Vampire Flicks/Franchises: The Lost Boys. Lost Boys: The Thirst (2010)

Unlike Lost Boys: The Tribe, I didn't hear a single thing about another sequel being made. I'm not even sure when I learned that this thing existed, which makes me think I probably just randomly saw the DVD somewhere. Not that it mattered since, again, I hadn't even seen the original at that point, but I will also say that, unlike the overwhelmingly negative reaction to The Tribe, I didn't hear any real opinions about The Thirst after it was released. It seemed like, after the long-awaited second movie turned out to be a bust, people weren't exactly rushing out to see another one, especially just a little over two years later. But, when I ended up with the Blu-Ray Triple Feature set, I was told that, while still not a great movie by any means, The Thirst was, if nothing else, an improvement over the previous one. And that's definitely the case (though not enough to justify Newt's decision to be a cheapskate and send me that set, as he often tries): if The Tribe could be called "horrendous," The Thirst is just "okay." Like with the second movie, Corey Feldman is still on point as Edgar Frog, and is actually the lead this time, which is a huge plus. Also, this one has a bit more of the spirit of the original, as the strong profanity, sensuality, and extreme gore, while still present, are toned down considerably from the previous movie, and we also learn a bit more about what happened to many of the original characters. In addition, most of the new characters aren't too bad, the attempts at comedy tend to land more, and at just 81 minutes, it can hardly be accused of wasting your time. Still, it's far from great, as Jamison Newlander, despite being brought back as Alan, has little-to-no screentime until the climax; despite a fairly effective twist being built around them, the villains are really underdeveloped and one-note; the film's look is still unappealing; and, overall, it's still a very cheap cash-in that I don't think anybody was asking for, especially not after The Tribe.

In Washington D.C., Edgar and Alan Frog save a Congressman from being fed upon by a half-vampire Senator, only for Alan to be forced to drink vampire blood in the chaos. Immediately turning, he flees into the night. Five years later, Edgar, who has relocated to San Cazador, California, is still haunted by what happened. Even worse, since he's behind on his loan payments, he's facing eviction from his trailer, and doesn't get much money when he sells some of his more valuable comic books. Returning to his trailer, he finds an unexpected guest in the form of Gwen Lieber, the author of a best-selling series of romance novels with a vampire theme. She tells him that her brother, Peter, disappeared at a rave in Ibiza, Spain, thrown by the enigmatic DJ X, who's been holding similar parties across the world. There, he hands out a new designer drug called "the Thirst," but when Gwen shows a sample to Edgar, he discovers that it's vampire blood. Gwen theorizes that these raves are actually a means to create thousands of vampires across the globe, that the Thirst is made from the blood of the very first vampire who ever lived, and the next one will be held in San Cazador. Edgar is initially reluctant to get involved, but he later goes to see Alan, who keeps himself isolated while working as a taxidermist, and tells him what's going on. Despite this being a way to potentially cure himself of his vampirism, Alan refuses to help Edgar. Still, Edgar goes to Gwen and agrees to take the job, but isn't too happy when he learns he has to work with Lars von Goetz, a sleazy, egotistical reality show star whom Gwen called in when Edgar initially turned her down. With the help of his friend Zoe, who does some research for him, Edgar learns when and where the rave is to be held: at an old slaughterhouse on San Cazador Island, on the night of the Blood Moon, with Peter intended to be sacrificed. Loading up with some special weapons prepared by Blake, the former Congressman he saved, Edgar and Zoe, along with Gwen, Lars, and the latter's cameraman, Claus, journey to the island to stop DJ X and save the world from being overrun by the undead.

Even though it would ultimately turn out to be a very belated, much maligned, and uninspired follow-up to the original, the hype for Lost Boys: The Tribe was enough to ensure it did very well when it was released on home video in 2008. Thus, it inspired Warner Bros. to pump out a third one within just a couple of years, and it seems like, in constructing it, the filmmakers knew they needed to address some of the issues that people had with the previous movie. They did so by not only making Edgar Frog the main character but also ensuring that Alan actually made an appearance. In addition, they took inspiration from one of the proposed ideas for the second movie, with the opening in Washington, which was made into a comic book called Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs (a copy of it is an Easter egg in one scene). And while I'm not sure how well The Thirst did, especially considering the reputation of the movie before it, it seems as though there were more Lost Boys movies planned, including a new trilogy that would've involved werewolves, which this movie's ending hints at, and even a TV series. But then, Warner Premier, the label behind both of these movies, was dissolved in 2013, putting an end to the matter (which I think was for the best).

Screenwriter Hans Rodionoff, who came up with the initial concept for The Tribe but then had to reshape it into a Lost Boys sequel, returned to write The Thirst. I'm sure it felt good to be able to write something intended as a Lost Boys movie from the beginning this time, and he actually co-wrote it with another writer, Evan Charnov (he doesn't have many other noteworthy credits, writing or otherwise). The film's director was Italian-born Dario Piana, who's best known as a commercial director, having done over 650 of them. He also worked in the visual effects department on The Adventures of Hercules, the second of Luigi Cozzi's two Hercules movies with Lou Ferrigno, and later directed an Italian music video in 1993. He made his feature directorial debut in Italy in 1988 with the giallo Too Beautiful to Die, but wouldn't direct another film until 2007, when he did The Deaths of Ian Stone. Since The Thirst, Piana has just done some Italian short films and TV work.

It's amazing to think it took them until the third movie to realize that the best way to go with a Lost Boys sequel was make Edgar Frog the protagonist, but, here we are. And as it was with The Tribe, Corey Feldman proves he's still got it as Edgar and manages to make this flick more watchable than it likely would've been otherwise. Even more so than in the previous movie, we can see that Edgar's life is a wreck. Having moved from Luna Bay to San Cazador in the time since the events of The Tribe, he's not only still haunted by the memory of when Alan was turned into a vampire during a job in Washington five years earlier, but is now facing eviction due to unpaid property loans and is forced to sell his most prized comics to scrounge up whatever money he can. On top of that, at one point he says that, ever since he had to stake Sam when he showed up as a vampire, he's been on the outs with the rest of the Emerson family. And, going back to Alan, while he does know where he is, it's clear their relationship is strained and Edgar doesn't visit him much. So, when he gets a visit from Gwen Lieber, who tells him of her brother's recent disappearance in Spain, as well as this plan to spread vampirism across the world using the Thirst, he's not in the mood to play hero anymore. Even when she tells him that stopping this operation could wipe out vampires entirely, as it would mean killing the very first one who ever existed, Edgar still shows Gwen the door. However, taking what she said into consideration, he goes and talks with Alan, telling him that this could cure him of his own vampirism. Though Alan is reluctant to help, Edgar still goes to Gwen at her hotel and says he'll take the job. He then starts working to sharpen his rusty vampire slaying techniques, has his friend Zoe do some research on an old book that Alan left in his truck to help him, and gets some new weapons from ex-Congressman Blake. Once Zoe determines when and where the next X-Party rave is going to be held, Edgar and his motley crew head there to both wipe out the vampires and save Peter. But, as per usual, it proves to not be that simple.

