Trailer
Plot summary
Money troubles push Lucy and her two teenage sons, Michael and Sam, to move into her father's house in the California coastal town of Santa Carla, where bikers and unexplained deaths trouble the residents. Lucy finds work at a video store; its owner, Max, takes an interest in her. Sam meets Edgar and Alan Frog at the local comic book store, brothers who call themselves vampire hunters. Michael is drawn to Star, a girl who spends her time with David's gang, and David challenges him to keep up on motorcycles. At the gang's hideout David offers Michael a bottle of red liquid; Star says it holds blood, and Michael drinks.
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Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Lost Boys (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The project was originally set to be directed by Richard Donner and modeled on his film The Goonies, envisioned as a lighter, kid-friendly adventure with 13 or 14-year-old vampires, the Frog brothers written as chubby eight-year-old Cub Scouts, and Star written as a boy.
- Sutherland broke his right wrist doing a wheelie on his motorcycle and had to wear gloves on set to conceal the cast, while his motorcycle for the movie was adapted so he could operate it with his left hand only.
- The film is widely credited with reshaping how vampires were portrayed on screen, giving the genre a younger, sexier image that helped inspire later films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Jason Patric was approached early on by Schumacher to play Michael Emerson, but had no interest in doing a vampire film and turned it down "many times", signing on only after Schumacher promised the cast creative input.
- Nearly four decades later the film became a stage musical, directed by Michael Arden, that opened at the Palace Theatre in April 2026 and won four Tony Awards from twelve nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Shoshana Bean.
SPOILER
One villain's death scene was written differently from the rest so he could survive into a planned spin-off about his character, though that follow-up film never actually got made.
