When their mother Lucy (an appealing Dianne Wiest) divorces their father, brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) find themselves dragged across the country to their grouchy grandfather's house in Santa Carla, California. Not only is it a wooden shack, it's filled with taxidermied animals and -- horror! -- doesn't have TV. If that was the sole sum of their problems, then this would be a pretty dull movie.
Fortunately, Michael attends a concert in which he notices a beautiful flame-haired girl named Star (Jami Gertz). She likes him, he likes her, the cheesy '80s soundtrack swells. Much to Michael's dismay, however, he finds she's running with a biker gang led by David (Kiefer Sutherland, sporting the most serious "business up top, party on the bottom" haircut I've ever seen). Trying to get closer to Star, Michael falls in with David's gang and after imbibing a bottlefull of wine that looks suspiciously like blood, he begins to realize something's up when he starts levitating and trying to drink his brother's blood.
Meanwhile, Sam meets the Frog Brothers who are serious and professional vampire hunters despite being all of thirteen years old. In order to save Michael from vamping out permanently, they have to track the lead vampire to his lair and stake him. Easier said than done!
This is a great movie. Not "Citizen Kane" great, of course, or even "Titanic" great, but marvelous cheesy fun that's somehow of better quality than it deserves to be. The comedy is genuinely funny, the horror is genuinely scary, and the romance falls genuinely flat, but hey! you can't win 'em all. Jason Patric is at his youngest, prettiest, and most Jim Morrison-esque as Michael, and is a darn good actor to boot. I'll never understand why he never made the leap to big-time star. Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Series" is such an obvious rip-off of Kiefer Sutherland's David that it's not even funny. Kiefer did the 'charming, charismatic, leather-clad vampire bad-boy with the peroxide-blond hair and more of a heart than you might expect' thing first, and did it better, IMHO.
Okay, so the '80s fashion and haircuts may be scarier than the vampires, but this is still a fine little flick that should be seen at least once, if for no better reason than to bask in the beauty of Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland in their youthful glory. And if you don't go that way, you still have Jami Gertz to provide the attractive female eye candy. So check it out, and if you're like me, it'll leave you wishing for that sequel they planned but never made (curse you, film gods! It's not too late -- what have Corey Haim and Corey Feldman done since this movie? They could return for the sequel!)
Fortunately, Michael attends a concert in which he notices a beautiful flame-haired girl named Star (Jami Gertz). She likes him, he likes her, the cheesy '80s soundtrack swells. Much to Michael's dismay, however, he finds she's running with a biker gang led by David (Kiefer Sutherland, sporting the most serious "business up top, party on the bottom" haircut I've ever seen). Trying to get closer to Star, Michael falls in with David's gang and after imbibing a bottlefull of wine that looks suspiciously like blood, he begins to realize something's up when he starts levitating and trying to drink his brother's blood.
Meanwhile, Sam meets the Frog Brothers who are serious and professional vampire hunters despite being all of thirteen years old. In order to save Michael from vamping out permanently, they have to track the lead vampire to his lair and stake him. Easier said than done!
This is a great movie. Not "Citizen Kane" great, of course, or even "Titanic" great, but marvelous cheesy fun that's somehow of better quality than it deserves to be. The comedy is genuinely funny, the horror is genuinely scary, and the romance falls genuinely flat, but hey! you can't win 'em all. Jason Patric is at his youngest, prettiest, and most Jim Morrison-esque as Michael, and is a darn good actor to boot. I'll never understand why he never made the leap to big-time star. Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Series" is such an obvious rip-off of Kiefer Sutherland's David that it's not even funny. Kiefer did the 'charming, charismatic, leather-clad vampire bad-boy with the peroxide-blond hair and more of a heart than you might expect' thing first, and did it better, IMHO.
Okay, so the '80s fashion and haircuts may be scarier than the vampires, but this is still a fine little flick that should be seen at least once, if for no better reason than to bask in the beauty of Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland in their youthful glory. And if you don't go that way, you still have Jami Gertz to provide the attractive female eye candy. So check it out, and if you're like me, it'll leave you wishing for that sequel they planned but never made (curse you, film gods! It's not too late -- what have Corey Haim and Corey Feldman done since this movie? They could return for the sequel!)