It may not be the greatest character study, but at least here, we get much more into Edgar's character and see some of the emotional turmoil he's going through. And Feldman's performance, while certainly not Oscar-worthy, does effectively convey said turmoil in scenes like the beginning, when Edgar wakes up from a dream about what happened, tries to convince Alan to join him on the mission, repeatedly thinks back to when the two of them met Sam, refuses to give up his copy of Batman #14, and when he visits the Sam's 

grave and leaves the comic there. But, at the same time, he's also still inherently funny in his dead serious attitude and voice (and yet, his cellphone ringtone is the Looney Tunes theme), as well as in his interactions with some of the other characters. It turns out that he knew who Gwen Lieber was when he first met her, and later flat-out tells her that he's not a fan of her Eternity Kiss book series, saying he hates them because, "You glorify vampirism. You make being a 

vampire look... sexy." She tries to defend her approach by noting the inherent erotic nature of vampires, but he comes back with, "There's nothing sexy about being a member of the undead." Gwen then says she may have made a mistake in hiring him and he retorts, "If you came to me expecting me to ask for your autograph, then yes, you did. But if you came to me expecting me to destroy a shitload of vampires, that, I can do." Shortly afterward, Edgar is positively aghast when he learns he has to work with reality TV star Lars von Goetz (the way he says his 

name and then groans in disgust when he first sees him is really funny), informing Gwen, when she defends her choice by listing all of the amazing feats that von Goetz has pulled off on his show, that it was all likely staged. Immediately after Zoe is attacked by a vampire at her bookstore (a vampire she manages to kill herself), Edgar nonchalantly says, "I feel like pancakes," and it cuts to them having some at a diner. And when he and Zoe meet Blake and he makes her touch his crucifix, only for her to act like it's affecting her, Edgar looks at her and says, "Zoe,

manners." Speaking of Zoe, the two of them have some pretty good banter, particularly during the third act, when they're sneaking around the tunnels beneath the old slaughterhouse. And finally, Edgar does have a fair amount of action hero-like one-liners: "It's time for Mr. Frog's Wild Ride." "Virgins. Vampire filet Mignon." "Vinyl. Still shreds."

If you're excited at the prospect of finally getting to see Jamison Newlander return as Alan Frog after his scenes were deleted from the second movie, you're going to be disappointed. The good news is that, right at the beginning, they explain how he became a vampire, when a mission to save a Congressman from a vampiric Senator went belly-up and Alan was forced to drink vampire blood. Though he fled before his new instincts could lead him to attack his brother, Edgar has since learned that Alan now lives in San Cazador, where he keeps himself isolated from the rest of the populace and also works as a taxidermist, apparently having taken a note from Grandpa Emerson. Relations between the brothers aren't the greatest at the moment, especially since Alan no longer considers himself human. When Edgar comes to him and tells him about the mission that Gwen Lieber has proposed to him, he has no intention of helping. Even when Edgar tells him that the original vampire is likely involved, meaning that his death could cure him, Alan isn't having it, saying, "If we kill him, and then we just gotta find the one that's above him, and then on and on like that forever!... It's a pyramid scheme, Edgar. Always has been." He ends the conversation by telling Edgar, "As far as I'm concerned...", then brings his vampire side out and says, "...there's no such thing as vampires." Still, Alan doesn't abandon his brother completely. When Edgar returns to his truck after visiting Sam's grave, he finds an old book that Alan left for him (I guess Alan found a way to shield himself from the sun in order to do so), along with a note that tells him it's one of the first ever written on vampire hunting and that it will hopefully keep him safe. He adds, "P.S., If you're still alive on Tuesday, be sure to call Mom. It's her birthday." (So, I was wrong before; at least one of their parents is still alive.)

After that, Alan isn't heard from again until the climactic battle, when he suddenly shows up and rescues Edgar from DJ X, even though he had no way of knowing where they were or when this would be happening. The Frog Brothers then battle him together, and with Zoe's help, they manage to take him down, with both of them delivering the final blow by piercing X through his heart with their swords. But, when Alan and those infected with the Thirst don't turn back to normal, they realize X wasn't

the head vampire. Said head vampire promptly reveals himself, and when the Brothers chase after him, he manages to subdue them both, then uses his influence to try to make Alan kill Edgar. It's only when Edgar manages to destroy the head vampire that Alan is finally cured of his vampirism and the Brothers officially reunite.

While still not great, the new characters here are a step up from those in the previous movie, including Zoe (Casey B. Dolan), a friend of Edgar's who works at the bookstore where he sells his comic books. From her first scene, she proves to be sympathetic towards his plight, irritated when the man who owns the store only gave him $65 for a lot of comics, and offers to put the rest up on eBay to see what she can get. After Edgar receives Alan's book, he takes it to Zoe and has her look through it to see if she can find anything that could tell him where Peter is being held hostage. He doesn't tell her exactly what's going on, saying it could put her life in danger, but that proves to be a moot point when a vampire breaks into the store and attacks. However, not only does Zoe stand up to him but she manages to spray him in the mouth with some holy water "mace," causing him to explode. (Both her nonchalant attitude about the existence of vampires and being properly prepared for being confronted by one is explained in an unexpected way at the very end of the movie.) Afterward, she tells Edgar what she learned through her research, specifically that Peter is likely going to be sacrificed on the night of a Blood Moon, during the next rave, and also about an abandoned slaughterhouse on San Cazador Island, which he figures would be the obvious place for it to be held. From then on out, she's right there with him on his mission, including joining him when they infiltrate the slaughterhouse, during which the two of them trade barbs, and helps immensely during the confrontation with DJ X. It's also hinted that she may have an attraction to Edgar, though he never picks up on it, nor do they go that deep into it. And again, while she's not the greatest character imaginable, she has enough of a likable personality to where you do hope she makes it through.

The character of Gwen Lieber (Tanit Phoenix) is a not so subtle swipe at Stephanie Meyer, given how she's said to be the author of a best-selling series of romance novels involving vampires, and how Edgar despises those books for the way they've overly romanticized them (the same way a lot of people, myself included, felt about the Twilight franchise). She sets the plot in motion, as she comes to Edgar to help find her kidnapped brother, whom she feels has become mixed up with DJ X, and also tells Edgar of the Thirst and how it's being given out in raves in various countries in order to increase the number of vampires. On top of that, she tells him that the Thirst could be the blood of the original vampire, and that killing him would wipe them all out of existence. Though Edgar still initially turns her down, Gwen tells him where she's staying and says she hopes he'll help her save her brother to atone for being unable to save Alan. However, in the scenes that follow, Gwen seems to be either more interested in arguing with Edgar about the inherent erotic nature of vampires, getting reality star Lars von Goetz involved, not realizing that he's a big fake, or being snooty towards Zoe, suggesting that she's not qualified to be on the mission, than worrying about her brother. When they arrive on the island, Gwen insists upon accompanying the group into the slaughterhouse, but Edgar makes her stay put. She does eventually get to enter the building when the rave starts up, and is there during the fight with DJ X to save Peter. But once X is killed, everything is revealed to not be as it seems.

Probably the most pointless character, as he's only around to provide some cheap laughs and be somebody you want to see die, is Lars von Goetz (Stephen Van Niekerk), this reality star whom Gwen called in for help after Edgar initially turned her down. As expected, he's the typical arrogant dickhead celebrity who, in his introductory scene, rides in on a motorcycle, slaps Gwen on the butt, and, while introducing himself to Edgar, calls him "Toad," something he continues to do throughout the movie. He then adds, "I'm Lars von Goetz, but you already knew that... So, let's go kick the shit out of some little rave punks, huh? But first, I gotta eat. I got the metabolism of a twelve-year old boy... Never fear, Lars von Goetz is here, as long as the check clears." Obviously, you know that Edgar is right when he says all the feats Lars has supposedly pulled off on his show (wrestling grizzly bears, lions, and alligators) were staged. The next time you see him, he's waiting for Edgar and Zoe on the boat they take out to the island, doing pushups on the deck, and making overly ecstatic groans and yells. And when Edgar and Zoe arrive, Lars immediately hits on the latter, taking her hand, putting it on his bare, sweaty chest, and saying, "Tell me, Zoe, is it just me or is there some serious chemistry between us?" Zoe, who was a fan up to that point, retorts, "That's just you," and he just says, "Okay," and walks off. And when they get to the island, Lars, thinking the whole thing is just another show and there are no vampires, tries to take control when Edgar tells Gwen to stay behind while they infiltrate the slaughterhouse, insisting that she can go. It's only after Edgar stands up to him that the matter is settled. He next complains about how Zoe initially gets stakes when he doesn't, and then, when he does get some, he complains about Zoe's being metal while his are wood. To that, Edgar tells him, "You get what you get." 

