A Tribute to "The Lost Boys": Capturing the Essence of 80s Horror through Horror Photography

clinton lofthouse
Jun 24, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Feb 2

Details

Date: April 2025

Location: The One Studio

Concept: A homage to my favourite 80s horror movie 'The Lost Boys.'

Team: Clinton Lofthouse. Joey Demaine. Chloe Ozwell. Paris Maddock-Dickinson. Jemma Thompson. Sarah Zahl. Lauren Clitheroe.

The Concept

Being a huge 80s horror movie fan, it probably doesnt come as a surprise that one of my most influential and favourite horror movies of that period is Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys. As with a lot of horror movies, I got to watch this one night when my older cousin was babysitting. So it was pretty prophetic that I would add some kind of Lost Boys homage to my horror photography repertoire one day.

The blend of horror and comedy, plus the younger lead Corey Haim, playing the pivotal role, really struck a chord with my pre-pubescent little brain. Since then, it's stuck with me, whether it be in attitude, music choices, or fashion. And I always knew that one day I wanted to create something as a homage.

During Covid, I had the opportunity to be sent the new Elinchrom One light to use on a shoot of my choice, to showcase the light's versatility. It didn't take long to decide; this was the perfect excuse to do something Lost Boys related. But what? I didn't want to the an exact copy of the characters, I just needed a twist and an homage.

At that point, I think there had been rumours of a Lost Boys sequel called The Lost Girls. Switching up the genders to a female set of vampires. Hollywood being Hollywood, this never happened, so that was my call to action: let's create our own Lost Girls Vampires. I shot one Lost Girl for the Elinchrom project, and enjoyed the process so much, I decided to turn it into a long-running, no-end project.

Woman in gothic attire stands confidently with arms crossed. Neon pink text "LOST GIRL" glows behind her in a dark setting. — **Lost Girl 1**

With only three Lost Girls, I wanted to up the ante a little and shoot a full group in one session to get the project and the girls' numbers up.

The Setup

We shot at The One Studio just outside Manchester. I had put out a casting call on Facebook and found 6 models, some I knew, some I didn't. Coordinating with the models over message, the rules were that outfits had to be either Lost Boys inspired, gothic, metal, alternative, or just very unique.

We all decided that girls would turn up with makeup and hair already done, to speed up the shoot. Each and every model did a fantastic job with their looks, really adding to the aesthetic of the shoot.

Lighting-wise, I knew it was going to be the trusty 3-light set-up, which I've used on many shoots. But the main reason being, is that im going to add some neon text behind the girls, to mimic a neon sign, just for the extra eighties feel. The 3 light setup just gives us a hyper-stylized feel, and if used correctly, you get a nice balance of light and dark which excentuates the detail!

Throw in some coloured gels into the mix to mimic the light from the neon sign/text, and you have an extremely dynamic setup for stylized portraits. My favourite way to blend the gels is to use a cold colour for the light/shadows at the front, and the warmer or brighter colour for the rim light.