Interview with the Vampire - DTS

Rating:
Summary: Everyone must see this movie
Review: This film is the best vampire movie EVER! It's beautifully acted, with a nothing short of brilliant performance from the young Kirsten Dunst and a surprisingly un-wooden Brad Pitt!
'Interview With The Vampire' is the story of a vampire called Louis (Brad Pitt) who is finding eternity somewhat wearing. He decides to tell his story to a young reporter (Christian Slater)-the whole story. Of how he came to be. He is visited by a charismatic vampire called Lestat De Lioncourt (a very handsome Tom Cruise), who gives him the gift, or bane, of immortality, but at a price - he must drink blood. Louis cannot stand killing innocents, and instead feeds off rats.. until he takes a young child called Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) in a moment of grief after watching Lestat torture a young woman. Lestat procedes to make a vampire out of her, and together they live as a happy family. Until the day that Claudia realizes she will never grow up and becomes extremely angry. Over the course of the story, they also encounter an actor vampire Santiago (Stephen Rea) and his 'leader' Armand (Antonio Banderas) and their legendary 'Theatre des Vampires'.
The story is flawless, as the screenplay is written by none other than Anne Rice herself, so it's very close to the book, unlike it's successor, 'Queen Of The Damned'. It is a brilliant film, and I urge you to watch it, even if you aren't into all things vampire.

Rating:
Summary: Existentialism and the Reluctant Vampire
Review: This would have to be one of the better vampire films.

Anne Rice authored the famous novel over a relatively short time after the tragic death of her daughter. In this case, the creative process aided the grieving process and turned her into one of the most read gothic novelists in twentieth century history.

Rice's screenplay is true to form, and the production value of the film is first rate. Before the film's release, there was a lot of noise regarding the casting. When Tom Cruise heard about the film, he lobbied hard, contacted his influential connections, and pulled a few strings, landing the coveted role of The Vampire Lestat. All the noise came from Anne Rice, because she didn't want Cruise to play the part. In so many words, Anne believed he was not capable of playing the charismatic vampire, as the character of Lestat is a complex one, requiring a certain cosmopolitan class and aplomb. Cruise won the role anyway as writers in Hollywood, as is well known, hold little power. In the end, however, surprisingly, Cruise managed to put in one of the best performances of his career. Lestat came to life and the film has slowly turned into a cult classic that can be viewed time and time again.

Rice's novel and the screenplay are exceedingly clever because the vampire is used as a metaphor for the human condition. The character of Louie is a representative of everyman - angry at the seeming absurdity of our existence. He loses his beloved wife and child and falls into a deep grief, hates the world and wishes only to die. The Vampire Lestat, in search of a companion out of his own loneliness, offers Louie a new lease on life...or death. Emotionally and physically at rock bottom, Louie accepts Lestat's offer of immortality and takes the plunge. Louie becomes a reluctant vampire because killing, he believes, is against his nature. This is the human condition: our moral inclinations and our basic instincts constantly at war. Louie rejects his new nature as a killer, however, he's no longer human - he now exists in no-mans land neither human or vampire, but as Lestat constantly reminds him, he must make a choice. This is existentialism in its purist representation, that there is no such thing as "human nature", and what we are, and what it means to be human, (or vampire) are always a matter of decision - there's no correct choice - only choices. In other words, man is nothing else but what he makes himself. Louie made a choice to join the dark side and then could not take responsibility for that choice, hence his angst about his true identity. Brad Pitt put in a believable performance as the reluctant vampire as we could feel his angst, his frustration concerning his new identity.

This is one of those films that can be pulled off the shelf occasionally and enjoyed, no matter how many times it's seen. This is an excellent story from an entertaining as well as philosophical point of view.



Rating:
Summary: I want to suck your blood!
Review: Or, as Dracula said in his Transylvanian accent, "I vant to suck your blood!"

What's a vampire movie without that line? Would it have killed Cruise or Pitt to have said it???

Yeah, this is still a good movie. The acting and story are decent enough...but I still think they lost a little something by not having at least one vampire say, "I want (vant) to suck your blood!"

I just don't know what these film makers were thinking...