'Lost Boys 3: The Thirst' (2010), a Bloody Sequel that Almost Lives Up to Its Original

In San Cazador, California, vampire hunter, Edgar Frog (Feldman), has fallen on hard times and is about to be evicted from his trailer, so he is desperate for money and even parting with some of his collectible comic books. In addition to his money problems, Edgar also lost his best friend, Sam (Haim), and his brother, Alan (Newlander), is struggling with his new life as a vampire.

Best-selling author, Gwen Lieber (Phoenix), drops by Edgar's trailer to offer him a job to rescue her brother, Peter (Mosse), and take out his captor, DJ X (Castang), whom she claims is the head vampire. DJ X is famous for organizing rave parties and distributing a drug called The Thirst, a combination of ecstasy and vampire blood, to build his own army of vampires.

DJ X's next rave is in San Cazador, as promoted by tabloid website owner, Jonny Trash (Steenkamp), where he is planning a sacrifice and Edgar must put together a ragtag vampire-hunting team (Edgar, Zoe, reality star, Lars von Goetz (Nickerk), hired by Gwen, and Goetz' cameraman Claus (Vaz)) with weapons from a former senator (Ben Boult) turned vampire hunting weapons specialist to take out DJ X.

"Lost Boys 3: The Thirst" (2010) is the third installment of the saga that began with the cult classic vampire movie, "The Lost Boys" (1987) and the god-awful sequel that I wish I could erase from my memory, "Lost Boys: The Tribe" (2008). Part 3 was a direct to video movie released October 12, 2010. I never heard any news about part 3 until a friend told me about it. Maybe the producers were ashamed of part 2 and wanted to lay low in case part 3 was just as bad.

Surprisingly, "Lost Boys 3: The Thirst" really is a heck of a lot better than part 2. Corey Feldman restrained himself from overacting and exaggerating his character this time which is a very good thing because he is not the best actor. Everything about this movie is classier than part 2 and really I would recommend skipping that one and watching this one after the original.

The first thing I noticed is that the introduction was really good and set the atmosphere for most of the movie. The introduction is comprised of alternating images of a rave party with a vampire DJ, gory comic book scenes, and a white wall being splattered with blood with flashy, techno music. I loved it! For some reason, it reminds me of the introduction to "Resident Evil" movies.

The storyline is entertaining and somewhat reminiscent of the original movie -- not on par with it but not bad for a sequel and certainly more original than the first sequel. The story is not really original but it suits this saga well and with a runtime of 81 minutes I was never really bored, although some parts could have used a little bit more editing to keep it tight.

The music suits the rave scene fine without being too techno. "Lost Boys 3" brings back the song that really makes the first movie special -- "Cry Little Sister." I don't recall the song in part 2 which was a cover by Aiden, so it probably wasn't too memorable. I love the scene in this movie with DJ X and his vampire cohorts jumping out of an airplane and landing on their feet on the ground while this song is playing -- it's so cool and classy.

The acting was adequate on all parts.

Corey Feldman returns as Edgar Frog, only this time without overacting and trying to sound older. He kept the character within the realm of just slightly over-the-top. I just cannot stand full-blown Feldman and thankfully he reined in his wild side a bit.

Jamison Newlander finally returns as Alan Frog and not just a cameo this time. He is not in the movie for more than a few minutes but it's great to see him back.

"Lost Boys 3" adds to Edgar's vampire-hunting team with Casey B. Dolan as Zoe, Frogg's friend, comic book store owner, and researcher. She's cute and a good addition.

Tanit Phoenix plays Gwen Lieber, a famous author of vampire novels who hires Edgar to find her missing brother, Peter. She is obviously supposed to represent the actual author, Stephenie Meyer, who wrote the real and wildly popular novel series, "Twilight." I saw a few preview articles about "Lost Boys 3" say that it was going to be awful because it was playing off of "Twilight" but that is far from the truth. This movie only uses the author of a book series as a character which is by no means playing off of "Twilight." I found it to be a very interesting and humorous play on the current vampire craze.

Porteus Xandau Steenkamp plays Jonny Trash, a tabloid site owner, much like Perez Hilton, who is always looking for dirt on celebrities and acting like it makes him a player in a world in which he could never exist. Jonny Trash is a very annoying character who truly deserves it when he is killed.

Seb Castang is DJ X, the vampire trying to make his own army of vampires. He does a great job of looking like a cool vampire and being cold and callous to boot.

Felix Mosse is Peter, Gwen Lieber's brother who is kidnapped and drugged by DJ X. He kind of looks nerdy like Neil Patrick Harris with an accent. He is not really shown in the movie for very long but does a good job when he is.

Stephen Van Nickerk plays Lars Von Goetz, the reality TV star hired by Lieber to aide Edgar in the rescue of her brother, Peter. Goetz is the quintessential jockey-type guy who acts tough and courageous but it's really only looking out for his own image. His character believes that everything is a hoax but has his cameraman record everything to make him look good on TV. He is the type of person that needs a hard slap of reality. Nickerk is perfect for this role.

Joe Vaz plays Claus, Goetz' quiet cameraman. It kind of reminded me of Kevin Smith's Silent Bob character from the movie, "Clerks," and is the type of character you don't want to see die. His character was loads of fun.

Ben Boult is tossed in as the Senator, a politician Edgar and his brother rescued from vampires, making him realize vampires are real. He quits being a politician and turns to a life as a vampire-killing weapons specialist. Edgar frequently visits him to buy weapons. It's always cool to have a weapons specialist in a movie, the type of person with tons of interesting and explosive weapons! His character is similar to Whistler played by Kris Kristofferson in the vampire "Blade" series with Wesley Snipes. Definitely a fun character!

"Lost Boys 3" is rightfully rated R for strong bloody violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug content. It is about on par ratings-wise with the first two movies.

The end of the movie, well, almost the end, is a little cheesy and surprising at the same time. I can't spoil it for you. Let's just say it was a slight letdown for me.

I do not want to spoil the very ending either but it is hinted at that werewolves might show up in part 4 if they decide to make it. Hopefully they will because I am curious. Maybe they will finally make "Lost Girls" which was a possible idea years ago.

One final cool thing about this movie is that it is almost like a tribute to Corey Haim by way of paying tribute to his character, Sam, in the first movie and cameo in the second. There are numerous flashbacks of Sam from the first movie and Edgar visits Sam's grave to pay his respects. The credits are dedicated to the memory of Corey Haim. I think it is a fitting tribute to Corey Haim, especially in the film franchise that he made famous.

"Lost Boys 3: The Thirst" is a fairly good sequel to the original and way better than part 2. It deserves a viewing by fans of the franchise and horror fans in general. Do not give up on watching this movie if you were disenchanted by the first sequel. You will probably be pleasantly surprised.

Rating: 3.5/5

Trivia

Corey Haim did not take part in this film and had announced that he would take part in part 4 but died before the project began.

When Edgar is thrown into the comic books, a copy of the actual comic book miniseries, "Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs," is seen.

Quotes

Alan Frog: Holy sh*t! It's the attack of Grandpa Munster!