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Queen of the Damned (Widescreen Edition)

Queen of the Damned (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.96
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great film, not a good conversion.
Review: although many people would have already made up there mind with regards to this film, i will add my view anyway. first off let me tell you this is NOTHING like the books atall. It shares the characters, places, general plot, but any fan, like me would find it hard to see many simularities. Having said that. the film is amazing for what it is. A fun slice of fantsay, sexulay charged horror. Stuart Townsend is a amzing Lestat, cold, warm, funny, dry. Comanding the screen with a slight movement of a hand. Alliyah is at best ok as akasha, Vincent Perez is delightfuly wicked as Marious, the rest of the cast do a fine job. Holding up each charcter well. as already said the plot and character traits are somewhat diffenet but anyone who want s a good escape into a vampire world. This is it. If you want a faithful conversion of the books, keep on looking cause it ain't gonna happen, ever i suspect. its just too big a undertaking.
My advice is to leave all preconcieved notions at the door and just enjoy the movie for what it is.
Also the extras are amazing. real love and care have gone into it. comentries, deleted scenes, lestat music vids, trailers. etc etc.
take the risk, you may well be suprised, iwas.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Queen of What?
Review: Obviously, the only thing Anne Rice had to do with this was to wirte the novel that gave some functionally illiterate film makers an idea for a really badly made vampire movie.
The main characters were barely able to speak English. The script writer must have used an cheap scriptwriter's computer programme to create such a garble of dialogue and screenplay.
Ms. Rice has a genius for writing and language that was lost on the producer and director of this movie. Apparently this movie was an attempt to bring an elevated level of entertainment to people who enjoy watching big wheel truck crush cars and call their sister Mom. Very disappointed in what would have been a great movie, if as in An Interview with a Vampire, the storyline had been followed and real actors employed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a terrible movie! It's a must avoid!
Review: Being a huge fan of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, I was dying to see "Queen of the Damned" despite initial reluctance of the idea of skipping the second book "The Vampire Lestat" in favor of "The Queen of the Damned". Still "The Queen of the Damned" (as in the novel) pretty much picks up where "The Vampire Lestat" leaves off and also covers a good deal of the second book too. Now that I have seen the movie, all I can say is what a load of *** was wasted to make this dud of a movie. Unfortunately the late Aaliyah's final role is in this dreadful film. Her character Akasha was reduced to stupid lines written by writers who can't write a single decent line in this entire film. Granted in "Interview With the Vampire", I thought Antonio Banderas was miscast as Armand (who in the series is only 17 years old). In "Queen of the Damned", everyone except for the character Jesse was miscast, especially the character David Talbot. In the book version, David is approximately in his 60s, not in his 40s. Another stupid flaw in this movie is that Marius DID NOT make Lestat. The vampire Magnus made Lestat. Marius did not have short brown hair, he had long, blonde hair. Where the hell was Louis, Lestat's long-suffering partner, Gabrielle, Lestat's mother, Armand, a Lestat associate, Santino, and Maharet's sister Mekare? There was no explaination to who the other vampires were at the end of the movie but I am guessing they were Eric, Khayman, Mael, and Pandora. Khayman and Pandora did not die in the book. The writing was awful. Who ever wrote the screenplay needs to be dragged out into the street and shot. None of that garbage in the movie happened in the book. Jesse never went into that vampire bar. Those two girls that Lestat preyed on in the beginning never occured, and certainly not that wretched scene with the gypsies after Marius made Lestat into a vampire. Oh heck! 99% of the movie never happened in the book. This movie should not have been titled "Queen of the Damned" because it does not follow the book faithfully. The acting is awful. I will take the old Dracula movie with Bela Lugosi over this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Quite the Goth Disaster that Everyone Claims
Review: I actually LIKED this movie. I don't really think it was MEANT to follow the books that closely, and most movies never really capture that anyway. Yes, it was a little underdeveloped, as most movies are these days. Let's face it, you can never really cram a whole book (or series of books) into a movie of average length. Stuart Townsend was a much more believable Lestat than Tom Cruise could ever be. If you like vampires and heavy-hitting rock music, you won't be disappointed...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another guilty pleasure!
Review: I really enjoyed this movie, better than 'Interview with a Vampire'. The cast gave excellent performances, particularly Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah. I must add that Stuart Townsend makes a much sexier Lestat than Tom Cruise. The soundtrack is also good - I especially liked 'Forsaken'. I'm sure that fans of the novel may be disappointed in parts, but they should try enjoying the movie for its entertainment value. If Stuart Townsend fans want to see another movie, where he sizzles on screen - try 'About Adam'. Enjoy!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A commendable effort, but not quite the WORST film ever
Review: The Vampire Lestat (Townsend reprising Cruise from INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE), now a famous rock star, resurrects evil vampire queen Akasha (Aaliyah in her last performance) who plans to dominate the world. This goes nowhere for more than one hundred unbearable minutes and bears virtually no resemblance to Anne Rice's novels (despite the title). Originally slated for video release, but went theatrical due to Aaliyah's death shortly after completion. What a waste.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The mother of all vampires
Review: My boyfriend watched this DVD with a coworker while on break from his job one afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by just how good it was, so he bought it for me one night. I have to say, it was awesome! Stuart Townsend did a great job taking over the role of Lestat after Tom Cruise's stellar performance in Interview With The Vampire, and Vincent Perez was extremely good as Marius, Lestat's maker. Marguerite Moreau turned in a wonderful performance as Jesse, the young Talamasca intern who discovers that her Aunt Maharet (Lena Olin) is actually a vampire who had borne a child before being made, and continued to watch over the descendants of her daughter down through the centuries, and Paul McGann was very good as David Talbot, Jesse's Talamasca mentor.

