A lot of people may think of Kiefer Sutherland from 24, which was an insanely successful TV show in its own right, but we're here to talk about the good stuff. The horror stuff.
Jay: 24 wasn't my cup of tea but mum loved it.
Me: A whole lotta people, from your generation to mine, crushed hard on David. 'Cause, you know... bad boys. What was it about Sutherland's character in Lost Boys that attracted so many people?
Jay: He was a different kind of vampire. The Lost Boys brought vampire lore right up to date. They stopped being stuffy and formal. They became things we all believed we could meet. That we could have.
Me: I was totally one of those people. Lost Boys is so... I dunno. Rugged? Cheeky? Definitely hilarious. It was the humour more than anything that appealed to me but there's nothing funny about David. He's the dark, brooding, dangerous guy girls (and boys) fantasise about (without Angel's pesky morals.)
Moving away from The Lost Boys, though (before this becomes a David fan page,) the next movie that stood out for me was Flatliners from 1990. What did you think of Kiefer Sutherland's performance in that? (Or, the movie in general?)
Jay: It was a big step away from David, for sure. Well, sort of. He was still kind of brooding.
You know, it's weird with Kiefer Sutherland. He's not what you'd think of as being leading man material. He's kind of... gumpy?
Me: What?!
Jay: I mean that he's not conventionally handsome. He's not ugly! He's just not what you'd think of. You know, tall and dashing. He's more normal. That might be part of the charm.
Me: Okay, I can see that. Normal isn't a bad thing, though. It makes an actor feel more accessible. More like us.
Going back to Flatliners, though... we had different opinions about the remake.
Jay: I fucking hated it. It was awful.
Me: I liked it.
Jay: They didn't need to do it.
Me: No, I'll agree to that. There are so many remakes these days they didn't need to do but did. They did it, though, and it was entertaining.
Jay: It wasn't better than the original.
Me: No, it wasn't. But it wasn't bad.
Jay: Meh.
Me: You know Kiefer Sutherland was in the remake too, right?
Jay: Well... to be honest... I didn't finish it. It was that bad.
Jay: I thought Mirrors was a great film. He brought a believability to the role. You can feel his frustration, his fear.
Me: You can feel my bloody fear! Mirrors terrified me! You're lucky there are any mirrors left in our house after seeing that!
Jay: Yeah, it did make you jump a lot. I love movies that do that...
Me: The thing that really scared me was the so-called "treatment" that set the whole thing off. People with mental illnesses were treated so horribly in the past and, living with a mental illness, the thought of that ever coming back keeps me up at night.
There's also the scene in the bathroom, which was too grotesque to even go into. Yikes.
I can't believe it but we've zipped through Kiefer Sutherland's horror movies. There weren't many. Tell me how he made the cut, with so few horror credits to his name?
Jay: ...that's a good question. I guess it's mostly because of his role in The Lost Boys, to be honest. It was too iconic a role to ignore.
Me: It has nothing to do with the fact that you looked like him for awhile in the Eighties and it got you laid?
Jay: What? No, never!
Me: Well, there you have it...
I wish we could say that we've met Kiefer Sutherland but we haven't yet. He's on the dream list but we just keep missing him. Fingers crossed he shows up somewhere near us soon. At least we've gotten to meet a lot of the other Lost Boys cast.
Jay: It's a great poster to have signed.
Me: It is.
Well, thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see who our next Best Horror Actor will be!
