My Review of Interview With The Vampire (1994)

 

Written by Anne Rice

Directed by Neil Jordan

Lestat (to Daniel): "Don't be afraid... I'm going to give you the choice I never had."

Having watched two seasons of the show of the same name, it was definitely time to go back and revisit this one. Does it still hold up? You bet it does.

In the present, you've got the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) being interviewed by Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater). Daniel's a bit sceptical about his subject being a vampire, so Louis decided to make a believer out of him.

With Louis, you get his life as a Plantation owner and a man who lost both his wife and child. You've got also his meeting with the charming Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise). Instead of killing Louis, Lestat saw something in the dissatisfied man to make him into a vampire.

Unfortunately for Lestat, turning Louis into a vampire wasn't the best idea. Louis seemed more fond of eating rats than humans and when he did done on humans, he didn't feel good about it. Then there was the addition of orphaned girl Claudia (Kirsten Dunst). Talk about a character who widened that divide between Louis and Lestat.

Claudia might have had Lestat's bloodlust but she felt as stifled by him as Louis did and the two of them did manage to break away from Lestat's control with extreme force. Saying that, we all know how that turned out for them.

It resulted in Claudia's death at the hands of Santiago (Stephen Rea) and Armand (Antonio Banderas) as well as a vengeful Louis. Add a tense reunion with Lestat, Molloy missing the point of Louis's tales and that final encounter between two characters and it played out as well as it had done the first time i watched this movie.

- Anne Rice (who adapted the script from her own book) wasn't keen on Tom Cruise's casting and while I get it, I think he did hold his own as Lestat.

- Due to Hollywood homophobia at the time, Rice had also considered retooling Louis as a female character. Obviously she didn't.

- River Phoenix was originally cast as Daniel Molloy. There's a tribute to him at the end of the movie.

- Thandiwe Newton also had a small part in this movie. Her character doesn't last that long.

- There's a loose sequel called Queen Of The Damned.

- Chronology: 1791 Louisiana to 1994 San Francisco as well as time in Paris and New Orleans.

It's been thirty years since it's release and Interview With The Vampire remains one of the best vampire movies to date. Both Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise on paper feel like such odd choices for Louis and Lestat but they're the driving force behind it's success. Both are on fine form here.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Burned By Paris

It's been a while since I've done one of these but again, a look at most of the recent things I've watched over the past few weeks.

Bridgerton: I enjoyed the first half of the third season and the second half had a lot to live up to. Did it manage to do so? I'd say it actually did as the remaining four episodes not only had Penelope and Colin go full steam ahead with their nuptials along with the very public reveal of Penelope being Lady Whistledown. I do feel the Whistledown was almost too easily resolved with the Queen but the Polin love story worked overall. Other highlights in the second half included Francesca's continued expansion as a character as well as tapping into Benedict's bisexuality. Bring on the next season.

Interview With The Vampire: I'm not sure if releasing the second season during the summer was a wise idea on AMC's part but on the other hand, how fucking good was this season overall? The big flashback episode with Daniel was amazing as was Claudia's death and the deconstruction of Louis and Armand's relationship. While I do think that Lestat could've been reintroduced into the main action quicker, when he did return, it was a much welcome jolt to this season. Santiago made for such a horrible baddie that his comeuppance was truly satisfying and yes, Daniel became a vampire. Great stuff overall.

The Bear: Yes, I watched the third season in two days. While not as good as the first two seasons (I found the opener very sluggish), there was still a lot to recommend. Specifically episodes such as Napkins and Ice Chips, both of which are likely Emmy contenders next year. The guest stars being utilised pretty, especially the likes of Will Poulter and Olivia Colman in the finale but I do feel that Carmy as a character hasn't progressed and some of his scenes with both Sydney and Richie often felt repetitive this season. Not to mention the neverending threat of the restaurant getting closed down. Other than that, it's still worth watching.

The Boys: Season 4 of this superhero show certainly got more political than ever before and to the point where the type of people who often missed the point of Homelander as a character, realised they were the very people being lampooned. Anyways we got two new supes with Firecracker and Sister Sage being strong additions, A-Train showing character growth with The Deep and Black Noir II doing the exact opposite. Homelander got worse, Ashley freaked out more, Ryan flip flopped as did Victoria Newman. As for the good guys, Butcher hallucinated a former comrade, Frenchie briefly had a boyfriend, Kimiko spoke her first word, MM had massive anxiety, Hughie got traumatised repeatedly and Annie had to deal with rivals wrecking her life and her powers being on the fritz. Oh and characters from Gen V popped up. Certainly wasn't a boring season. 

