Interview With The Vampire

Starring: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, Stephen Rea
Written by: Anne Rice 
Director: Neil Jordan
Year: 1994

Rating: * * * *1/2   Stars       +       (Fan Bonus * )  Total: * * * * * 1/2

Based off the novel of the same name, Interview With The Vampire was the story that coined the term, "from the Vampire's point of view." But it's more than that. It's about the eternal, internal struggle these creatures of the night wage in wrestling their humanity against their bestial nature. Some embrace their status as predator, others look to retain their soul. And as the years roll on the struggle gets harder, as all they know and love slowly wash away.

The story begins with Daniel Malloy (Christian Slater) in a hotel room setting up his recording equipment. He explains to the gentleman stranger Louie (Brad Pitt) that he's a writer and does such interviews as a way of "collecting lives", to be later published in his column. Louie sits down and begins to tell him his tale, one that's over two hundred years old.

Louie tells a tale of how in the late 1700's he was the owner of a large southern plantation. His wife ad child having died years before, he was withdrawn and longed to join them in death. It was at this time that a vampire named Lestat crossed paths with him. Lestat (Tom Cruise) gave Louie a choice, death or eternal life. Louie chose life and thus was brought over. From that moment on, Louie regretted his choice. Lestat mentored him in his early years, helping him develop his vampiric nature, how to hunt, and to walk in polite society without arousing suspicion. Louie struggled with the thought of killing others and took to feeding off of rats and chickens. Lestat struggled with Louie and tried time and again to convince him to embrace what he is and to shed his mortal coil. Sensing Louie would leave him, he embraced Louie's first human victim in decades, a little girl he assumed was going to die anyway from the black death. Louie did not kill her, and Lestat "saved her" from death, and brought young Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) into their fold.

The film is brilliantly shot from top to bottom, making the novel come to life. Tom Cruise puts in a profound performance as Lestat, as Anne Rice and her legion of fans turned their nose at the idea of Cruise playing Lestat. They cited the studios of hiring a star to make money than someone who would have been better for the part. Yet early screenings showed that Cruise shut a lot of their mouths as Anne Rice and fans began praising Cruise. Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Stephen Rae gave equal effort in their roles resulting in dynamic, mesmerizing characters that keeps audiences compelled. On a dime, any of these characters can go from angelic charm to demonic rage, and the actors have the chops to pull this off.

There are certainly homosexual undertones throughout the film. Perhaps not as "out" as Brokeback Mountain, it is inferred that vampires, being undead, do not enjoy sex in the traditional manor, and any ecstasy felt only comes through the act of the embrace (feeding). So vampires are in a sense asexual beings who garner pleasure whether feeding on male or female victims. As for vampires, unlife is lonely and they often seek each other out for companionship. But try as they might, their nature and curse seems to be that any relationship is doomed to failure.

Although a vampire film, this is not a horror picture. It is a deep and compelling drama which presents the state of vampirism as an extension of our humanity. Here, our instincts are more animalistic, but our aesthetic nature is heightened. In a way, Anne Rice shows that like us, vampires are all too human.

Interview With The Vampire was the first in a series of books called the Vampire Chronicles. Many having been written long before the movie came out. Queen of the Damned was a sub par film released a few years later, combining elements of the novels The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. Yet with different actors, and less than stellar directing, Queen does nothing for fans of this series.

SEE THE TRAILER: Interview With The Vampire