Once they infiltrate the slaughterhouse, Lars continually proves to be more concerned with making himself look good than anything else. He's also such a dick that he loves the assumption that, when they find the vampires, he's actually going to be beating up a bunch of extras in makeup. He and his cameraman, Claus, even find Peter early on, but Lars decides to leave him, saying they have to find him at the end of the "episode," and that he hasn't been able to beat up any "fake" vampires yet. Shortly afterward, they run

into Kirk O'Dale, a big, burly vampire whom Lars makes the mistake of picking a fight with. He proceeds to beat the hell out of Lars, and then finishes him off by punching through his torso and ripping his heart out.

Speaking of Claus (Joe Vaz), he proves to be a more likable character, not only because Lars is constantly putting him down, but he has more of a conscience, as he's clearly appalled when Lars gets excited about beating up people dressed as vampires, as well as when he opts not to rescue Peter when they have the chance. He also has enough sense to suspect that this whole thing may not be a reality show, and is proven right when he watches Lars get beaten up and then brutally killed, all while he keeps filming with his video camera. And yet, after Lars is dead, Claus manages to kill Kirk O'Dale himself by stabbing him in the back with a stake. He joins the others when they have to get Edgar, who was badly injured during a fight with one of the vampires, out of the building. He tells Edgar and the others about how he and Lars found Peter, as well as about Lars' death, which he says he caught on film; Edgar, in turn, says he'd like to see that tape and Claus says, "He'd like that." Not only does Claus take part in the climax and, despite his fear, prove to be quite useful, using the portable UV torch that Edgar gave him to hold off the horde of vampires trying to get at them, but he manages to get Zoe to safety when Edgar and Alan go after the head vampire. You never see Claus again after that, but since everyone else gets back to the mainland, you can assume he did as well.

After the opening, where he's a Congressman whom Edgar and Alan save from being fed upon, Blake (Matthew Dylan Roberts) appears in only one other scene, when Edgar and Zoe come to him to get some weapons for the upcoming mission. But he proves to be memorable. When they first arrive at his isolated home and bunker, he seems to not be there, but then suddenly explodes out of a window behind them, saying he was testing a holy water grenade. After greeting Edgar, he's initially suspicious of Zoe and has her touch a crucifix he wears around his neck to prove she's human. He then proceeds to show off the weapons and equipment he's been working on, giving Edgar a grenade launcher that he's outfitted to fire shells filled with holy water and garlic, while Zoe ends up accidentally destroying a motorcycle he's been working on when she fiddles around with a resin grenade that shoots spikes everywhere. That night, Blake asks if they can stay for dinner, saying, "I got beans,"; he's not kidding, either, as he has shelves full of cans. And when some vampires attack the compound, Blake proves to be well-prepared, as he uses some high-powered UV lamps to drive them back, and when they end up setting his home on fire, he gets outside and mows them down with a mounted gun that fires small stakes. It makes you wonder why they didn't have Blake join the mission, given how competent he proves to be in a fight.

The comparisons between Blake and Q are unavoidable, given how the movie shows off some of the vampire-killing devices and weapons he's come up with. We do get some beforehand, as Edgar is seen practicing throwing stakes, garlic bolas, and his own holy water-firing grenade launcher (i.e. the weapons he used in the previous movie), and Zoe uses holy water mace when she gets attacked at the bookstore, but Blake takes it to the next level. He supplies them with a Russian RG-6 grenade launcher with laser 

targeting, which fires grenades filled with holy water and some garlic. When he and the others prepare to infiltrate the slaughterhouse, Edgar whips out a similar weapon, describing it as, "A sawed-off, pump action, 'Soak and Destroy' water gun. Patent pending." He then adds, "Turns holy water into holy slaughter," and gives it to Zoe, and Lars gets a similar weapon. Blake also provides him with some special resin grenades, which he says he stole from Groom Lake, aka Area 51. Said grenades send large spikes flying whenever they explode, which is partly what 

finishes off DJ X. During the opening, the Frog Brothers make use of a UV torch, and Edgar later supplies Claus with one, which comes in handy during the climax. It turns out that Blake has taken this idea to the next level, having set up some huge UV lamps on his compound's roof, using them to drive back the vampires that attack them, and also uses a mounted gun that fires mini-stakes. It turns out that this weapon, called "Old Painless" (being a huge fan of Predator, that blatant reference makes me roll my eyes), was Edgar's concept.

Where The Thirst drops the ball in terms of its characters is in the villains. For example, our main one for most of the movie, DJ X (Seb Castang), has virtually nothing to him. He plans to use his raves, aka X Parties, which he throws in different countries, as a way to administer the Thirst to thousands of people and increase the vampire population until they basically overrun the Earth. In addition, he plans to use Peter as a sacrifice on the night of a Blood Moon at the one he throws in San Cazador. He's also well aware of Edgar Frog, as he tells one of his cronies to make sure he's dealt with when they first arrive in the United States. Upon landing, he's forced to give an interview with Johnny Trash, an obnoxious, pain in the rear podcaster who gets the word out about his raves; once he's given the interview, X and the other vampires feed on Trash. And during the climax at the rave, he and Edgar engage in a duel, which Edgar loses, only for X to make the typical bad guy mistake of giving a monologue instead of just finishing him off when he has him dead to rights. That allows Alan to come in and make the save, and together, the Brothers manage to bring X down. That's literally all there is to his character, and while he is a bit more charismatic than Shane was in the previous movie, you're likely to forget him as soon as the movie is over. (I've heard some suggestions that X telling Edgar he prefers impalement as a killing method is a hint that he may actually be Vlad the Impaler, but I would hope Vlad would be more far more memorable.)

Among DJ X's inner circle are, naturally, some lovely female vampires, particularly two called Lily (Tanya van Graan) and Vixen (Ingrida Kraus). Lily is a wild-haired blonde, while Vixen a brunette, and the two of them are often seen very kinkily making out with each other when they're not attacking and feeding on people at the raves. Vixen is also the one who hands out the Thirst among the partygoers, and is adept at swordplay, as she proves when she first fights Edgar. She manages to severely injure him by stabbing him

through the shoulder with her sword, while Lily is killed when Zoe, whom she's holding hostage, manages to break free and shove her backwards and impale her on a beam. Vixen is taken out by Edgar right before he faces off with X, as he slices her throat open with the halves of a broken vinyl record and then stakes her. And Kirk O'Dale (Hennie Bosman), X's head of security, has one notable scene where he runs into Lars von Goetz and Claus. When Lars punches him repeatedly in the face, managing to knock one of his fangs out, Kirk promptly regrows it 

and prepares to fight Lars hand-to-hand, saying he's been waiting centuries for a real challenge. However, Lars, despite getting one or two licks in, gets practically stomped by Kirk and is killed when he gets his heart ripped out of his back. However, Kirk is then killed himself when Claus manages to stab him through the back with a stake.

Up until the third act, Peter (Felix Mosse) is depicted as a small, skinny, and sickly-looking British teenager who's been held hostage by DJ X and his group for three weeks, as they intend to sacrifice him at the rave in San Cazador. They keep him sedated and weak by continually pumping him full of drugs, and this continues all the way to the climax, when he's brought onstage and is about to be fed upon, first by DJ X But then, after X has been slain and Peter rescued, it slowly becomes clear that not everything is as it seems. First, Peter and Gwen start kissing in a manner that's very inappropriate for a brother and sister. Second, neither Alan nor any of the other vampires return to normal. And third, Zoe discovers the "sedative" Peter was being pumped with was actually garlic. 