The Jetty: Ah, Jenna Coleman. It's been a while since we last had her on our screen and this four part BBC detective series served as a reminder of how compelling an actor she can be. Ember Manning turned out to be a complicated character, navigating her relationships between her mother and daughter while also trying to resolve a case from her teenage years. I'll admit the flashbacks were a bit confusing to begin with and the podcaster had some heavy handed dialogue in parts but as a series, I thought it got stronger in the second half with a surprise twist that worked well. Could it come back for a second series? I don't see why not.

• Luke Thompson fans rejoice. Netflix have announced that Benedict and Sophie will be the love story of the fourth season of Bridgerton in 2026.
• The Boys fifth and final season is currently being written and will be released on Amazon in 2026. Season 2 of Gen V will premiere in 2025.
• Interview With The Vampire Season 2 will air on BBC2 from August 1st at 9pm. AMC have renewed the show for a third season.
• The fate of Chucky currently remains in flux. An announcement on its future should be soon.
• Filming for the third season of House Of The Dragon's third season has been rumoured for later this year.
• Welcome To Derry will air on HBO as well being streamed on Max as will Dune: Prophecy.
• Kim Cattrall has confirmed she will not be returning for the third season of And Just Like That. However, Mehcad Brooks, Jonathan Cake and Logan Marshall-Green will recur in the new season.
• Maura Tierney has joined the cast of Law And Order.
• Grey's Anatomy will add a new gay male character for it's upcoming twenty first season.
• Tatiana Maslany and Cory Michael Smith will lead the horror comedy series, Nightbeast for Amazon.
• Julia has been cancelled after two seasons by Max.

Second Bites, Polin, Dollish Hell And More

Another monthly round up of some of the shows I've watched in the last few weeks.

Bridgerton: Netflix really won't go down the weekly releases, so they'll compromise for these split seasons instead. Also this show decided to switch book orders and instead of Benedict/Sophie, we've got Penelope and Colin instead. These first four episodes certainly ended on the cliffhanger of a marriage proposal but between then, Penelope has an alternative with Debling and Colin was enjoying threesomes. Other than the Polin romance, there was wedded Anthony/Kate bliss, an interesting friendship with Eloise/Cressida, the arrival of Lady Danbury's brother and the Queen taking an interest in Francesca. I'd say this was a strong first half to the season, which will conclude on June 13th.

Chucky: With a fourth season not yet confirmed, this season chose to end on a massive and rather mad cliffhanger. Even if we don't get a fourth season, Don Mancini will likely get a movie to tie up loose ends. As for the cliffhanger. Well, Chucky escaped death yet again, Tiffany went back into a Belle Doll body, Caroline's definitely beyond saving and Nica walked in on Jake, Lexy and Devon as marionettes. In between all of that, Chucky nearly nuked another country, we had trips into the afterlife with multiple Chuckys and the White House got burned to the ground. I enjoyed this mad season a lot.

Fallout: Video game adaptations continue to be a massive seller and Amazon have struck gold with this one. I've never played the game and I don't intend to but I enjoyed watching the arcs of Lucy, Maximus and Howard the Ghoul throughout the eight episodes that made up the first season. There's a career defining performance from Ella Purnell and she's an excellent protagonist as Lucy. The pacing's a bit slow in parts but it's certainly worth the watch.

Interview With The Vampire: The first season of this Southern Gothic series certainly got a lot of buzz when it was released in October 2022 but I'm thinking the meagre marketing and early summer release might not have helped this second season. A shame because while the first episode was sluggish, I really liked the second episode. Lestat might be relegated to brief scenes for now but it's given Louis and Claudia time to shine in Paris with Armand, Santiago and the rest of the gang. The present day interview with Daniel now aware of Armand's existence certainly upped the tension.

Shogun: FX's lavish reboot of this popular miniseries certainly has become the biggest show of the year so far. The popularity skyrocketed that this went from a one off miniseries to getting a two season renewal with most of the cast slated to return. I have to admit there were times I did struggle with it as the show alternated between Japanese and English but the cast were brilliant, the show looked gorgeous and it's nice to see these type of shows connect with a wider audience.

