Reviews

I watched the uncut version once, and that was enough. It came off as a 90-minute conversation by 13-year-old boys in a middle school locker room.

One gets the impression that there were a lot of rip-offs. Why does the leader of the tribe look like Lestat from the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice? Why is the monster makeup clearly a rip-off from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and indifferently applied to boot?

Many questions are left unresolved: What was the young fellow whooping about when Frog drove off with him at the end of the movie? What criteria about the first kill is used to justify the total transformation of the hero? (The first kill criteria is peculiar to this story. If it exists anywhere else, I don't know of it.)

Legends and Lore: Again, Anne Rice's novels provide the criteria. A primary rule in the Vampire Chronicles is that while feeding, you don't make a mess all over the place. That way you aren't constantly ruining your clothes. The Tribe certainly is sloppy in its feeding habits. Who does their laundry?

I'll close my comments here by saying that "Lost Boys: The Tribe" is simply sloppy. Watch it to find out what it is all about (the preceding movie as well), then forget it unless you want to show it to gross out someone else.

There must always be a bite. It is always the bite that (from my observations) is what gives the audience that "frisson" of chill, even makes them squirm in their seats. There is no "class" to the bite; it must be done efficiently and expeditiously.

Often one has to ask, "Would I have any qualms about doing that?" Lestat would answer something like (this is not a quote from the movie or a novel), "There is no question. You have no choice. The thirst will lead you into it."

What is the best way for a vampire to move in to bite? Evidently, anything goes: To the arm from the wrist up to the elbow, to the throat from the front or over the shoulder, or into the chest or breast seem to be preferred.

Should be victim/prey be taken lying down or held upright?

In many films. the victim struggles and cries aloud before falling unconscious. In "Interview", sometimes this happens. Sometimes, though, the preliminaries to the bite may have the victim being put into a swoon; look at Louis's expression, completely disconnected, as Lestat chomps away.

How should the dentition look? "Interview" has a highly original approach to "the tools of the trade". Instead of the traditional, paired, elongated upper jaw eye teeth, the look is what I would call "piranha", totally.

As for the outcome of the bite itself, without a doubt the rule is "neatness counts". My favorite line relative to this is Lestat's comment to Claudia, "And you didn't spill a single drop."

Google the various images collections from "Interview", and there should be a couple of pictures of an actual dental cast and what appears to be a sculpted, porcelain veneer on top of it.

I have played the piano to accompany silent movies for many years. I first saw this movie at the USO at the NATO base at Keflavik, Iceland. For this movie I chose a selection of music by Albert W. Ketelby, like "In a Persian Market", "Algerian Scene", and "By the Blue Hawaiian Waters". Incidentally, Mr. Ketelby actually wrote original orchestral accompaniments for silent movies, and still was writing music for movies as the mid-20th century epic "Stagecoach".

This one had lots of cues for sound effects, including the sounding of a gong when the plot calls for "a revelation". Friends of mine and I borrowed a 3 foot diameter Chinese gong from the elementary school on the NATO base. When the cue arrived, I reached back with the padded mallet and hit the gong.

A man, being obviously drunk and unsteady on his feet, stood up, turned and faced the back of the small auditorium, pointed an index finger at our projectionist, and said, "Don't ever do that again!" Then he tottered out of the auditorium, to vanish into the Midnight Sun. The Midnight Sun was the name of the restaurant/club/dance hall/casino for enlisted personnel on the base.

At the USO showing of this film in an 8mm format from Blackhawk Films, the projectionist (who also owned the film) decided to skip reel 3 (there were 5 reels), which contained some 20 minutes of underwater photography. "The film is long enough; let's get through to the finish."

Our projectionist's opinion of this movie can be summed up as "abysmal". It is something you acknowledge in a filmography, because it exists, but other than that, you advise people to see it once (for the underwater photography), and let it go at that.

Sure, there is a bit of "camp" here, but overall, this is a movie that is a tour-de-force for the Gish sisters.

I have accompanied on the piano silent movies since 1975. For this one I turned loose everything from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (movement one) to other highly- sentimental classical pieces (too numerous to name here).

My Mom's grandmother adored this movie, and always carried a pocket full of handkerchiefs when she sallied out to see it.

Spoiler: The town set used in this movie was the backdrop for the burning of Atlanta in "Gone with the Wind".

I have accompanied on the piano silent movies since 1975, and this one was an absolute treat! The perfect sheet music is "At That Bully Wooly Wild West Show" with words by Edgar Leslie and Grant Clarke, and music by Maurice Abrahams (c. 1913, Maurice Abrahams Music Co., Inc., New York).

The chorus goes like this (spellings are modified from the original): "At that wild west show from Idaho, just see those shoot 'em up, shoot 'em up bronco busters. See that big tepee, those robbers came to plunder it, red men under it are shooting, now they're shooting. Hear that Gatling gun, the soldiers, hon, have come to kill 'em all, kill 'em all, don't get nervous. Hug, hug, hug, hug me tight. It's make believe tonight at that bully wooly wild west show...my honey..."

A great movie for watching and for making comparisons to this one is the late 20th century film "The Hallelujah Trail".

It is an exceptional experience to play the piano to accompany a classic silent movie. "The Birth of A Nation" (1915) was one of the first such movies for which I played the piano (in 1975 at the USO at the NATO base at Keflavik, Iceland). The movie itself was 8mm B&W film on reels from Blackhawk Films.

I was glad to have had the opportunity to see the movie, but its roots in the novel The Klansman were inescapable. I could not help but draw parallels between "Nation" and "Gone with the Wind". The attitude was blatantly that the South fell, good riddance, and let it stay that way.

The song used for the "march to battle" scene was "Billy, Don't Be A Hero".

All in all, if you are a student of the history of movie-making, you need to include this feature in your "to watch" list. And let us hope that we in America have grown up to think with better respect for each other.