New $28 Million Horror Movie Success Is The Perfect Reminder To Watch 37-Year-Old Vampire Comedy Starring Kiefer Sutherland

WARNING! This article contains spoilers for Abigail (2024)!

Summary Abigail is a comedy horror that pays homage to classic vampire films like The Lost Boys, blending scares with laughter.

Radio Silence's movie succeeds where other recent Dracula-inspired films have failed, balancing suspense with humor and gore.

Abigail's vampire lore and creature designs draw inspiration from The Lost Boys, breathing new life into the genre.

Universal’s critically acclaimed new horror movie, Abigail, is a great reminder to watch another vampire comedy that remains a revolutionary entry in the genre. Loosely inspired by the 1936 Universal Classic Monsters movie Dracula’s Daughter, the main cast and characters of Abigail consist of a heist team recruited to kidnap the young daughter of a powerful man, only to find out that the titular character is a centuries-old vampire. The Radio Silence-directed movie has been widely celebrated for its comedy, gore, character development, suspense, and unique premise, with Abigail currently holding a “Certified Fresh” 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

More impressive after the commercial and critical struggles of Nicolas Cage’s Renfield vampire movie from Universal in 2023, Abigail makes amends for a recent trend of Dracula-inspired films failing to perform well with critics and audiences. While still extremely inventive in its own right, part of this success may come from Abigail’s inspirations from classic vampire horror comedies. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, known collectively as Radio Silence, have repeatedly noted Kiefer Sutherland’s vampire movie from the 1980s as a reference for Abigail, with the film certainly deserving a resurgence in popularity after Universal’s recent horror hit.

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Kiefer Sutherland's The Lost Boys Was A Huge Inspiration For Abigail

Radio Silence has cited The Lost Boys as an importance vampire movie influence

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Among the most notable roles of Kiefer Sutherland’s movie career is The Lost Boys, a cult classic vampire movie from 1987. The horror comedy follows the Emerson family, who move to the fictional beach town of Santa Carla, California, which they soon discover has a high population of vampires. Kiefer Sutherland stars in the movie as David, the leader of the vampire gang that the Emersons battle in The Lost Boys' climactic ending. The Lost Boys is remembered as one of the greatest vampire movies of all time, holding a 77% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and is attributed with revolutionizing the portrayal of vampires in film and pop culture.

Movie Title Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score The Lost Boys (1987) 77% 85% Abigail (2024) 84% 85%

Radio Silence remarked in an interview with Screen Rant that their approach to creating the movie’s vampires and their lore was greatly influenced by The Lost Boys. The manner in which The Lost Boys blends its humor and horror also served as an inspiration for Abigail, brilliantly blending the scares with laughs during surprising moments (via IGN). Additionally, it’s difficult to ignore the resemblance between the vampire creature design and appearance in the 2024 film and the 1987 cult classic, particularly with Dan Stevens’ transformation in Abigail’s twist ending.

Related John Hughes' 39-Year-Old Comedy Classic Gets An Unexpected Remake In Critically Acclaimed New Horror Movie Universal's new vampire horror movie, Abigail, takes plenty of inspiration from a classic John Hughes movie from the 1980s – with a bloody twist.

Why The Lost Boys Is Such An Important Movie In The Vampire Genre

The Lost Boys ushered in a new era of vampire movie tropes

The Lost Boys’ importance in the vampire genre goes far beyond its influence over new hits like Abigail. The film’s most revolutionary aspect was the way that it brought more youth and, perhaps ironically, life to vampiric characters, as the 1987 movie made its blood-sucking figures “cool” teenagers under the lead of ‘80s rebel actor Kiefer Sutherland. The Lost Boys is also considered to be responsible for popularizing the more youthful lust and attractive appearances of vampires in the genre through David’s gang, Michael Emerson, and Star.

The Lost Boys is available to stream on AMC+.

Without The Lost Boys, there may never have been an Edward Cullen.

Turning movie or TV vampire characters into heartthrobs and sex symbols has become a much greater norm in the years since The Lost Boys. The popularity of this aspect of the 1987 film paved the way for similar themes and overtones in massive vampire projects like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, the Twilight movies, and True Blood. Without The Lost Boys, there may never have been an Edward Cullen. While Abigail doesn’t quite lean into these elements of its vampire approach, the movie certainly pulls from The Lost Boys' more youthful, comedic, and stylistic changes to the genre.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, IGN