Rant: Corey Haim Should Have Been In Oscar's In Memoriam Tribute

Sam begging Michael in the Lost Boys
(Image credit: Max)

Shame on you, Academy Awards. It’s been almost a year since Corey Haim died. He went out with a whimper. Broke, addicted and cohabiting with his mother, the former child star had little in common at the end of his life with the fresh-faced boy that frequented the covers of so many teen magazines, but he sure as hell deserved better than this. Earlier this evening, the Oscar committee, or whoever the hell’s in charge of such things, knowingly and willfully left him out of the In Memoriam montage. I’m not surprised, but I am saddened. The snub is further proof just how stupid, shortsighted and out of touch many in Hollywood’s inner circle are.

Once upon a time, Corey Haim meant a lot to movie fans. The vast majority of actors appear and disappear without the general public ever bothering to learn their names, but for a small window in the late 1980s, Haim’s attachment was enough to get a project greenlit. Three of his movies, The Lost Boys, Lucas and License To Drive still get extensive television airplay. More importantly, they’re adored and cherished by millions of grown-up former fanatics with a fond reminiscence of a childhood crush long faded. That memory has to be valued. To act like it’s meaningless, that it’s trumped by foolish later behaviors is offensive to anyone that’s ever derived pleasure from Haim’s work.

Elistist pricks like to think the Academy Awards are about celebrating what’s great in the movie business. To a certain extent, that’s true, but more than that, they’re about celebrating the escapist fun motion pictures bring fans the world over. If Hollywood were only filled with movies like The King’s Speech, it wouldn’t hoist nearly the same appeal. The Lost Boys is fun. It’s not trying to win an Oscar; it’s trying to entertain. Mission accomplished.

Shame on you, Academy Awards. It might feel good to act like you’re better than Corey Haim, but you’re really not. He deserved his final moment in the sun, and you took that from him. He meant more to movie fans than ninety percent of the deceased you deemed more important.

Cinema Blend will miss you, Corey Haim, and we’ve got a feeling there’s a lot more out there that feel the same way.

Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.