Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Elevator Pitch: In modern day San Francisco Louis de Pointe du Lac, who claims to be a vampire is interviewed by a reporter. He describes how he became one of the undead, when despondent due to the deaths of his family in 1790 New Orleans, and is induced into becoming a vampire by Lestat, although he is reluctant to feed on humans. In order to improve Louis’s life (or death) Lestat turns a twelve year old girl, Claudia, and they become a family. Years pass, Louis remains unhappy and Claudia is frustrated by the fact that she will for ever remain twelve. The two hate Lestat, and manage to kill him, they think, subsequently embarking on a voyage to Europe, in search of other vampires. They find some but their problems are not over.

Content: There were objections to the level of violence. In one scene at “The Vampire Theatre” in Paris, a young woman is stripped naked and then killed by the vampire leader, the audience, except for Louis and Claudia, thinking it is all show. There is a lot of biting of necks, and slightly more disturbing, blood letting from wrists.  Claudia kills a lot of people as well as playing the piano and dressing stylishly. The whole show is extremely baroque.

A View: This outing was quite well liked by the critics and made money despite the considerable estimated budget. The Art Direction was Oscar nominated and won the BAFTA, but Pitt and Cruise won the Worst Screen Combo in the Razzies. If we were being objective we would see that this is just a tale of the progress of the trio over many many years, with few problems to overcome. Even though they have to keep killing people there seems to be no consequence, and no-one is hunting them. So probably if you are a vampire fan worth the cost of a download, otherwise, give it a miss.

Additional Info: Anne Rice objected to the casting of Tom Cruise as Lestat, who even in 1994 was a bit star, but afterwards admitted that he had done a good job.