Review of Lost Boys, The

Introduction

One of the benefits of DVD is that many back catalogue films are remastered and presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, allowing owners to revisit films that they enjoyed on rental video years ago. In some cases, this proves to be a worthwhile experience whilst in others it just leaves you wondering why you enjoyed the film in the first place.

How will the vampire flick “The Lost Boys” compare to my fond memories from all those years ago?

Video

Video comes courtesy of a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that is of average to good quality throughout. A great deal of the film is shot and night, and consequently the image is often dark, and although there are no noticeable problems, the image isn’t as crisp as it could be.

Effects wise, there’s some fairly corny “vampire flying about” stuff along with some blood coming up out of the sink type of shots – nothing spectacular and to be honest, much of it looks naff nowadays!

Audio

The sound has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 but it would appear to be a case of simply extending the frequency range of the existing Pro-Logic rear channel – there was no rear channel separation evident.

Having said that, the sound quality is pretty good, and is helped by a very good soundtrack which regularly fills the soundstage. The dialogue is always precise and understandable.

Features

On selecting the special features menu, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there were some decent extras on offer, however these turn out to be just production notes, and not particularly interesting.

Other than the notes, there is a trailer.

The menu designers have also taken it upon themselves to choose a typeface that is particularly hard to read for all the menu choices.

Conclusion

Overall, this film falls into the category of a movie that I once enjoyed, but am now wondering why, and definitely wondering why I bothered buying the DVD.

The major problem with the Lost Boys is that it was unable to hold my attention for the 93 minute running time. The cast is good, put the script wanders from horror to comedy and the whole feel of the movie suffers – this is not helped by the fact that the “vampire slayers” are two teenage boys from a comic store.

Given the above and the average picture and lack of extras, anyone who thinks that they are a “Lost Boys” fan would be well advised to rent this out before committing to a purchase.