Out to eradicate The Thirst
Corey Feldman isn’t shy about expressing that the second installment of The Lost Boys franchise, Lost Boys: The Tribe, was a bit lackluster. He uses it as an example to explain why the third film in the trilogy, Lost Boys: The Thirst, is so much better – better from a script perspective, better from an action perspective, better from a vampire perspective. Not only does The Thirst reunite the Frog brothers, Shock had its own reunion with both Feldman and Alan Frog himself, Jamison Newlander, during the recent San Diego Comic-Con ’10 where they were promoting the upcoming DVD release of The Thirst.
Shock: Give me a set up for The Thirst and how it factors into the trilogy.
Corey Feldman: The first film made its mark by being a staple in pop culture and that’s what it did best. It was a sign of the times. I think we’ve managed to evolve that and incorporate signs of our modern culture and society into the second and third film as well. The first one was about mullets and the leather jackets and the fashion and rock and roll. The second one was about the modern day YouTube and Girls Gone Wild. The third one we have gone into the rave society. They are giving out this new designer drug called The Thirst. We give a nod to the contemporary classic book romance novel vampire. We acknowledge it. We embrace it and that’s what makes it fun. We continue with the theme of contemporizing vampires in today’s society for what’s expected of a vampire teen movie.
Jamison Newlander: I think one of the successful parts of the second movie is what Feldman was doing with the return of Edgar Frog. In The Thirst, now Alan Frog is back. The Frog brothers are back together. For me, that’s certainly one of the most exciting parts but for the fans that’s exciting for them as well.
Shock: Bringing it back full circle almost.
Feldman: Not completely full circle, but enough we can say this encapsulates and completes a trilogy. Now, it also leaves an entrée into future potential vehicles and furthering the franchise to where we could even more successfully bring back bring back elements from the first film.
Shock: And is that something you would like to see happen?
Feldman: Of course. For us it is all about supply and demand. This is probably one of the most fan-driven component films ever made. Kind of like Star Wars, not that we are in that same world. But in the essence that Star Wars has gone on for so long because it was so driven by the fans. It was the first of its kind that was to be completely directed that way. Sure, every studio is going to make a sequel to a film that was successful based on the profit points and all that. Strictly from the fan-driven perspective, there were 20-plus years between the first one. There was the potential it would never see the light of day. But the fans held on. They kept demanding and pleading for the sequel. Even though the sequel may have been lackluster in some regards and may not have held up to the esteem that the fans were expecting, it re-introduced them to the idea, to the theme, to the characters, enough so to where we could re-invigorate them and get them enthusiastic and excited for the next one. And for [The Thirst], as a producer coming on board, I made it my commitment to the fans that the only way I was getting involved with this film was to give the fans exactly what they were looking for. Which was A) the Frog brothers and B) by making this a better film than the last one was.
Shock: So, it is safe to say you are upping the ante on this film from a variety of perspectives compared to The Tribe.
Newlander: There is a lot of great stuff in this film. There is a lot of great fight work. We went to South Africa to do this and they have some great fight choreographers and special effects. We have Katana swords that were introduced in the comic book, Reign of Frogs. So we came up with some really cool visual looks for this movie.
Feldman: We did get some real benefits from going to South Africa to shoot because we were able to work with some of the same effects guys that worked on District 9. So, we got some of the stunt coordinators, some of the fight coordinators, some of the special effects make-up teams and that was very inviting to us. Upping the ante is exactly what we have done from both a plot perspective and a visual perspective. When you see this movie there are no questions in your mind there has been a lot more money spent on this one. Visually, the scope of it, the dynamic of it. It looks great. There are some great fight sequences. There are some great action sequences. But from a script standpoint, the script is far superior to The Tribe. It is very well fleshed out there is a lot of interesting plot points. Some great references to the first film. There is a great homage to the late Corey Haim.
Shock: Do you mind talking about the details of that homage?
Feldman: There are some scenes in [The Thirst], that when you watch the film, the first thought you will have is âOh they went back and re-shot these sequences after Haim died.’ The truth of the matter is that they were there all along. It is quite ironic and a bit eerie the way they are played out. There’s actually a sequence where Edgar Frog visits Sam’s grave. And a lot of people after the screening came up to me and said âYou probably went back and re-shot that and that’s a very nice thing to do.’ No we didn’t. In actuality, Haim and I had a discussion the night before I shot those scenes. His interest was to be in the next film should we make another one. The idea was like where we would take the character and how do we bring him back. He did a press conference where he said âI will not be in the third one but I’ll be back for the fourth.’ Ironically, that was the night before we shot the cemetery scene. The day after, the producers and I were talking about how we would work it out. He wants to be a part of this; we want him to be a part of it. We have to flush out how we would make it happen. So we started strategizing and plotting what we would do with the next fourth, fifth and sixth film, potentially, if we would do a second trilogy and how we would work with the Sam character. We actually had everything constructed and planned and then he was taken from us. It is unfortunate that he couldn’t be a part of it but when you are watching this film you will still think he was part of this film.
Shock: Sounds like a nice homage.
Feldman: It is a nice homage and the film is dedicated to him.
Newlander: At the screening, the scenes where you see Haim, you could feel the emotion coming from the fans. You could hear a pin drop during those sections. It is eerie that those sections are in there and he is no longer with us. But it is a really nice, fitting homage to Corey.
Lost Boys: The Thirst hits DVD and Blu-Ray on October 12.
Source: Peter Brown
