In the latest sequel for the franchise, Lost Boys: The Thirst brings the vampire-slaying Frog brothers back to the forefront, nearly 25 years after they were introduced to audiences in the first film, The Lost Boys, which went on to become a cult classic and pop culture phenomenon. Now, Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander) have joined forces to kick some alpha vampire butt and save a young boy from a gang of night crawlers in San Cazador, a sleepy Northern California town. These bloodsuckers are growing a vampire army by handing out The Thirst, a drug made out of vampire blood, at raves all across the country. To stop it, the Frog brothers will have to enter a battle that will test their strength and finally put an end to the undead.
At an interview to promote the October 12th DVD/Blu-ray release of the film, co-stars Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander talked about the impact of the first film on their lives, being reunited on screen, the live events that they’ll be doing for this release, and the possibility of future films and even a television series. Check out what they had to say after the jump.
How did it feel to be reunited, 25 years from when you shot the first film?
COREY FELDMAN: It felt good and it still feels good. It’s like re-engaging in an old marriage. It’s awkward, it’s uncomfortable, but something about it still works, and then you feel kind of guilty afterwards and go, “Did I really mean to do that?”
JAMISON NEWLANDER: We fight a lot. No, it’s great.
FELDMAN: We always have to decide who’s going to shave. That’s what it comes down to.
NEWLANDER: He gets the goatee this week, but next week, it’s all mine. It’s great for me to be back, side by side with Corey, doing this. We got a little taste of it with The Tribe, just for one shoot day, but then I ended up in the Special Features on the DVD.
What do you remember of the reaction to the first film, when it originally came out? How was that for you?
FELDMAN: At the time, I remember it really being hailed as the original rock ‘n’ roll vampire movie. That was the thing that people really loved about it. As a matter of fact, I’ll never forget being at the premiere, where I had invited Sam Kinison, who was a wildly popular and cutting edge comedian at the time, that was all about rock ‘n’ roll. He was the first rock ‘n’ roll comedian. And, I really wanted to gauge his perception of it because he was so contemporary and cutting edge at the time. He really had his finger on the pulse of what was happening.
So, he was sitting right in front of me at the big premiere and he kept screaming during the whole movie. He was just like, “Dude, this movie rocks! Fuck yeah!” That was a really good gauge for me. I was like, “Okay, this guy loves it.” Not only did he love it, but he literally had the poster hanging up on his wall. He was obsessed with the film, and I know a lot of people have been. As a matter of fact, Eminem has some excerpts from the original song, “Cry Little Sister,” on a new single, on his new album. Even today, that song is growing more and more wildly popular, and they’re doing a bunch of remixes. I spoke recently with G Tom Mac, who is the writer of the original song, and he said that he had a conversation with Eminem where he said, “This soundtrack is really a part of my existence. Every song on it is so meaningful to me. There’s no way that I could deny using a part of this as part of my history and what I’m about.” That just goes to show you what a market it made in pop culture and society. Beyond that, here were are 25 years later, still making sequels. Obviously, it still has a little bit of a life left in it, so to speak.
NEWLANDER: People don’t necessarily recognize me right away ‘cause I look a little different, so when they realize that I’m a Frog brother and I was in The Lost Boys, it’s exciting. You can see the excitement wash over them, still to this day, and even more so now. It’s great.
Did you guys have a favorite scene in the original?
NEWLANDER: I love the one where we totally chicken out, when we’re in the bathtub.
FELDMAN: I have the same answer. It’s the big bathtub bash. These characters really come to their pinnacle at that moment. The whole movie, they’re enforcing and protesting with this bravado, like they’re these great, statuesque action heroes and they know everything and they’ve got all the facts, data and research. And then, when it comes down to it and they’re really face to face with the confrontation of having to put down an actual living, breathing vampire that’s got their eyes open and is staring at them, they completely flounder and chicken out, and become the teenagers they really are. You get to see behind the veil. That’s really what makes that scene so fun, and human and real. Not to mention the fact that you’ve got exploding toilets with blood, which actually just happened last week at my house. We had that plumbing problem. Vampire blood is smelly, let me tell you.
