The Michael Detail In The Lost Boys That Makes No Sense
The 1980s are alive and well in the 1987 release of "The Lost Boys." The unbelievably cool vampire movie seems to hit every '80s trope necessary and includes just enough soul-awakening saxophone solos and appearances from Corey Haim and Corey Feldman to make it a cult classic film.
The movie centers around a group of teen heartthrobs that exist in both vampire and human forms. Two teen boys, Michael Emerson (Jason Patric) and Sam Emerson (Corey Haim) move from Phoenix, Arizona to Santa Carla, California, aka the Murder Capitol of the World, per the movie's plotline, with their mom (Dianne Wiest). There they find themselves in a battle with a gang of teen vampires after Michael becomes enamored with Star (Jami Gertz), who also happens to be a vampire.
It's hard to imagine anything in an '80s movie about beach-dwelling vampires who rock iconic fashion not making sense. Nevertheless, one part featuring Michael has fans of the film slightly confused.
The vampires seem to underuse one of their superpowers
While inside the vampire's hidden lair amidst all of the aesthetically pleasing decor, including a Jim Morrison poster, Michael sits down with what he doesn't know are blood-sucking vampires as they indulge in some Chinese food. The vampire in charge, David (Kiefer Sutherland), offers a takeout container to Michael, who hesitantly accepts. However, after taking a bite, Michael spits his mouthful onto the ground, and the bite he took along with the contents in the takeout container appear to be maggots. Laughing, David tells Michael that there isn't anything wrong with the takeout and offers up a new container. To Michael's disgust, the same scenario repeats itself, only this time, instead of maggots, the takeout container is filled with worms.
So it would seem that the vampires can manipulate what Michael or any human sees. This power is something that could have been useful to the vampires in many different situations, not only in the first film but in the two sequels that followed, "Lost Boys: The Tribe" and "Lost Boys: The Thirst." However, the visual manipulation stunt is never brought up again.
"The Lost Boys" is a horror film that stands the test of time with its greatness, but like many storylines, there are just some pieces that don't always seem to fit. Even though mind manipulation was a cool trick in the scene between David and Michael, it would make more sense if the vampires used that awesome power to mess with people as a recurring thing. It just seems like a vampire thing to do.