INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994)
Starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt
The long-awaited movie was a huge hit, satisfying fans of the Anne Rice novel, upon which it was based, and Rice herself, who went public with criticisms of the casting of Cruise as the much-beloved vampire character Lestat.
After she saw his incredible performance, she changed her mind.
With a huge budget, awesome special effects, wonderful music by Elliot Goldenthal and plenty of sexy male co-stars—from Pitt as the protagonist Louis to Christian Slater as the journalist him—the film was a huge hit, particularly with girls. Cruise does a great job capturing the arrogance and ruthless of the vampire Lestat, who bites Pitt and turns him into one of the undead in pre-Civil War Louisiana. There's homosexual tension between the two men, even though they never kiss or get it on. Pitt eventually dumps Cruise for another vampire master, played by Banderas.
The film—like the
novel—is basically a gay romance, with Pitt in the role of the woman, dumping one
abusive man for a nicer partner (Banderas). His sidekick through his adventures is a child
vampire (Kirsten Dunst), so depressed that she can never become a grown woman that she
steals the corpse of one of her adult female victims and stashes it in her room.
Dunst, of
course, would go on to become a teen mega-star in the late '90s and early '00s. When
the two betray Lestat, they piss him off royally and have to really do some
damage then.
It's a fascinating, faithful adaptation of Rice's novel—but doesn't come close to the greatness of Kathryn Bigelow's Anne Rice rip-off, "Near Dark," arguably the best vampire movie ever made. Unlike Bigelow's film, "Interview" isn't scary and doesn't pack much suspense. But it does have a Grand Guingol-style eeriness and goth feel. It's a gorgeous movie and the gore scenes are somehow really disturbing. I actually got sick when I watched this film, which is saying a lot. I see a lot of these movies. Maybe it was something in the water. I dunno. But it was a great flick. It's too bad Jordan hasn't directed other horror films.
A
sequel of sorts was made, without Cruise or Pitt. "Queen of the
Damned" came out in 2002 and was a big hit, although a critical miss. Had
Cruise reprised his role, we really would have had a franchise on our
hands, but he's Tom Cruise, so who could've expected that? (Instead he
starred in some shit film called "Vanilla Sky" that year. Oh well.)
But back to "Interview": It's a must see. In fact, you've probably already seen it already, so this entire interview is a waste of time and space. But if you haven't -- and you're looking for something replete with lavish sets, plenty of bloodshed and a grotesque gay-boy sensuality (and who isn't?) -- you owe it to yourself to see this one.
