 Anyone who knows me well, knows I love me a good, dark comedy. It can be a straight up horror comedy, like 'Evil Dead 2', or just a comedy with a darker side to it, like 'The 'Burbs', which will wrap up this month's ridiculously random "Corey Feldman Month".
Suburbanite, Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) has some vacation time, and choses to spend it relaxing at home with his wife, Carol (Carrie Fisher) and kid, Dave (Cory Danziger). It all goes okay, until suspicions are brought up about the new neighbors, the Klopeks; a mysterious group of three strange men who keep to themselves. This all essentially leads to a sort of 'Rear Window' deal in which Ray and a couple of his other neighbors, Mark Rumsfled (Bruce Dern) and Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommun) start to highly suspect the Klopeks of kidnapping and murdering another one of their fellow neighbors. However, their wives are very insistent that they're out of their minds, and the Klopeks are just a misunderstood family, who keeps to themselves. Meanwhile, Ricky (Feldman) watches all the goings on in his neighborhood, claiming the realism of it all to be infinitely better than what could possibly be on TV. He's sort of this sidebar of comedy relief in case the likes of Hanks, Dern and Ducommun weren't quite enough. This was one I was able to watch as a kid and still get a little something out of it withou getting too freaked out. That's considering that at a young age, I was quite frankly afraid of too much. This is actually quite a nice film to sort of dip your toes into horror while the air around you is made of comedy. For example, there's a scene where Ray is sitting down and watching horror movies on TV which include the likes of 'The Exorcist' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' - considered two of the scariest films of all time. But Ray's stiff reaction while watching them brings out how crazy they really are, and even adds a bit of fun to it. This is a high recommendation to those seeking out a dark comedy from the 80s era. It's easily one of the best. Might I also mention this comes from director Joe Dante, who also did 'Gremlins', 'Small Soldiers' and 'Innerspace' - definitely a director who embraces the strange and unusual, and still knows how to make it all sorts of fun. Well, that's about it for "Feldman Month" or whatever we're gonna call it... "Feldmonth?" Sure, let's go with that. Not entirely sure what possessed me to do it. I guess I just wanted to bring to people's attention that he was once quite the beloved child actor. What's interesting to note, however, is that all of his best roles don't end up being leading roles, BUT his name ends up synonymous with the title due to the character he plays. And if nothing else, this was a good way to put a theme to four of my all-time favorite titles.
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 Let's just get this little matter out of the way - remember that one guy who ruined the hell out of Batman back in the late 90s? Well, he directed this title, and it's often seen as one of his best, if not best films. The period was the late 80s, and horror was at an interesting peak where titles like 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th' were slowly becoming self-aware and almost farcical. 'The Lost Boys' is just one of those titles that came along at the perfect time for it. It knew it's target audience, went for it, and it has since become a cult classic among horror fans.
Continuing on with... I dunno, "Feldman Month"? It should also be mentioned that he's not actually in this a whole hell of a lot, if you couldn't tell by the movie poster. But the movie itself is well-known to be "one of his best titles", so here we are on the third of his "best and brightest trifecta". The lead of this film is actually Jason Patric as Michael, but he's followed closely by his supporting actor, Corey Haim as Sam. It's the classic tale of the new kids moving into a strange town and experiencing peculiarities among the community. It's actually quite the common horror trope, but it's a trope that arguably works well due to the easy introduction of overall unfamiliarity with new surroundings. This lends itself to true creepiness. Anyway, this time around, it's a group of trouble-making teens lead by David (Kiefer Sutherland). Long story short, they turn out to be vampires. Feldman enters the scene with his sidekick as the Frog Brothers, Edgar and Allan (Jamison Newlander). They're a couple of comedy relief kids who seem to be the only two in town that know about the vampires. These vampires end up taking Michael on the ride of his life by turning him, but Michael tries to curb his bloodlust and fight it in order to protect his little brother. This has always been a concept I've enjoyed - the idea that the vampire in question has to curb his/her behavior in order to protect those he/she loves. Add to that the overall humor of this movie, and just the fun, dark ride it takes you on, and you've kinda got a classic 80's flick. I highly recommend this one to anyone who may be delving into 80s horror and introducing themselves to the likes of Freddy, Jason or Michael. If 80's horror movies were a level of 'Tetris', 'The Lost Boys' is one of those straight lines that gave us the Tetris we waited patiently for. It's full of a good share of 80s cheese, too. Some scenes may vary on their cringe-worthiness. But please realize that some of the stranger things in this movie are what make it so charming, and what make it the cult classic that it has become.  HEY YOU GUYS! So, imagine being about 10 years old. Your mom calls you up to the living room and tells you that 'The Goonies' is on TV that day. Not quite thinking right, you're imagining to yourself something like "oh, that movie I keep seeing at the video store with the creepy puppets coming out of the toilet. I've been curious about that for some time now, because the image is so silly." That's all true. I was convinced I was gonna be watching something called 'Ghoulies', and video stores totally existed!
So you sit and watch this movie unfolding before your eyes that's about a group of kids who go after a pirate treasure they only know from stories their parents told them, and all the while they're being chased by criminals, and their lives are constantly in danger. Top it off with one of the kids befriending a misunderstood creature, and something clicks in your brain that says "thank GOD this wasn't what I thought it was!" I still, to this day, have never seen 'Ghoulies', have little to no desire to, and 'The Goonies' is one of my all-time favorites that I can watch again and again, and never have it get old. It's also fun to take a look back on some of these actors before they got where they are now - namely the two lead brothers, Mikey and Bran (Sean Astin and Josh Brolin, respectively). This is also one of Corey Feldman's better roles (perhaps a focus this month?). One might also recognize Jonathan Ke Quan from 'Temple of Doom'. The film does a fantastic job of making sure that these kids are humanized and relatable, and it feels like one of those movies where anyone can see a bit of themselves in one of these characters. Also, if you're really into the whole pirate thing, this is a great classic to look back on. It's not straight up pirate stuff, but there's a whole mythology behind the treasure the Goonies are after, complete with a character one could consider Mikey's personal hero; One-Eyed Willy. It's just so neat to have a sort of bedtime story acting in the background the whole time, and it really adds to that sense of adventure, and even dread. It has no qualms about letting you know these kids are in danger the whole time. This is just a classic, through and through, and it's a fantastic family adventure. It's a little bit tough at times - not quite 'Indiana Jones' tough, but again, these kids are in perpetual danger throughout the film. However, there's nothing over-the-top going on here, and it's a lot more fun than it is scary. To this day, I'm glad to know that I have 'The Goonies' to rely on if I find myself craving nostalgia on a rainy Sunday afternoon. If you haven't seen this yet, add it to your to-do list, no matter what your age is. It's a great time! |
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