• Jonathan Bailey will guest as Jack Maddox in the third season of Heartstopper, which Netflix will release in October.
• The fourth and finale season of The Umbrella Academy will be released from August 8th on Netflix.
• Walker has been cancelled after four seasons on the CW.
• Sean Teale has joined the cast of upcoming medical nautical drama Dr Odyssey. The show will air on ABC in the Fall and be paired with 911.
• Travis Kelce recently filmed a guest spot for FX's upcoming detective horror show Grotesquerie.
• And Just Like That's third season has began filming. Rosie O'Donnell will be guesting in the new season.
• The second half of American Horror Stories third season will air in October on FX on Hulu.
• Agatha All Along will premiere in September on Disney+. A series focusing on Vision is also in the works.
• The second season of The Rings Of Power will be released on Amazon from August 29th.
• The Boys has been renewed for a fifth season by Amazon. Gen V will write out Chance Perdomo's character instead of a recast.
• Max have cancelled The Girls On The Bus after one season.
• The Conners has been renewed for a seventh and final season.
• Industry Season 3 will premiere from August 11th on HBO. 

Nevermore, The Gays Are Trying To Kill Me

Well, nearly all the shows I'm covering have some rather murderous gay content as I'm doing my last TV Jumble Blog for 2022. There will be a year overview blog on New Year's Eve though.

Chucky: If ever there was a movie horror franchise that proved it could be as successful as a TV series, it was certainly this one. The first season turned out to be an unexpected delight with Jake, Devon and Lexy making for a strong group of protagonists. Transferring them into a religious school and giving them characters like Father Bryce, Nadine and Sisters Catherine and Ruth along with Dr Mixter and a few different versions of Chucky certainly made the season into exciting television. It wasn't just them though. Tiffany became more unhinged as her fixation on Nica intensified, the returns of Glen and Glenda were delightful to watch and even Andy and Kyle had their moments as did Caroline finally embracing her dark side. This season started with Halloween and ended on a Christmas note and with any luck, a third season will be announced fairly soon.

Interview With The Vampire: Speaking of movies that made a successful television transfer, the first season of this Southern Gothic classic certainly hit all the right notes. The absolute perfect castings of Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Bailey Bass as Louis, Lestat and Claudia to the highs and lows of the trio's turbulent relationship in the seven episode first run was gripping to watch from start to finish. Not to be outdone was the present day interview itself between both Louis and Daniel as the two of them managed to get under each others skin while the reveal of Armand and his relationship with Louis was a fantastic way to set up the second season. Easily one of the best vampire shows we've had since True Blood and pretty damn gay as hell too.

The White Lotus: HBO have certainly been living the high life these last few months. Not only did House Of The Dragon blow up the way they hoped it, but the second season of this show (formerly intended as a one off series) gained a somewhat bigger audience than before. Audiences might have loved the events of Hawaii in the first season but moving the action to Sicily and the slew of new characters along with a returning Tanya definitely did the show the world of good for round two. We had dysfunctional couples such as Ethan/Harper and Cameron/Daphne, a generational look at womanisers with Bert, Dom and Albie, a flustered assistant in Portia, the scheming duo of Mia and Lucia, hotel manager Valentina, Jack the rent boy and some killer gays to boot. This season was a joy to watch from start to finish and I can't wait to see where creator Mike White takes things next season.

Wednesday: Netflix might be a bit too cancel happy for their own good these days but that doesn't mean there aren't shows they really want people to get behind. This delightful take on Wednesday Addams certainly felt like Riverdale met Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina but a captivating lead performance from Jenna Ortega, a decent group of supporting characters along with Christina Ricci as a strong enough baddie and this show was rather enjoyable to watch. I mean there's definitely room for some improvements (notably the CGI) but I definitely feel like Netflix have a hit on their hands with this one so I expect it'll be renewed fairly soon.

• HBO have renewed Industry for a third season. The show also airs on BBC2 for UK and Irish viewers.
• HBO however have cancelled the likes of Westworld and The Nevers as well as removing them from their service.
• House Of The Dragon will begin filming it's second season in March 2023.
• The White Lotus third season will take place in Asia and will explore the theme of death.
• Netflix have cancelled shows such as Warrior Nun, Blockbuster and The Bastard Son And The Devil Himself.
• Mayfair Witches, starring Alexandra Daddario will premiere on AMC from January 8th. It is a spin off of Interview With The Vampire.
• Queer As Folk US reboot has been cancelled after one season.
• Paramount+ have renewed Tulsa King for a second season.
• Billy Magnussen, Jessica Hynes, Isaac Powell and Lolly Adefope are among the cast for Sam Mendes HBO superhero movie themed series, The Franchise.
• The Last Of Us premieres on HBO from January 15th and the next day on SkyAtlantic.
• Henry Cavill will star and executive produce a Warhammer 40, 000 series for Amazon. 
• The Never Game, starring Justin Hartley has been ordered to series by CBS.
• Showtime have renewed Yellowjackets for a third season. The second season will premiere on March 24th.