Yep, just like with Max in the original movie, this seemingly innocuous character turns out to be the head vampire and, by extension, the movie's real villain. In this case, Peter is also the original vampire, "the alpha," having been so since at least the 11th Century, and X was hoping to drink his blood on the night of a Blood Moon in order to obtain his power. Moreover, Gwen made a deal with Peter to bring him Edgar in exchange for making her a vampire so she will never grow old or die. Peter partly keeps his 

promise and ensures that she won't grow old killing her right then and there. Edgar and Alan pursue him backstage but Peter easily manages to subdue them both. He then tells Edgar that he saved him from possibly becoming the last surviving human in a world overrun by vampires, as well as that he owes him for killing X, explaining ing, "I told him, 'You can't turn all the cattle into cowboys. You'll wind up with too many cowboys.' But he didn't listen. And now, thanks to his damned raves, there are going to 

be far too many vampires roaming the Earth. That's where you come in." Edgar realizes that Peter intends to make him his own personal vampire population control agent, to ensure there will always be plenty of humans for the vampires who are allowed to exist. And when Edgar asks why Peter doesn't think he'll just kill him himself, he says, "You have no real reason. Think about it, Edgar. Your brother's already one of us. Everyone you care about is either dead or playing for my team." Of course, that's not enough to hurt Edgar's conviction, though Peter then uses his alpha influence to try to make Alan kill his brother.

To give The Thirst some true credit, it does take some of the tropes that were established back in the original Lost Boys and expands upon them. The main one is the idea of someone being turned into a vampire by drinking one's blood, which this film takes to its ultimate extreme, as it's now passed around as a new drug at DJ X's raves in order to increase the population of vampires so they will overrun mankind. On the other end of the spectrum, the concept of the head vampire's victims returning 

to normal once they've been killed is taken to its logical endpoint, as Peter is revealed to be the original vampire and when Edgar manages to kill him, he, in turn, completely wipes vampirism off the face of the Earth. Another twist on the concept of head vampires in general is the revelation that X would've inherited Peter's powers if he managed to feed on his blood during the Blood Moon. One of these powers is apparent command over half-vampires, given how Peter is able to compel Alan to nearly kill his brother. 

And this film also marks the only time in this series where you actually see the vampires fly, when X and his entourage leap out of a plane and fly down to the ground when they arrive in San Cazador. Getting to the more classic tropes, this film, as Fright Night 2: New Blood would also do a few years later, shows that a vampire ingesting holy water doesn't end well, as the one vampire who attacks Zoe gets sprayed in the mouth and explodes from the inside. The use of garlic to keep Peter weakened and subdued throughout the story is a clever notion, but it's also 

one of several times where this flick goes against what's been established before, such as how garlic is actually ineffective. Another is staking or impaling through the heart, as there are vampires here who clearly don't get it through the heart, yet they combust anyway. Also, contrary to what Edgar said before, all of the vampires here die in one of two ways: they either turn to ash and explode, or just explode into bloody chunks. The same goes for exactly how quickly drinking a vampire's blood turns you, as Alan turns instantly, as opposed to Michael,

Chris, and Nicole's gradual transformations. And those who take the Thirst at the climactic rave instantly become mindless monsters, which wasn't the case before. Finally, the invitation trope? That's completely gone out the window, as vampires are often seen breaking into places they haven't been invited into.

While they were very exaggerated and monstrous-looking in the previous movie, here the vampire makeups are very minimal, even more so than in the original, and seemingly consist of just fangs and sharp teeth, and the completely black eyes. There do seem to be some appliances to the faces in some cases, like in the cronies that Edgar and his friends face, as well as in Lily and Vixen's vampire forms, but for the most part, they're quite subtle. Alan's half-vampire makeup appears to be the most elaborate, 

though that could be the way it looks combined with the overall disheveled look he has. However, he has the yellow eyes from the original movie, which I would chalk up to being used as a distinction between the half-vampires and full ones, but all those who are turned by the Thirst at the rave also have the completely black eyes. In short, there probably was no true attempt at consistency here.

There are various flashbacks to some of the scenes with the Frog Brothers and Sam in the original movie, used to illustrate how much Edgar has lost in the decades since, and it's punctuated further by a picture Edgar has of the three of them, his refusal to sell his personal issue of Batman #14, and the scene where he visits Sam's grave, whom he says he ultimately did stake following their confrontation at the end of The Tribe, and leaves the comic on the headstone. When I 

first watched it, I thought they did all of this as a tribute to Corey Haim, as there's a dedication to him at the end of the credits, but the truth is much more morbid in hindsight. Haim was still alive when the movie was shot, but simply chose not appear in it, though he did hope to return in a possible fourth one. By the time it was released in October of 2010, he had passed away, which I'm sure made all of the references to his character's death and the old footage of him really uncomfortable for a lot of people.

I wish I could say the movie's look has improved since The Tribe but, while I do think it's maybe a tiny bit better, it's still really desaturated and unappealing to me, with a lot of brown in the palette, and a murkiness to many of the nighttime exteriors and dark interiors. What's worse is that, in order to make them fit with the movie overall, they had to apply a similar-looking filter to the clips of the original movie, which only further serves to show how much better it was in every way. The only shots here that I think look good are some of the wide ones of the raves, and the

exteriors on San Cazador Island when it's getting dark and you can see the Blood Moon rising in the sky. As for the direction and editing, you once again have scenes and sequences that come off like music videos, including some more use of Cry Little Sister, and with some cliched tricks like flurries of images and random instances of slow motion. Still, there are some good uses of cross-cutting between sequences, with the one depicting Peter's abduction in Spain proving to be a false flashback in hindsight given 

what we learn about Peter, and there are some stylistic uses of red spotlights going across the images during that scene to allude to the ongoing party. There are some Evil Dead-like roaming POV shots traveling through the tunnels during the third act, and one shot I like where the camera pans across the throngs of partygoers behind the fence, then immediately goes backwards in a faster motion, revealing that they're all now vampires. And I'll say this: The Thirst probably has the most dynamic opening credits sequence of

any of these movies. Instead of trying to copy the original's credits, it instead gives you a striking montage of the credits appearing in front of a vivid white background with blood running, dripping, and being splashed across it, which later turns out to be the backdrops for the raves. Then, in addition to occasional shots of DJ X, his turntable, and those attending the parties, we get some really well-drawn comic book images of vampires, presented in a quasi-motion comic form.

Instead of going back to Canada where they did the previous movie, The Thirst was shot entirely in South Africa. And like on The Tribe, they were able to make the main setting of San Cazador convincingly feel like another seaside town in California. It really is just another stand-in for Santa Carla at the end of the day, the same way that Luna Bay was, and does have a very similar feel, with the full beaches and people surfing out on the waves. We don't get to see as much of the town streets as we did with Luna Bay, but we do get some memorable spots like Book O'Neer, 

which can make you think of the comic book store in the original (though much more drab-looking and not nearly as cool); the fancy hotel where Gwen Lieber stays, not to mention her actual, very chic room; the little diner where Edgar and Zoe go for pancakes after they kill the vampire that broke into the bookstore; the cemetery where Edgar visits Sam's grave; and the marina, from which Edgar, Zoe, and the others head to San Cazador Island. The most memorable place within the town itself, however, is where Alan both

works and keeps himself isolated from society: tthis murky, nasty, dungeon-like building that's lit only by some candles and a few small lamps here and there, and is filled with examples of his handiwork, animals he's just finished draining of their blood (likely how he feeds himself), various specimens in jars of formaldehyde, a refrigerator (thankfully, we never see what's in there), some of his tools, and a workbench where Edgar finds him sitting when he visits him.

Like in the previous movie, Edgar lives in a small, cramped trailer out in the middle of nowhere. Initially, I thought he was still living in Luna Bay, but when you see this place in the wide shots, you can tell that it's not only different, but also infinitely worse than where he was before. Instead of in a spot with a view of a bridge, it's in the middle of the woods near San Cazador, with an old, burned out building sitting to the left of his trailer. Still, he's got his trailer's exterior decked out with various vampire deterrents like garlic and crosses, and when he opens the front

door when he's served with his eviction notice at the beginning, you see a large cross with some serrated edges on the door's inside. And the large vacant lot his place sits on also serves as a training area, as he's seen practicing his vampire slaying skills on a dummy. Former Congressman Blake takes this idea to the next level, as his place is surrounded by a fence of razor-wire, and he's got further protection from vampires with those high-powered UV lamps installed on his roof and Old Painless mounted

nearby. He not only has a workshop where he develops and stores various types of weapons, but a small house that serves as a living area, with a little table, many cans of beans, and workstations with clippings about various types of paranormal phenomena. And while we're on the subject of Blake, I will say that the interiors of the U.S. Capitol that feature during the movie's opening are definitely the low budget equivalent of such a place, but they're only onscreen for a few minutes.

