If it had any other title, Lost Boys 2: The Tribe wouldn't provoke any outrage. But if it had any other title, would anybody give it a second glance? I harbored a ray of hope, but it doesn't take very long to realize that Lost Boys 2: The Tribe was always destined for the direct to video garbage heap.

The 1987 original, photographed by the superbly talented Michael Chapman, was super stylish and jammed with juicy performances, cynical wisecracks, and post-modern tweaks to cinematic vampire legends. The best idea was placing fanged lords of the night in a sun-soaked California coastal town populated by aging hippies and freaks, not to mention a boardwalk, rollercoaster, and great, crashing surf.

As a budget sequel, LB2 has to make do with less attractive, less flattering video imagery and the rockier Canadian coastline standing in for "Santa Carla" * (actually, Santa Cruz, California). The script by Hans Rodionoff makes some half-hearted attempts to tie in the original (antlers and motorcycles, anyone?), but is bereft of any new twists of its own. Director P. J. Pesce makes certain to include the obligatory amount of gore required to justify the so-called "uncut" version, with notable attention to ripped throats and spilled intestines, along with bared body parts displayed by lovelies such as Moneca Delain. LB2 has precisely two good moments -- one in the opening scene, provided by Tom Savini -- stranded within 94 minutes of running time.

Eminently rewatchable, a near-perfect slice of California cool versus East Coast paranoia, dancing on the edge of the truly ridiculous, The Lost Boys neatly captured the zeitgeist in 1987. Pitting a gang of ultra-hip young thrill-seeking vampires against a town that epitomized Middle American values was a master stroke. As Scott Weinberg commented more than a year ago, fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Scott reported that a sequel was finally in the works, but that it would be direct to video, filmed in sunny San Diego, and revolve around Surfer Vampires.

Monika Bartyzel told us that Autumn Reeser (my favorite cute, insecure wisecracker from The OC) had been added to the cast as "a girl who moves with her brother to Trinidad, California and is seduced by the leader of the vamp surfers." Erik Davis broke our hearts with the news that Corey Haim would not be appearing in the film * (see update below), though Corey Feldman is still intact (phew!) and the production had moved to Vancouver.

To whet your appetite further, ShockTillYouDrop has an exclusive look at a new fang-tabulous still from The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. You can check it out in all its full-blooded splendor at their site, where you can also see who's underneath the bloody vampire. Shock also lists Tad Hilgenbrink (American Pie Presents Band Camp) and Angus Sutherland as additional cast members. P.J. Pesce directs. Look for it to hit DVD shelves this July.

UPDATE: As our faithful commenters kindly pointed out, Corey Haim will indeed be making an appearance, as reported by someone at some movie site I really should read once in a while. Thank you, readers!

Whether you're excited or apprehensive, production on the second edition of The Lost Boys is now underway, bringing us the Frog brothers' latest vampiric adventure. (This is one without the infamous co-Corey, as Erik told us in September.) Now Edgar Frog, otherwise known as Corey Feldman, has thrown up a holiday post for his fans that includes tidbits about the production as well as some preview pics for Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. I have been fully expecting to hate this whole production, but I must say -- seeing these two pictures did tap into some of my old Lost Boys fangirl glee. Maybe this could be a good, fun sequel. ...Maybe?

The first pic has Feldman throwing up the serious vampire-fighting finger at Tad Hilgenbrink, who you might have caught in last year's abysmal Epic Movie as Cyclops. The second picture has Feldman armed, poutingly serious, and patrolling a dark tunnel. I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but at least it looks like Corey found his way back to his inner Frog. The actor also threw up a blog post, and in between prayers and chatter for fans, he talks a bit about Warner Brothers' plans for the film. DC Comics will be releasing a 4-issue series to fill in the blanks between the first and second films. (How will they explain away Corey Haim? Did Mama Weist collect them off to a safer city?) And get this -- from the fingers of Feldman: "they are already talking about doing a third... ..;)" The optimist in me wants to believe that this decision is because of how very well production is going, but the pessimist is certain this is just one of those crappy sequel decisions.

In the meantime, there's one more bit of gossip that Corey shared. If you caught the first season of The Two Coreys, and are itching for part two, you might have to hold your breath. It seems that while A&E have ordered a second season, Corey isn't sure he wants to do it because he had a falling out with Haim: "the problems Haim and I have in real life occurred after the show was over and do not have anything to do with the banter from last season. That said, if we do come back, the next season will have to be darker, edgier, and more real because that's where it's at." A dark and edgy Two Coreys? Oh, my!

