| “ | Initiation's over, Michael. Time to join the club! | „ |
| ~ David to Michael while in his vampire form. |
David is the leader of a motorcycle gang who are a band of bloodthirsty vampires and the secondary antagonist in the 1987 vampire movie The Lost Boys.
He was portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland.
Biography
Little is known about David. It is fan speculated that he may be from the year 1906 (when the Hudson's Hotel first caved in) by the way he talks about it. He and his gang of bikers have lived there for a long time.
Michael becomes fascinated by Star, a beautiful young woman who lives with David, the mysterious leader of a local gang. Meanwhile, in the local comic book store, Sam meets brothers Edgar and Alan Frog, self-proclaimed vampire hunters who work at the store and give Sam horror comics to teach him about vampires.
When Michael meets Star the next night, David provokes him into a motorcycle race, in which he is baited into almost going over the edge of a sea cliff. David invites Michael to their lair, a once-luxurious hotel sunken by an earthquake, where he is put through an unsettling initiation that includes (unbeknowingly) drinking blood from an ornate wine bottle. He joins the gang in hanging from the underside of elevated train tracks, watching in horror as each willingly drops into a foggy gorge below. Unable to hold his grip any longer, Michael falls... waking up in his bed, groggy and disoriented.
Michael looks for Star, confronting David. David takes Michael to attack a group of Surf Nazis at a bonfire, turning vampiric and entering a feeding frenzy. David announces to Michael that "You'll never gor old, and you'llnever die...but you must feed!". Michael returns home to speak to Sam, who asks who the head-vampire is. Star arrives and flies in through the window. Star reveals to Michael that she too is a half-vampire, and wants his help. It emerges that David had intended Michael to be Star's first kill, sealing her fate as a fully-fledged vampire.
The next day, a weakening Michael leads Sam and the Frog brothers to the gang's lair, where they intend to kill the vampires in their sleep. (The Frog brothers are stunned and terrified to discover that the vampires do not sleep in coffins, but hang from the ceiling like roosting bats.) The staking of one vampire (Marko) awakens David and the two others, and the boys barely escape with their lives, managing to rescue Star and Laddie, a recently abducted half-vampire child.
That evening, while Lucy is on a date with Max, and Grandpa is out of the house, the teens arm themselves with weapons based on traditional defenses against vampires. David and the gang attack, and are each killed in a spectacular fashion during the epic battle. Michael faces off with David, and ultimately impales him on a pair of mounted antlers.
Although he originally wasn't meant to be dead, what happens to David that could be taken as his calm, quiet death could be seen as reflective on the true innocence of his personality as a human and that the way a vampire dies is in strong connection with that.
David's Return
It is revealed in the comic book sequel Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs that David did indeed survive due to the antlers missing his heart. When Edgar and Alan returned to their comic book store, David lead a new group of vampires he had created to seek revenge. However, the Frog brothers, with the help of Sam, managed to kill his entire pack, but David managed to escape. After he does so, it is revealed that he is a servent to the Black Widow Johnson. He makes plans with her to seek vengeance again.
David's Return
It is also revealed that David had managed to create the new vampire, Shane Powers, during his attack on the group from the bonfire in the previous film. Shane would later become the antagonist of the second film, Lost Boys: The Tribe.
It is unknown what became of David in the future. Although a vampire whom Shane and his group killed in the beginining of The Tribe is credited as David Van, and was even said by Shane to have been from Santa Carla, it is unclear if this is actually David himself. Most likely not, considering vampires do not age, and David Van is clearly in his sixties while David appeares to be in his early twenties.
Personality
David is shown as being manipulative and very cunning. He lures Michael in with Star and uses her to show that he can control people. He demonstrates this by toying with Michael and then denying everything. He seems like the leader of the Vampires, and in a way he his, to the Boys' only. He likes having control in every situation and likes to be in charge, often causing a deeply strained relationship with his presumed maker, Max. David is cited as being a true anarchy-rebellious punk in the 80's. He also has acquired a great amount of respect from the other Boys', moreso than the original maker has.
Appearance
As a Human
David in his human form.
David is often seen dressed in a large black trench coat, black leather gloves, black jeans, and black boots. His hair is platinum blonde and it is in a mullet style; short and choppy in the front, and long in the back. David's eyes are blue.
As a Vampire
David in his vampire form.
David, in his Vampire form, has higher cheek-bones, more defined brow bones, a more angular face, yellow/gold eyes with darker pupil and a brownish/gray surrounding both eyes; he also has fangs.
Trivia
Unlike the rest of the vampires in the film, David's body wasn't destroyed. This was because he was supposed to reappear in a sequel, The Lost Girls. The project was scripted, but never actually filmed. In it, he was to explain that when Michael impaled him, the horns missed his heart. Conveniently, this excuse was used to bring him back in Reign of Frogs.