During the "flashback" to the X Party in Ibiza, Spain when Peter was abducted, we don't see much of the actual rave, but we get enough to understand that it's quite an event, with crazy, flashing lighting, vivid red glowing in some spots, beaded curtains, throngs of people partying, and DJ X doing his thing in front of that backdrop with blood splashing across it. The climax takes on San Cazador Island, where there's an old, abandoned slaughterhouse that the vampires choose to hold their rave and sacrifice in due to their attraction to places with histories of suffering. When

Edgar and his team first attempt to infiltrate the rave, they do so through a series of underground tunnels that lead into the building, which houses a chamber where Peter is kept strapped down onto a table and continuously pumped with liquid garlic. The actual rave takes place up in the center of the old slaughterhouse, on a stage surrounded by a fence, with a large tank of water beneath it, and a projection screen in the back, with an image of the Blood Moon, as well as some equipment projecting lasers above 

the audience. This is where they bring Peter out to be sacrificed, and is also where Edgar and Alan have their showdown with X, while their confrontation with Peter takes in an area backstage, one filled with chains and pipes, as well as a bunch of lit candles in the background (not nearly as memorable of a setting for a final battle, I have to say).

While not as egregious as it was in The Tribe, The Thirst does have its fair share of references to the original movie, and not just in the clips from it, either. In fact, the first reference comes less than two minutes in, when he and Edgar see what's happening to Congressman Blake, with the old, sick, half-vampire Senator preparing to feed on him, and Alan exclaims, "Holy shit! It's the attack of Grandpa Munster!" In a similar vein, at the end of the movie, when Peter has been destroyed and Alan's humanity restored, he and Edgar say their original boast, 

"Death to all vampires?", "Maximum body count," "We are awesome monster bashers," "The meanest!", "The baddest!", and then do the same handshake. (And this is after we've seen the clip of this from the original.) One reference that's groan-worthy because of how on the nose it is comes from Johnny Trash when he's talking to DJ X and refers to those who come to his raves as "lost boys and girls." We also have glimpses of Edgar's old vampire comics and the copy of Batman #14, and there are even references to

the previous movie, with some of the weapons Edgar used there making a brief return here, as well as how, as Edgar tells Zoe of the kind of places vampires like to nest in, we see a montage of the camera traveling through said place. 

There's also a reference to the original in terms of the actual plot, with the revelation that the person who you thought was the head vampire actually isn't. Even the dialogue the characters speak as they realize they didn't actually kill him is similar, as is the reveal that the real leader is someone who seemed totally innocuous. And on that note, when we briefly flashback to the year 1031 A.D. and see Peter as the leader of a small gang of vampires, we get a moment that's very similar to the vampires slaughtering the people partying around the bonfire in the original.

They spy on a group of people sitting around a campfire and, before he sics them on him, Peter tells them, "You'll never grow old, and you'll never die. But you must feed!" And while that may sound as cringe as when Shane said it in the previous movie, there's also a shockingly intelligent subtext here that hearkens back to the inspiration for the original. Remember, James Jeremias came up with the idea when considering the story of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, which is where the title came from. Well, not

only is the head vampire here named Peter, and you could see that group in the flashback as the original Lost Boys, but he's also the OG vampire, the one from whom the curse springs.

I feel the same way about the reference to the original story of I Am Legend, when Peter asks Edgar if he wanted to end up like that story's character of Robert Neville, including when Edgar doesn't know what he's talking about and Peter cheekily tells him, "You really should read more books, Edgar. The ones without pictures and word balloons." That's kind of the way I felt whenever I would hear someone fawning over Twilight and what a "great romantic story" it tells. And, speaking of which, as someone who 

always hated that franchise, and how it made both vampires and werewolves a joke for a long time, I can't help but love how this flick not only takes a dig at it and Stephanie Meyer, but does so in some detail, with Edgar telling Gwen why her books' portrayal of vampires is awful, and how Gwen is so enamored with the young, boyish Peter that she makes a pact with him to be immortal and also, presumably, be with him for all time. (The latter makes me wonder if the screenwriters got their inspiration from that interview where Robert Pattinson said he felt Meyer was nuts and in love with her own characters.)

I still wouldn't call it all that clever, but I do think the humor in The Thirst is a step up from what we got in the second movie. Besides the inherent humor from Edgar and the above average bits of satirical writing I mentioned up above, there are moments like when, during the opening, Washington, D.C. is described in captions as "THE OTHER MURDER CAPITAL," and the old half-vampire Senator has to put on dentures with fangs in order to feed on Blake; Edgar wakes up to the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Transylvania 6-5000, playing on the TV, and later turns out to 

actually be a Looney Tunes fan when you hear his cellphone ringtone; the scene where he practices his vampire slaying skills, only to accidentally smash one of his trailer's windows with his garlic bolas (that window was nowhere near the direction he threw the bolas in, either); his utter horror when he realizes he has to work with Lars von Goetz and his overall disdain for him; a close-up of Edgar drowning some pancakes in raspberry syrup, which, of course, looks like blood; Peter's exasperation when Lars and Claus find him early on in the third act, but Lars decides not

to untie him because "it's too early,"; and how Edgar and Zoe are utterly skeeved out when Zoe and Peter start passionately kissing, since they still believe they're brother and sister at that point. In the latter moment, Edgar goes, "Ew," while Zoe adds, "Buckets of ew!", and Alan tells him that something's wrong, to which Edgar, glancing back at Zoe and Peter, retorts, "Yeah. I'd say." Like I said before, Zoe does provide some funny moments with her spunky, energetic personality, and she and Edgar have some good back

and forth during the third act (she asks him if he named his new gun, much to his confusion; he accidentally taps her in the throat with a piece of equipment, and when she says, "Jeez, Louise!" at the sight of Johnny Trash's corpse, he retorts, "'Jeez, Louise?' Really?"). The same goes for Blake and how prepared he is for any vampire visitors, as well as how extreme some of his equipment is. Plus, when Zoe fiddles around with and activates one of the special resin grenades, Blake quickly tosses it outside, only for it to land under a classic motorcycle he was fixing up and destroy it when it goes off.

If there's one spot where the attempts at humor particularly don't work, it's whenever the writing tries to be a bit meta in something of a Scream-like manner. This mainly only comes from Lars and Claus during the third act, when the two of them go off by themselves and Claus says that probably wasn't a good idea because, "People in horror movies always split up, and they always get killed!" Then later, when Lars is playing up to the camera and gives an intro to this "episode" of his show, he decides to throw in numerous horror cliches: "Using my tracking ability,

we've located the nest of the vampires deep within this abandoned slaughterhouse. It's also haunted... by cannibal pirates. It's built on an ancient Indian burial ground... where they used to burn witches." And I have to say, this whole angle of taking the piss out of reality TV reminds me a tad too much of Return of the Killer Shrews (though this is a lot better than that).