Since the 1980s was a time of truly horrifying fashions and some downright scary hairdos (pass the Aquanet, please) it's no surprise that it was also a boom period for horror films. Some of the biggest horror franchises in history came into their own then, and the decade was marked by the emergence of home video, the greatest thing ever to happen to horror. I'm presenting these in no particular order, but these are all flicks I found time to enjoy between solving my Rubik's Cube and admiring girls in leg-warmers (I keep hoping those will come back).

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Despite what ultimately ended up on screen, this project began its undead life as a more or less official sequel to the movie that gave birth to the modern zombie genre. After completion of Night of the Living Dead, director George Romero and co-screenwriter John Russo both held sequel rights. While Romero continued the series with 1978's Dawn of the Dead, Russo's sequel came in the form of a potboiler of a novel called Return of the Living Dead. The book is a real chore to plod through, but apparently writer/director Dan O'Bannon liked it enough to turn it into a film which fortunately bears no resemblance to Russo's novel. In the film, the events of Night of the Living Dead are more or less based on a true occurrence, but names and details were changed to avoid law suits. Several drums of the chemical manufactured by the military to reanimate the dead were mistakenly shipped to Uneeda Medical Supply. A dopey pair of guys release the chemical which makes its way into some cadavers in the warehouse and eventually the cemetery across the street, where a gang of punk rockers are killing time. These zombies are more selective than most, feasting only on brains. Not everything works perfectly, but the zombie known as Tarman is pretty cool, Linnea Quigley is naked most of the time and there's an awesome punk soundtrack.

So I'm usually not one to get all worked up about a remake/sequel of a favorite film. (lord knows it happens often enough) You just sort of get used to it. However I have yet to work up that Zen attitude for the straight-to-DVD sequel to The Lost Boys, which looks like it'll go by the title Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. Let's just say I have a bad feeling about the whole thing. Moviehole.net is reporting that sources have confirmed that Warner Premiere (the direct-to-DVD production arm of Warner Bros.) has already started casting their teen bloodsuckers. According to Moviehole's sources; Angus Sutherland -- Keifer's half-brother, will be joined by, Kyle Cassie (Devour), Shaun Sipos (The Grudge 2) and Merwin Mondesir (Godsend) as fellow 'Lost Boys'.

This time the story focuses on another pair of siblings who move to Trinidad, California (What? No Santa Carla?) and are targeted by the vampire gang. This time it's not about motorcycles, it's all about the surfboards -- that's right, vampire surfers. Back in January, Scott confirmed that not only was a sequel in the works, but that already it had been pegged for the straight to video market -- which is never a good sign. Then just last June Monika gave us the news that Autumn Reeser (best known as Taylor on The OC) had been hired to play the new girl in town who is seduced by the vampire surfers. Since then it has been reported that living cautionary tales for child stars everywhere Corey Feldman and Corey Haim would be returning to reprise their roles from the first film. (Although Haim's involvement is still up for debate due to some pesky immigration issues.) So I might be biased when I say that with an expanding C-list cast and a ridiculous plot even for a vampire movie ... as much as I love the original, it's probably for the best that this flick is going straight to the DVD bin.

Moviegoers are about to be up to their (succulent) necks in vampire movies. Currently in theaters is non-mainstream vampire fare like the Russian film Day Watch, the very limited release Rise: Blood Hunter and the short film "Quartier de la Madeleine", which is Vincenzo Natali's lame contribution to the otherwise enjoyable compilation Paris Je T'Aime. But on their way to multiplexes near you are the big-deal vampire pics Castlevania, I Am Legend, 30 Days of Night, Daybreakers, Cirque du Freak, Dracula Year Zero, The Un Dead, Hotel Transylvania, Bloodrayne II: Deliverance, Already Dead, Town Creek and Blood: The Last Vampire. And straight to your rental queue is Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. This isn't even counting a lot of the vampire indies being made right now.

Officially added to the pile now is Sony's adaptation of Elizabeth Kostova's novel The Historian. The movie was announced two years ago when the studio paid seven figures for the rights to the book, which hadn't yet hit stores. Finally, long after watching the novel become a bestseller (it was ranked #28 for 2005 by Nielsen BookScan), the studio is finally moving forward with the movie. Sony has hired former child actor (Starship Troopers) and singer ('Aladdin' in Aladdin) Brad Kane to write the script. According to producer Douglas Wick (Hollow Man), who is overseeing the project with his Red Wagon partner Lucy Fisher, it has taken two years to find just the right person to capture the novel's sexiness and its credibility. Kane has been rising as a screenwriter recently, having scripted an upcoming film titled These City Walls and having done rewrites on the Richard Pryor biopic, Live. The plot of The Historian deals with a young woman searching for her father who is in turn searching for the grave of Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Dracula).