NEWLANDER: That scene is also one of my most annoying memories from the movie because, between takes, we were in about six inches of slime on that bathroom floor and we just had to sit there, freezing while they checked all the lights. So, it’s both my favorite scene and my least favorite scene as well.
FELDMAN: That was the Brooke McCarter incident as well, during that sequence. Let’s just say that the director (Joel Schumacher) had to be a little extra firm to get the reaction that he needed out of Brooke McCarter.
NEWLANDER: Right, he got the slap. That was a big incident.
FELDMAN: Although, I wouldn’t attest to that fact, if I was put on trial.
NEWLANDER: Joel was really trying to get a particular reaction out of Brooke, and I can’t say exactly what happened because it’s heresay, but Brooke was a very sensitive guy, even though he was a tough guy.
FELDMAN: He was a very soft, very gentle, hippie-type dude. He wasn’t really the bravado guy, and Joel [Schumacher] needed a much bigger reaction to show that we were really in fear for our lives. We were bringing it to the table and he felt that the make-up was masking a little bit of the reaction that he was trying to put forth, so Joel tried to instigate him to get him more angry, and it worked. It was a great trick from one of the great legendary directors of our time. I love you Joel. Hire me again, thanks.
What was it like to go from the guys who ran under pressure in the first film to get big fight scenes in this film?
FELDMAN: You have to look at it like, in reality, it’s been 25 years. We embraced going into these characters and confronting this by going, “Where would these guys be today, from a mental outlook? Where are you, if you’re a vampire slayer and your whole life is based on living in the darkness, shrouded in darkness? You exist, basically co-habitating with the vampires at night. You have to live and breathe as a vampire to really see through their eyes and know what you’re up against. So, having that kind of brain damage for 25 years has got to put you in a pretty special place as a human being, and that’s the way we approach this. My character is disheveled, disabled, abandoned and alone, and he’s lost everything that’s near and dear to him, including those who are closest to him. You have to look at it from the perspective of here’s a guy who’s a lone solider, he’s living in a trailer, he’s lost everything in his life that’s dear to him and he’s really disconnected from the rest of the world, including those who he fought to protect.
That’s where he’s at, and that’s where we find him at the beginning of this film. For lack of a better term, he’s hung up his stake and he’s out of the game. Really, there’s no enticement to bring him back until he’s dangled the carrot with the opportunity of actually reconnecting with his brother and having a chance to save his brother’s soul. That’s really what this comes down to. The thing that made the original Lost Boys film work so well, across the board, and why people could relate to it and connect with it – besides the fact that it was hip, current, contemporary, rock ‘n’ roll and sexy – was the fact that it was about family. It was about the fact that it was families who were really trying to find a new way to move forward in this undead, surreal world of vampirism by forming a new family, so that they could have each other.
At the root of it, you had three families – the Emerson family, the Frog family and the family of David and his brothers that were being controlled by Max. That’s what the basis of the film was. We also touched on that in The Tribe because of the fact that it’s supposed to be David (Jason Patric) and Star’s (Jami Gertz) kids. Nicole (Autumn Reeser) and Chris (Tad Hilgenbrink) were their kids, and they were there visiting the aunt, so again it was about their family and it was about the fact that I had lost my family. And, Angus Sutherland (who plays Shane) is Kiefer Sutherland’s brother, and that’s another family line. In the sequel, we still kept the inner strength of it about family lines. This new sequel again embraces the idea of it being about family. It’s me longing to get my family back and to help salvage my brother’s existence.
NEWLANDER: Even though the Frog brothers crumbled in the first film, we did also kill a bunch of vampires. You got to see the seeds of what would be the future, and that’s then brought back in The Thirst, and also in The Tribe. Edgar (Feldman) has all these great new weapons and has really come into his own, as a vampire hunter. With my character, you see how I was part of that as well, and then got shifted off into the vampire side of things, so he’s not as involved with it now.