There's a bit of world-building to be found here, too, giving you a hint of what the other planned Lost Boys movies might've been. Since the Frog Brothers manage to wipe out vampires entirely by killing Peter, they obviously would have had to come up with other monsters for them to battle, and there are hints that such creatures do exist in this world. Not only does Blake admit to having taken the resin grenades from Area 51, but it's suggested that it's an alien weapon, as Edgar says, "Gotta hand it to the Grays: they sure are 

good at makin' weapons." But the main one is the heavily implied existence of werewolves. While they're at Blake's hideout, Zoe glances at a newspaper clipping on a bulletin board that mentions a werewolf being spotted in San Cazador (with the sound effect of a wolf howling in the distance for emphasis). It may initially seem like a throwaway sight gag, but at the very end, Edgar talks with Zoe at the bookstore, and asks her how she knew vampires were real without any proof. She simply answers, "Just a 

hunch," and then asks him what he's currently working on. He says he's decided to, "Educate myself about all the possibilities of the dark underworld," adding, "For example, did you know that lycanthrope or... female werewolves, she-wolves, actually can change anytime they want to? They don't have to do it under a full moon. That's a myth. They can turn anytime they want to. They have complete control. They can do it in the middle of the day." And the movie ends with Zoe turning away from Edgar, saying it's an interesting theory, as her eyes glow yellow and you hear the same howling sound effect.

Despite how much I have been praising the screenwriting, the script for The Thirst still has a lot of issues, besides those I mentioned earlier. In particular, there are a number of plotholes regarding the entire storyline with Peter, starting with the false flashback to his abduction. We know it's false because it depicts Peter being given some of the Thirst and turning as a result, before he's promptly sedated, but then you have to wonder how exactly DJ X and company were able to capture the original vampire, as in the most powerful one. For that matter, when and

how did Gwen make this pact with Peter if he's apparently been held hostage for quite a while? We can surmise that it has been a while, since the Thirst is actually his blood, and X has been handing it out at these raves for a while now, something Peter says he was very opposed to. And if drinking his blood during a Blood Moon would've given X his power, why didn't he simply do so in private, rather than make a spectacle of it? If he had, he could've both continued throwing them and making the Thirst, now from his

own blood. In fact, why wasn't he just using his own blood to begin with, since we've established that any kind of vampire blood can turn someone who drinks it? Finally, even though we'll never know how it would've played out, I don't know if I like that last revelation about Zoe at the end. Granted, if Edgar's research is right, she's able to control her transformations, and doesn't seem to be a bad person at all, but it still kind of sucks that she turned out to be another kind of monster.

In the end, while it is a step up from The Tribe, this is still another low-rent, unimpressive direct-to-video sequel that was made many years too late. Besides the stigma that comes with connecting itself to The Lost Boys, it also borrows more than a few elements from Blade, with the melding of vampires, techno music, a nightclub-like environment, and a fair amount of swordplay. (They also throw in a dash of The Matrix, despite that having been well beyond played out and cliche at that point.) However, it doesn't have the budget or style to come off as even a

decent ripoff, as most of the third act consists of the characters wandering around the dark tunnels and basement beneath the slaughterhouse, with some bits of action here and there. And while the actual climax is fast-paced and fair enough, the final confrontation is, again, not as great as you would hope (despite Peter being brought down in a very clever way).

While the opening credits may make you think otherwise, the gore is actually toned way down from The Tribe. That said, there are still plenty of well-executed, bloody moments and images, such as a look at an animal's body being bled out in Alan's workshop; a spray of blood on the window when Johnny Trash is killed in the backseat of a car after he talks with DJ X, and his corpse is found in the vampire lair during the third act; the one vampire exploding after he's sprayed in the mouth with holy water, splattering his guts all over the bookstore, as 

well as Edgar and Zoe; and a handful of stakings and impalements (which also tend to lead to exploding vampires), as well as people getting their throats ripped out. The gore really ramps up during the third act, as Kirk O'Dale rips Lars von Goetz's heart out of his back, and there are grisly shots of it in his hand, as well as lying on the floor and continuing to beat afterward; Edgar gets stabbed through the shoulder with a sword; Vixen gets her throat slashed open with two halves of a broken vinyl record and staked in the

chest; DJ X himself gets impaled by the shrapnel from one of the grenades; when Gwen is betrayed by Peter, he rips her throat out with his teeth, before dumping her body down into the water; and like all of the other vampires, Peter ends up exploding when he's defeated.

I'm also happy to report that, on the visual effects side of things, the crappy CGI is also much less frequent than it was before. In fact, the most elaborate effects sequence, when DJ X, Vixen, Lily, and Kirk jump out of the airplane and fly down to the ground below, looks a lot better than you might expect, likely due to the low lighting of that sequence hiding imperfections. Also, the digitally augmented shots of the sky to add in the Blood Moon look so much better than what was seen in The Tribe, and it helps that they're much fewer and far between. Most of the

instances of the vampires flying through the air are done with actual wire-work, which sometimes looks pretty good, but other times (like when Peter floats backstage after leaving the others to the hordes of vampires) can look really awkward. In a similar vein, the moment where Vixen runs across the wall, dodging Edgar's shots, may be a visual all but totally stolen from The Matrix, but it looks shockingly good for a movie done on this budget. But, unfortunately, the effects used for when the vampires are burned, turn to ash, and explode still don't look that great (although they, again, don't look as bad as those types of scenes in the second movie). 

The film immediately gets right into it, opening up in Washington, D.C. five years in the past, where Congressman Blake is strapped onto a reclining table by a vampire in his office at the Capitol Building. An elderly, ailing Senator is wheeled into the room by another vampire, as Blake is leaned back and his collar undone. The Senator is given some dentures with fangs in order to feed on Blake, but just as he's about to go in for the bite, the Frog Brothers burst into the room. Alan immediately drives off one of the 

vampires with a UV torch, while Edgar runs in and kicks the Senator to the floor, causing his dentures to fly out of his mouth (upon seeing them, Edgar comments, "Gross,"). He aims a crossbow at the other vampire but he also flees. Edgar then proceeds to un-gag and begin to untie Blake, when he hears Alan yelling for him. He runs out into the exterior hallway, where he sees that Alan has been restrained by one of the vampires, who's forcing him to drink his blood (as he does, flashes of a vampire who would be revealed as Peter appear onscreen). As the vampire lets go of 

Alan, Edgar comes running in, grabs a discarded torch on the ground, and aims it at the vampire, sending him fleeing out the window. Edgar then rushes to Alan's side, only for his brother to turn his head and look at him. He lets out an inhuman growl and reveals that he now has demonic-looking eyes and sharp teeth. He then flees before he can harm his brother, as Edgar yells for him in vain. That's when Edgar awakens from dreaming this in his trailer, and is promptly faced with eviction due to his unpaid loan.

Following the supposed flashback to how Peter was drugged and abducted by DJ X and his crew, they fly into the U.S. on X's private jet. After X asks Vixen to check on Peter, who's in the back of the jet, kept sedated and quiet by the "drugs" being pumped into him, the vampires proceed to jump out of the airplane and fly to the ground down below. Vixen goes first, followed by Lily, Kirk O'Dale, and finally X himself, who tells the man who remains on the jet to make sure that Peter arrives undamaged, and to have Edgar

dealt with. The four of them land on an airport runway, then head to their waiting vehicle, only to run into Johnny Trash, who demands an interview with X. When he threatens to stop giving him free advertising for his raves if he refuses, X reluctantly agrees to the interview, conducting it in the back of their vehicle. But, once it's over, Trash makes the mistake of asking what they have to drink around there and X, brandishing his fangs, growls, "You!", before he attacks him.

Later, after Alan has surreptitiously given Edgar the old book on vampire slaying to help him, he takes it to Zoe to see if she can find anything that will help determine where Peter is being held. He also tells her to look out for any info on human sacrifice and the like in particular. After he leaves the store, he gets a strange feeling, and when he climbs into his truck's front seat, a shadow suddenly passes overhead. Back inside the bookstore, Zoe finds something that catches her eye, and uses another book to corroborate her

her suspicion. Unbeknownst to her, a vampire lands on the store's roof and looks down at her through the skylight. He then smashes through it, lands behind her, and approaches her, demanding to know where Edgar is. She pulls out a spray bottle and exclaims, "Back off, fucko!", but the vampire is unimpressed. Asking if she plans on macing him, he then grabs her by the throat and lifts her up. Suddenly, a bottle rolls in across the floor and explodes into a cloud of smoke. Edgar walks in, brandishing one of his stake/

crosses, and asks,"Someone need a light?" The vampire, recognizing his target, flies at Edgar and slams him against a bookshelf, which then falls down on top of him while he's down on the floor. Zoe is then faced with the vampire again, and he goes in for the kill, when she sprays the liquid in her "mace" bottle into his mouth. This causes him to let her go and he stumbles back, moaning in pain, as steam emerges from within his body. He flails around in an increasingly frantic manner, while Edgar, looking and realizing what's about to happen, runs to Zoe and 

shields her. The vampire explodes, with chunks of his body flying everywhere, including onto them. Edgar, confused, asks, "Mace?", and Zoe reveals that the bottle was actually filled with holy water. And then, upon Edgar's suggestion, the two of them go for pancakes.