My highest praise for this film goes to the late Aaliyah, who turned in a bravura performance as Akasha, the "mother" of all the vampires. Aaliyah's Akasha was so wonderfully evil and decadent that for nights after watching QotD I found myself half-expecting her to leap out of the floor. Had Aaliyah lived, I think she would have gone on to a wonderful career in movies, and I find it sad that she was taken from us so soon. Rest in peace, girlfriend.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Can you Love and Hate something at the same time.
Review: Well I guess I can because I love this movie...but I hate it too.
Loves...Costumes, Sets, Special Effects, Music, the "Look", The subject matter, and (of course) the Author. I loved all of the music videos and the concert especially. Aalyiah was the perfect Akasha. She played it well.
Hates...Stuart Townsend as Lestat -- He plays a beautiful Vampire but He is not Lestat. He lacks the Charisma and the Look. Tom Cruise did a better Job in IWTV but he was playing a character as viewed through the eyes of another. Nevertheless Stuart is not Lestat. (He did make a sexy vampire rockstar though)
More hates... The story-- I know the book in itself is too long but the movie tryed to tell the story of 2 books in one setting. (the Vampire Lestat and the Queen of the Damned)The plot had holes in it. Characters wound up underdeveloped. The pace of the movie was compleatly off.
One more hate... What is up with introducing the vampires of old at the very end, and leaving out 3 main characters that I love? I know they had to shorten it for time but It took more vamps than what they had to go up against Akasha. And most of the vamps they "awakened" did not look like themselves (namely Armand as a curly blond fop)

So much to love...So much to hate. Well you must decide for yourself. If you adore all of Anne Rice's Books and are very detail oriented, you might want to just rent it. If you are visual and can look past all of the bad and enjoy the good go ahead and click that little "buy now" button because the extras are sooooooo worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Just a great vampire movie
Review: Come on, people or should I just say "come on, Anne Rice fanatics" I realize this movie is lacking when compared to the book but most are. Interview with the Vampire was very easy to turn into a film. Combining two books for Queen of the Damned is another story. I think Stuart Townsend did a wonderful job as Lestat. There is no way Tom Cruise could have played the part even if he was 10 years younger. After watching Stuart in QOD I had to compose myself. He is one hot vampire. I will definitely watch his future films and buy Queen of the Damned.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Give Your Life to My Charms in the Admiral's Arms"
Review: Queen of the Damned is a good looking, but ultimately shallow guilty pleasure. Featuring a gorgeous cast, including Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah, beautiful costumes, and a good soundtrack, this film unfortunately ultimately fails to live up to expectations.

As so many here have said, in the attempt by the filmakers to combine elements of several of the Vampire Chronicles novels into one film, they have butchered the story beyond all recognition. Most tellingly, Anne Rice completely distanced herself from the project. This said, I feel that we must take this film on its own as it is. The story revolves around the awakening of the vampire Lestat from a century-long slumber when he is seduced by the alure of the music of a new age. He sets himself up as a rock superstar and in his desire for fame and recognition, starts giving away vampire secrets in his song lyrics. Thus his music has the double effect of not only enraging his fellow undead, but also awakening Akasha, the Queen of the Damned, the mother of all vampires herself, who comes looking for Lestat to crown as her new king. Lestat and his music has also seduces Jesse Reeves, a beautiful young paranormal investigator who, as she delves deeper into the dark underworld, finds that being the living dead may not be all it's cracked up to be. In the end, there is a final showdown between Akasha and the Ancients and ultimately Lestat finds redemption through his newfound love with Jesse and he is freed from his lingering guilt and the prison of immortality that he has long felt weighing on his soul.

Queen of the Damned fails to really deliver the goods. It comes across as a flashy, fashion soaked music video with tons of style but little real substance. The script is disjointed and comes complete with clips of MTV News spouting cheesy lines like "Goths have started arriving in Death Valley" and a Talamascan rede that urges "Observe the dark realm but be not of it". Annoying plot holes abound also. For instance, who are the Ancients exactly and where did they come from? Why is it after all this time that Marius comes back to defend Letstat? Who are the Talamasca and what is their purpose? These things are never explained. None of the characters are really explored with any depth and thus we have no real involment with any of them. But film is fun for what it is and despite its many shortcomings, can still be a fun guilty pleasure.


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