Corey Haim was all over it with the killer 1-liner, "Death by stereo!" in '87's classic The Lost Boys.

We have now seen that Muse has become the ad hoc Twilight House band, due to Stephenie Meyer being a fan. However, a line from this interview with Muse's Matthew Bellamy about how they agreed to become such integral part of the franchise struck a chord with me.

You have a song on the new Twilight film. Are you a fan?

A: Well, I liked The Lost Boys in the '80s. I remember that one had a pretty good soundtrack as well. This sort of film struck me as this generations version of The Lost Boys. Source

The Lost Boys -- Possibly the greatest example of the teen vampire flick.  Preceded by Fright Night and Once Bitten, (both in 1985) The Lost Boys took teen angst and insecurity, put on an earring and a lot of hairspray, and let it loose on America, complete with a killer soundtrack.  Who doesn't remember that Keifer Southerland smirk when even thinking about the "Cry Little Sister Theme"?  With the sparse kick-drum pulse and wailing synth -- topped off with that sad and creepy childrens choir --  Absolutely iconic for The Lost Boys, and the 80's youth culture of the movie portrayed. 

Setting the tone right from the opening credits (imho a suitable homage to another lost boy Jim Morrison) Echo and the Bunnymen's rendition of People are Strange plays loud as the camera sweeps over punk kids out on the Santa Cruz boardwalk loaded down with leather jackets and secrets, hanging out on the boardwalk with the sinster air unique to the 'vampire capitol of the world.'

After successfully reviving both the horror genre, and creating a new *teen* horror genre, the tradition of bringing hip tunes together with dramatic supernatural adventures has become anthemic to the cult-slasher-flick-formula.

Which brings me to Scream, Wes Craven's huge success in the line of genre re-invention, featured an amazing theme song from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Red Right Hand."  With the growling vocals and piercing strikes on the anvil, viewers were already on the edge of their seats. Following this was an equally strong entrance of Billy (Skeet Ulrich) to a fantastic cover of Don't Fear the Reaper. Scream has since gone on to make 'a worldwide lifetime gross of $173,046,663 ... [making] it the highest grossing slasher movie as of 2009.' Source

Death by stereo... Slayings by stereo... killer tunes make it all way more fun.

Thanks to my favorite vampire blogger over at Entertainment Weekly, Mandi Bierly, for bringing this interesting viewpoint to light this morning.  Esquire suggests the the current vampire craze is driven by the urge young women have to have sex with gay men.

"Vampire fiction for young women is the equivalent of lesbian porn for men: Both create an atmosphere of sexual abandon that is nonthreatening. That's what everybody wants, isn't it? Sex that's dangerous and safe at the same time, risky but comfortable, gooey and violent but also traditional and loving. In the bedroom, we want to have one foot in the twenty-first century and another in the nineteenth."  Source

While I don't entirely agree with this, I do see the continuity within this new class of gentleman vampires hitting the airwaves (Edward, Bill, Stefan, even Angel). They represent the forbidden, the outsider, and a physical representation of the danger of falling in love and possibly getting hurt. Gay men could also be an excellent stand-in for the non-threatening partner who allows the usually gun-shy heroine to develop into a sexual being by rewarding her to the power -- especially over a mythical, immortal creature. Talk about power.

I've arrived, at long last -- new to the world of blogging, but not the world of blogs. I'm finally stepping out of the shadows after many years of silently reading and scheming one of my own. Now the hard part... getting down to business and writing!

Ideas for upcoming content include:

• Sookie Time-Man-Line by special request
• From Angel to Edward
• Bite Me: When Vampires became sexy... a manifesto

Anything you'd like to see? Send me a note!