Once he knows where the rave is being held, we get a montage where Edgar, after downing some frog juice, gets suited up, ties his bandana around his head, loads up with his anti-vampire gear, and heads out. He and Zoe drive to Blake's compound, but when they arrive, Edgar gets no response when he knocks on the front door. And then, Blake comes exploding out of a window in a building next to his actual home. This freaks Zoe out, but Edgar doesn't even flinch, as Blake lands right at their feet. He immediately stands 

up and explains that he was working on a holy water grenade, which, obviously, isn't ready for use yet. After he gets Zoe to touch the cross to confirm she isn't a vampire, he shows off the weapons he's been working on. However, in the middle of all this, Zoe causes him to unintentionally destroy the motorcycle he was renovating when she fools around with one of the resin grenades and he quickly tosses it outside when it activates right beneath the bike.

That night, the three of them are inside the compound, when they hear the sound of a group of vampires circling around outside. They roll up to the building on skateboards, only for Blake to activate a set of high-powered UV lamps on the roof. This instantly sends them rushing back into the darkness, while Zoe notes that all of their weapons are outside, in the truck. They then hear the the vampires scramble along the roof, as they destroy the UV lamps, and one of them breaks her way through a window behind Edgar.

After she makes the quip, "Hi, sweetheart. Aren't ya gonna invite me in?", Edgar replies, "No," and then drags her through the window, throws her to the floor, and stakes her through the heart, causing her to explode (apparently into ash). But then, one of the vampires outside throws a Molotov through the window, setting the interior ablaze. The others do the same to the base of the compound exterior, as Blake appears to abandon Edgar and Zoe by jumping over the flames and running outside. When another Molotov is thrown in, Edgar and Zoe make a run for 

it past the flames and out the front door. They make it into the yard, only to find themselves faced with the remaining three vampires. Suddenly, Blake yells for them to get down, and when they do, he unleashes Old Painless, firing numerous small stakes at the vampires and managing to pierce their hearts, leading them to explode as well.

From the San Cazador marina, Edgar and Zoe, along with Gwen Lieber, Lars von Goetz, and Claus, travel to the island, where the partygoers are arriving for the rave. After the group arrives in an isolated cove and everyone gets their equipment, they make their way up to the slaughterhouse. Within one chamber there, Vixen and Lily having a kinky make-out session, with Lily rubbing some blood on Vixen's bare abdomen and then licking it off. Kirk O'Dale then brings a teenage couple down to the chamber, where they're 

met by Lily, who immediately fawns over the girl's promise ring. As soon as the girl's boyfriend asks if Lily has blood around her mouth, Vixen suddenly shows up and bites into his neck. The girl gets a violent spray of blood in her face and runs screaming back the way she came, only to find Kirk biting into another woman's neck. Kirk roars at her, and she looks back down the hallway, as Lily roars and leaps at her, pinning her to the floor. She slices her throat open and bites into it, as Vixen continues feeding on 

the young man behind her. Back outside, as the group heads towards the slaughterhouse, Claus literally falls on his butt at one point. Though he complains about his coccyx, Lars is more worried about the condition of the video camera. They then find the entrance to the tunnels that lead to the building and, as they walk through the darkness, Edgar tells them that their main objective is to find and rescue Peter. It doesn't take long for them to find their way into the building's basement, and when they come to a fork in the path, Edgar and Zoe take one direction, while Lars and 

Claus take another. Edgar and Zoe soon come upon a ladder that leads up into the slaughterhouse and then reach the room where the couple was killed, as Zoe finds the girl's discarded promise ring; elsewhere, Lars and Claus come across Peter, but Lars decides not to rescue him, thinking it's too early for that.

Edgar says he smells something particularly nasty, then sees Johnny Trash's mutilated body pinned to a wall. He and Zoe are immediately attacked by the female vamps, with Lily grabbing Zoe from behind and disarming, then restraining her. Before Edgar can get a shot with his holy water gun, Vixen jumps down, knocks it out of his head, and then whacks Edgar over to the side. Meanwhile, Lars, hearing something, climbs down into a lower section, followed by Claus. He finds that it's just a ticking

metronome, and just when he's about to give Claus crap for his having left his gear upstairs (even though Lars himself did it), Kirk walks up behind him. Turning around and seeing him, Lars thinks this is a chance for him to have some fun, as he removes his comm-link and headlamp. He then punches Kirk in the face, but he barely flinches, and instead pops his knuckles, expecting more. Lars delivers five more blows, again to the face, and the last one is a big uppercut. Kirk removes a broken fang from his

mouth and, after discarding it, promptly regrows it. Happy that he's found a worthy opponent, he decides to counterattack, as Claus continues filming. He proceeds to completely whale on Lars, who does manage to get another lick in, before he's slammed against the wall and repeatedly punched in the gut, to the point where he's bleeding out of his mouth. He's then grabbed again and flung to the ground, with Kirk then picking his whole body up and slamming him back down. Despite the major pounding he's just received, Lars gets back to his feet, chuckling 

slightly, and asks, "You had enough, punk?!" Like at the start, he turns around to face Kirk, who roars and then punches right through Lars' torso, ripping his heart out of his back. He lifts Lars up and throws him to the ground, holding the still beating heart in his hand. But then, Claus manages to get a lucky stab through Kirk's back with a stake, and the vampire instantly combusts.

Elsewhere, Edgar prepares to match swords with Vixen, but it only takes a few seconds before he's disarmed, with Vixen saying he's not that good. She forces him back, and he trips and falls to the floor, which Vixen takes as an opportunity to stab him through his left shoulder with her sword. She then adds to his pain by twisting the blade around within his flesh, when Zoe manages to break free of Lily's hold and shove her onto a metal rod sticking out from the wall. It completely impales her through her

midsection and she's immediately killed as a result. Enraged at this, Vixen turns her attention to Zoe, while Edgar reaches for his weapon. Seeing this, Vixen quickly runs for it before she can be shot with holy water. She literally runs along the wall, managing to dodge Edgar's shots, much to his frustration. Once she's gone, Zoe comes over and yanks the sword out of his shoulder (she says she's going to pull it out on "three" and she does, but doesn't count to one and two, much to Edgar's frustration). She then tries to contact Lars on his 

comm-link, but gets Claus instead. He tells her that Lars is dead and she says they need to get Edgar out of the building before more vampires show up. They carry him back to the cove where they came ashore and lay him down while applying first aid. Losing consciousness, he has a dream about when he and Alan met Sam in Santa Carla, and then wakes up to find the left side of his torso bandaged up. Despite this massive setback, Edgar isn't about to give up. He ties his bandana back on, speaks in Latin, which Zoe translates as, "Payback's a bitch," and he says, "Damn straight." He and his group of three then move out.

