on, deeply immersed in the lecture

wwx does not, though, give up, and eventually bothers lwj into... gasp! sitting together at a library

wwx: pretty sure that’s almost like dating, ha    jc: yeah, in primary school, maybe

“this is so weird. why is everyone so quiet? it’s not natural, how can you be so quiet, i’m pretty sure this girl over there is dead, oh god, now i hear the sound of my heartbeat, it’s so annoying”

“i am studying.”

nanananana fast forward lwj at some point tells wwx about his dogs. a hint of a smile appears on his lips and wwx just (dreamy sigh) i love you...

lwj: hm?     wwx: i said i love (split second of terrible realization) dogs  .

lwj: hm. (the tiniest smile, still)

etc etc yeah i only care abt the fun bits. things happen and so wwx ends up @ the lan house (to work on a project, whatever), about to experience five levels of hell (for all five dogs)

Consternation.

wwx (currently hanging over the fence, which is intent on not letting him go) rattles into an apology mixed with an explanation and some additional words of adoration for lwj

eventually lwj Understands, but there’s xichen inside and he was supposed to come with a “friend”, a concept xichen was very excited about, so he tells the dogs to please go home, extracts wwx from the fence and leads him a dogless path into the house

while, at the same time, conjuring up a plan. he doesn’t want to send away his dogs every time wwx comes (of course, it’s not like he wants him to come, okay, he’s irritating, he’d rather do the project alone, etc, etc) so he’s going to Make It so wwx isn’t scared of dogs anymore

and so the adventure begins, with lwj talking more in one sitting than wwx has ever heard him in the course of their-- existence in a close vicinity, about how the dogs that gave wwx the fear were probably even more scarred than he was, mistreated by their owners (for a second lwj has a vague... irritation on his face. that irritation would manifest in other people by a fifteen minutes long rant with swearing and throwing things at the walls). usually dogs are not aggressive and mostly interested in either chilling or play.

he shows wwx dog baby pictures which also include some pictures of, well, lwj. wwx experiences emotions

the lans actually have a temporary home situation going on for those dogs, and are gently taking care of them, figuring out their fears and such so they could be integrated better into society, so

aside from that they have a lovely young mixed breed lady who is entirely fine. it’s just, when humans think they’re giving her a bath? she is actually dying

you are not dying, says lan wangji. she is not convinced. she yells

this is when wwx notices that lan wangji, while a little bit shorter than him, has, in fact, some nice shoulders (it is a good exercise to wrestle with a large dog for an hour). the fact that he is entirely -- not a hyperbole -- soaking wet is, well. helping.

they leave victorious, lwj with what feels like hectolitres of water on his person and clothes, wwx with a bruise on his nose from being hit by a dog snout, wiggling on max power

romance ?

nie mingjue is a glorious athlete with kickass grades, big plans for the future and sexy mustache. nie huaisang just wants to open his small etsy shop, and a drink

wen qing is a med student. do not bother her

she does, though, attend parties from time to time, to unwind. on one of them, jiang cheng, in the middle of stuttering through his list of things he likes in a girl, looks to the side. “forexampleshe’snice”, he mutters

wen ning, having taken a swig of his drink, processes what he’s just heard. the swig lands on his shirt

wen qing snarls at a dude hitting aggressively on her friend. jiang cheng feels something in him awaken

as wwx and nhs observe (utter mirth) and, in nhs’s case, almost take notes

yi city trio live in a shitty flat, being broke

xxc and sl were high school bros, that is until they got in an argument and sl demonstratively got a scholarship abroad

so yi city trio, consisting of xxc, an honor student, a-qing, a passing student, and xy, a human being who has definitely seen a syllabus at some point, are roommates

oh my god they are roommates

until sl comes back from the scholarship and xxc, fully aware their flat is shit, offers him a place, because he’s a beautiful man with a beautiful heart

for the first two weeks of sl’s living with them, xy and sl are sincerely convinced the other is xxc’s boyfriend, and antagonize each other accordingly

xxc has, as far as he’s concerned, approximately zero boyfriends

or does he???

a-qing has returning thoughts about moving out.

if jin guangyao loses a scholarship to some moron again, he Will commit mass murder

with what, inquires nie mingjue, you are a noodle with noodle arms and noodle legs. he says that while patting jgy’s thigh. said thigh indeed looks like a noodle next to his big, manly hand

haha oh stop it, giggles xichen, lovingly drunk, into jgy’s shoulder

????? profit?