FELDMAN: The first time around, we were amateurs coming at it from the idea of, “Wouldn’t it be cool, if we were really these guys?” And then, when they’re confronted with the danger, they realize that they’re not really those guys. Now, we’ve got 25 years of experience and I’ve certainly spent the last 25 years honing my craft, perfecting it, creating new weaponry and putting a team together of people that can help me with an arsenal of artillery. I really feel that I’ve come into it fully and claimed my stake, for lack of a better term, as the original vampire hunter. With Jamison’s character, he comes in from a completely different standpoint because, yes, he’s had those trials and tribulations, and he’s got the same expertise and background, but now he’s in a much different place because he’s conflicted.
NEWLANDER: He has this lifetime of hunting vampires and hating vampires, and then, all of a sudden, he is one and that self-hatred is undeniable. That’s the basis of my character, at the beginning.
What do you think of the Twilight saga?
NEWLANDER: There’s this rivalry that has developed between our two franchises.
FELDMAN: What I say is, let them keep making movies because it’s keeping us in business. The more romance novelists that are out there, making romanticized ideas of vampirism for the kids, the more people want to see a real action movie, putting the bad guys where they belong, as the bad guys, and looking for a hero to come along and defend our very souls – enter the Frog brothers.
Corey, you’ve been a part of a number of horror films, in your career. What do you enjoy about that?
FELDMAN: I feel very fortunate to have been a part of many of today’s successful contemporary horror franchises, be it Friday the 13th, Gremlins, The Lost Boys or Splatter. The irony is that, being a father, my views on horror films are much different these days because I obviously don’t have them playing on the television a lot, so I don’t really watch much horror and I find it interesting that I happen to be at the forefront of all these different horror franchises.
Can you talk about the special events that you’re going to be doing for the release of Lost Boys: The Thirst?
FELDMAN: Along with the premiere of this new film, we’re presenting it in a new way that’s never been done before on a marketing level. Warner Bros. is teaming up with Live Nation and we’re creating some live theatrical events around the film. We’re going to do a series of concerts at four locations of House of Blues venues around the country, starting on October 21st. Live Nation is going to present The Lost Boys Ball, which is an evening with my band, The Truth Movement, because we have some music in the new film, and we’re going to show a screening of the original film.
So, all the Lost Boys fans will get a chance to come together and celebrate the release of this new film with us, by watching the original in a theatrical setting and actually getting a sneak peak of the new Lost Boys film, along with an opportunity to buy their DVD or Blu-ray right there on the spot, and we’re also going to have a Q&A where they can ask me and Jamison some questions about the film. There’s going to be a costume contest and a chance for people to win a free copy of the signed DVD. It’s a very exciting evening that we’re putting together. If you want more information about it, you can go to my website, www.CoreyFeldman.net, or you can check out the websites for Live Nation, Warner Bros. or House of Blues, for any more information on those dates.
Since this film provides some closure with the flashbacks in it, and also leaves it open to expand the world for future films, are you looking to do more of these?
FELDMAN: We’re not looking to do anything that the fans don’t demand. The great thing about this experience, in particular, is that this is one of the only franchises out there that is really based on supply and demand. It’s very interactive with our audience. Up until this point, I’ve taken it upon myself to make it my job, because I write a blog with a pretty high readership, to really listen to what it is that the fans are asking for, and we try to deliver that each time. We try to bring a little bit more to the table, in helping the fans get exactly what it is they’re looking for out of their experience with the film. Thus far, that’s been working, so much so that the reviews have been overwhelming to us. They’re really outstanding. It’s been a very, very positive reaction. I haven’t seen a negative review yet.
So, I think we’re doing something right and, as long as the financial end of things is there and the response to this film turns out to be as positive as it’s seeming to be, then we’re open to pretty much anything. At the end of the day, everything is on the table. We do have a lot of concepts and ideas that we’ve been working with. We’ve been meeting with Hans Rodionoff, the writer, for some time, going over concepts and ideas of how we could continue this. The way we see it, there’s probably three more films ready for development in the franchise, along with a potential TV series. Maybe there will even be a video game, at some point. We see multiple avenues where this franchise can be expanded and continued forward. Really, it comes down to what the audience response is and what you guys want to see from us.
NEWLANDER: From my perspective, the excitement that there is inside the franchise, from all of us who are working on it, just seems to be brimming. The reaction from the fans has been so strong that I would be really excited to continue.