Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the coolest vampire movie of all time—The Lost Boys. Did we say "coolest?" We really meant to say "homo-erotic." It's been many moons since we last saw the adventures of the Corey's battle it out with Kiefer Sutherland and Bill from Bill & Ted's vampire horde of teenagers but since it was an anniversary yesterday a lot of talk of the movie was reminders of how inadvertently (or advertently) the gay subtext in the film actually was. The movie was directed by very openly gay Joel Schumacher and there's no denying he was out and proud and had a say in how his film looked and felt. Having a half-naked Rob Lowe poster in the bedroom of a teenage boy is not exactly commonplace I would think. But like Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, the film's overall horror theme (in Lost Boys case, vampirism) could very well be a covert or subtle hint at homosexuality. And why not? It was, after all, the 80s when AIDS was devastating the gay community and coming-out was still very taboo in western culture. Coming to terms with what you are and having to deal with it—or having to realize that you're different is the perfect excuse to have a hidden context in a horror movie. 

I'm not ashamed to admit that The Lost Boys is still one of the best vampire movies to date, gay subtext or not. It was cool when I was 10 and its still cool now. Despite how flamboyant that buff and greased sax player/singer wearing chain-dangling leather codpiece at the beach concert scene is. It doesn't matter to me in the least.