Corey Haim, you will be missed

I’m not the kind of person who is prone to crying over a dead celebrity. I learned the other day that there are exceptions to that. On March 10th, 2010, at the age of 38, actor Corey Haim died from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs after suffering from flu-like symptoms. At the time it is believed that he was combining these prescription drugs with over-the-counter medication. I’ve been reading and watching much in the news that focuses on his long-time battle with addiction and I won’t add onto that here, as I believe that kind of news was part of what kept him from beating his addiction. That along with the constant references to his teen idol status conjoined with the phrase; “Where is he now?”. That must have been a great deal of pressure for him to deal with. Although it comes off as a comedy, the movie “Dickie Roberts: Childstar” hits the nail on the head with truth pounded into the kind of viewer who cares. Hollywood and the news pumps these kids up and then dumps them, reminding them at every audition and newspaper article and newscast that they are not what they were and can never get back to that. I’ve heard it said many times over the last few days that Haim was forgotten. The tears that sprung to my eyes prove those people wrong.

I grew up an 80’s kid. My idols were the two Coreys, Haim and Feldman. Whether they were in a movie together or on their own, I wanted to watch it. We didn’t get “The Edison Twins” when it first aired but I watched the reruns. “Lost Boys” is still the ultimate vampire movie to this day in my opinion. “License to Drive”, “Lucas”, “Dream a Little Dream”, “Rock and Roll Highschool Forever”, “National Lampoons’ Last Resort Vacation” and so many others were movies I would get excited to see on the rental store shelves when they came out. I wanted to be like these guys. They had a huge impact on me growing up, I even remember seeing Feldman on Geraldo talking about how his hair burned away after too many perms. I never watched the show “Werewolf on Campus” (I think that was the name of the show) until I flicked the channel and saw an episode with Haim in it — playing an actor who was really a vampire. Haim was talented, even if Hollywood couldn’t see it once he started growing facial hair. I was saddened to see his acting decline to bit parts but still happy to see him acting just the same.

Ever since I started writing, I imagined that one day I would have the chance to write a book that would be made into a movie and that maybe I would be lucky enough to work with both Coreys. I’ll never have that chance now. I can’t explain how deeply saddened I am by this fact.

I’m not alone in crying over his death, when my wife told me about it, she sat me down, as if it were a member of my family she was telling me about, and I could see the tears in her own eyes. For me, though I never met him, it was like he was a member of my family; an older brother, him and Feldman both. My dearest condolences go out to his mother and Corey Feldman. It never should have happened so soon and he will be greatly missed. He tried so hard to find life again and it has slipped through his fingers, the world has lost a wonderful person in Corey Haim.