The Lost Boys at Leicester Guildhall
“What if the reason Peter Pan came out at night and never grew up and could fly was because he was a vampire?”
- The Lost Boys screenwriter James Jeremias.
I’ve always been a big fan of screening films in unique and unusual places. With streaming platforms competing with post-Covid cinema going, the war for viewers has never been hotter. For better or worse, at the click of a button you can sit on the sofa and scroll thousands of movies without so much as standing up.
With that in mind, although films should be able to stand on their own merits, nowadays I think exhibitors should consider diversifying when appropriate to give a good (and modern) offer to get people out of their homes and into their venues.
One way to do this is to create a special group experience that you simply can’t get in your front room. And so we end up here - a screening of The Lost Boys this week at Leicester’s Guildhall - the medieval building that is being used for this Halloween horror showing of the 1980s cult vampire classic.
Directed by Joel Schumacher – who has his own weird local connection with Batman Forever’s premiere in Leicester (click here for that story) – The Lost Boys is a supernatural dark comedy starring Corey Haim, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman and Dianne Wiest.
The film tells of two brothers who move to California only to discover the town is a haven for vampires, and the title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie's stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, who, like vampires, never grow up. (A good drinking game is to spot the references - or if you want to get REALLY drunk, take a swig everytime someone says the name "Michael"!)
The movie was both a critical and commercial success, grossing $32 million and even spawning two sequels (let’s not mention those again), and its been credited with bringing a more youthful appeal to the vampire genre, shifting away from its stuffy past. And I guess ending with the Buffys and Twilights we have today.
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Leicester's Guildhall has quite the history. Its Great Hall was built in 1390 and its first role was a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi. It later became a public performance space – where even Shakespeare may have acted – and then a home to one of the oldest public libraries, the town hall and even a police station.
And tonight it's definitely channelling an appropriate supernatural vibe, perhaps owing to the legend of its residents ghosts - a mysterious spirit who may be a traditional white lady spook but who some believe is actually a monk from the nearby Greyfriars! We found hide-and-seek champion Richard III next door so it could be.
But this evening the venue does a monster mash of all these legends, with a screen at one one end of the venue and a packed house sitting in the medieval hall, bathed in a suitable crimson light.
For me, the film itself is a solid teen-vampire story with an ace (certified gold) soundtrack and a talented cast having a lot of fun with the sometimes hammy material. To be honest it’s never been one of my favourites (this is possibly only my second watch) but the film’s dark tone and gothic origins fit perfectly with the Guildhall’s eerie and otherworldly timber-framed structure.
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The night was a resounding success and I highly recommend keeping an eye out on the venue's future events. For those interested there is another vampire-infused screening next week as Nosferatu gets a showing with a new live score. And there have been other film events such as movies by candlelight and the Leicester Horror Con as well.
So whatever your fancy, I hope more local cinemas, venues and film clubs can give movie fans new and creative screening opportunities that bring a fresh perspective and an altogether better alternative, in order to fight those pesky streaming platforms.
Michael "They're only noodles, Michael" Sales
For more info about Leicester Guildhall & it’s latest events head to https://www.leicestermuseums.org/leicester-guildhall/
Leicester Guildhall
Guildhall Lane
Leicester
LE1 5FQ
Telephone: +44 (0)116 253 2569
Opening times: Monday – Sunday (11am - 4.30pm)