By this point, the Blood Moon is rising into the sky, and the group rush back to the slaughterhouse, where the party is now in full swing. People are not only gyrating to the music but Vixen is handing out the Thirst, and they're immediately downing out. DJ X himself appears onstage and starts doing his thing, while elsewhere, Edgar's group enter the building. X asks the crowd, "Are you ready for a sacrifice?!", and Peter, still hooked up to the wire-mesh table he was on, and being pumped with drugs, is hoisted onto the stage, held up in a vertical position. Off to the side of

the stage, the group sees what's happening and, by this point, the Thirst takes effect, turning those who've taken it into vampires. Now, there are hundreds of them on the other side of the fence separating the main floor and stage, and Claus realizes how screwed they'll be if they manage to rip through it. Edgar, however, says that won't be a problem once they kill X. He tells the others to stand back, while he plans to slip in with one of the resin grenades, the only one he has, and use it to immobilize X, then kill him. Edgar slowly climbs up

the stairs leading up to the stage, as X prepares to feed on Peter's blood. However, Vixen spots him and immediately flies over to the stage, landing in front of him. Before Edgar can respond, she sends him flying through the air and he lands very roughly near the edge of the stage. The impact also causes him to drop the grenade into the tank of water beneath it. Zoe climbs into the water to get the grenade and gets Gwen to help her, while Vixen closes in on Edgar, as he crawls back along the walkway. He grabs a vinyl 

record from the compartment that houses them behind him and breaks it in two. Vixen boasts that she's going to break his neck in the same way, but when she goes for the kill, Edgar slices her throat open with the jagged edges, then follows that up by staking her through the heart. This sends the other vampires into a frenzy, as she falls back onto the stage and immediately turns to ash and explodes.

X grabs a spear and faces Edgar, telling him that he prefers to kill through "more traditional methods, like impalement." Edgar takes out one of his swords and the two of them duel, a spectacle that the other vampires clearly enjoy; all the while, Zoe and Gwen make their way through the water beneath the stage. Because of his injured shoulder, Edgar is at a serious disadvantage in this fight, and X takes the opportunity to stab him there and then knock him to the floor. He tries to get back up and continue, but he's still horribly outmatched, with X knocking his feet out

from under him. Down below, Claus uses the UV torch that Edgar gave him to keep back the vampires, as they're trying to tear down the fence in order to get at Zoe and Gwen. On the stage, it seems as though Edgar is doomed, as X goes in for the kill, although he yammers on about how skilled he's become over centuries of battle. Just when he's about to finally kill Edgar, Alan suddenly shows up and blocks his spear with his own sword. The two of them start dueling themselves, with Edgar getting up and joining in as well. However, he still proves to not be that much 

help due to his shoulder, and though Alan manages to hold his own, X still proves to be a formidable opponent. Meanwhile, Claus still does his best to keep the throngs of vampires held back, while Zoe dives beneath the water to find the grenade. She quickly emerges with it and hands it to Edgar. He activates it and slides it across the floor, right beneath X. It explodes and he's instantly impaled through nearly every part of his body. He drops his spear, and Edgar and Alan both use their swords to deliver the 

killing blow to the heart together. X's body turns to ash and explodes, seemingly putting an end to everything. Zoe and Gwen rush up to the stage and help Peter, while Edgar tells everyone else that the party's over.

However, that's when it begins to become clear that something isn't right, between Peter and Gwen's making out once he's free, the realization that the curse hasn't been broken, and that the "drugs" Peter was being pumped with was actually liquid garlic. They realize that Peter is the actual alpha vampire, and we then get that brief flashback to 1031 A.D., where Peter and his group of vampires prey on some people sitting around a campfire in the woods. Back in the present, Gwen expects to be made immortal, only for Peter to rip her throat out, causing her to

collapse to the stage as she starts to bleed to death. Peter disdainfully spits out some of her blood and then pushes her body into the water, before leaving the humans to the throngs of vampires. The batteries in Claus' UV lamp start to give out, and Edgar tells him to get Zoe out of there, while he and Alan head backstage to confront Peter. However, no sooner do they get back there than Peter ambushes Alan from behind, tying a chain around his neck and hoisting him up into the air, while flinging Edgar back, further 

injuring his shoulder. As Edgar grabs at it and yells in pain, Peter tries to make him take the Thirst, but Edgar knocks it away, yelling, "Not thirst!" He tries to stake Peter, but he grabs his hand, disarms him, and throws him into a pillar. As Peter explains why he arranged for Edgar to kill X and what his further plans for him are, he kicks him in the stomach. Edgar grabs his dropped sword and slowly gets to his feet. He swings at Peter when he gets the chance, but he not only dodges him but lets Alan down. He tells him, "Alan, kill your brother! You'll feel better!"

Edgar, brandishing his sword, warns Alan not to do it, but Alan, under Peter's sway, grabs the sword and pulls Edgar to him. He punches him in the face, but Edgar promptly returns it. They trade some more blows, before Alan forces Edgar back against a pillar and raises him up along it by the neck. Peter tells him that this is Edgar's last chance to agree to his offer, but Edgar instead reaches up and yanks what turns out to be a waterline. He sprays the water all over Peter, who's utterly confused and amused by this, asking, "What the fuck?" But then, in a very nice callback to 

the previous movie, Edgar, using his role as an officially ordained minister, says a prayer that turns the water into holy water. After he shouts, "Fuck you!", Peter starts to violently burn from it. Alan lets Edgar go, right before Peter explodes into a shower of bloody chunks, leaving steaming remains where he stood. With that, Alan realizes he's cured of his vampirism, and the Frog Brothers officially reunite. Before the movie ends, it shows that, after they've gotten back to San Cazador, Alan, having cleaned 

himself up and cut his hair, is enjoying a day at the beach and is getting a suntan, while also glancing at one of Gwen's novels. According to Edgar, he's been spending a lot of time in the sun lately, with Zoe saying he's probably making up for lost time.

Like most of the people involved with this movie, the composer, Czech-born Elia Cmiral, doesn't have the most impressive track record. He does have a lot of experience in the horror genre, having scored movies like Stigmata, Bones, They, Wrong Turn, and the American version of Pulse (he also scored the notorious Battlefield Earth), but his music for Lost Boys: The Thirst left no impression on me whatsoever, as everything about it is so generic. I was going to give him credit for the techno music that plays over the opening credits, but I found that was a separate piece altogether, specifically a song called Replica by a group named Hyper. It does have lyrics, but the version they played here was a complete instrumental. There are plenty of other tracks like that you can hear during the rave scenes, like I Love My Sex and Kill Me Everytime. Leading into the rest of the soundtrack, the same cover of Cry Little Sister by Aiden from the previous movie is reused, playing three times: when the vampires jump out of the plane, when Peter is killed, and throughout the entire ending credits. Also, when Edgar visits Alan, you can hear I Got the Blues by Glenn Morris playing on the radio, and Revolution by the Thompson Twins can be heard when the movie moves back to San Cazador right at the end. There are other songs featured in the movie, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what they are and I honestly don't feel like spending any more time trying to figure it out.

If you must see another Lost Boys movie, Lost Boys: The Thirst is definitely the better one of the two. Besides once again having Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog, he's now the star; many of the new characters aren't that bad; the movie has a little bit more of the original's spirit, with the profanity, sleaziness, and graphic violence from the second movie really toned down; it's more successful in the humor department than the second; there is some intelligence to be found here and there in the script; the makeup effects are still good, and there's not nearly as much awful digital work as in the second one; and at just 81 minutes, it manages to do what it needs to do and get out without wasting too much of your time. However, make no mistake, this is still not great by any means. Alan Frog isn't utilized nearly as much as you'd hope, while the character of Lars von Goetz only exists to have someone you want to see die; the visual style hasn't improved much; the new setting is nothing to write home about and is little more than another stand-in for Santa Carla; there are still some plotholes and incongruities with the established mythology here; some of the attempts at satire aren't that great; save for the ever reliable Cry Little Sister, the music and soundtrack are totally forgettable; the third act does meander a bit, with the final confrontation being underwhelming; and, despite being better than The Tribe, this is still another low-budget, unimpressive sequel to a beloved cult classic that doesn't need to exist. I may have surprised a bunch of you when I recommended Fright Night 2: New Blood, but unless you absolutely have to see another adventure with Edgar Frog, I can't do the same for The Thirst.