Interview with the Vampire (DVD, 2000, Special Edition)

This darkly effective horror drama holds plenty of interest, even for those who find Anne Rice's gothic cult novels unreadable.

In contemporary San Francisco, young interviewer Daniel Malloy (Christian Slater) is approached by Louis (Brad Pitt), who claims to be a vampire and tells Daniel his story. A flashback to late 18th-century Louisiana shows Louis as a 24-year-old plantation owner who sinks into a depression after the deaths of his wife and child. He meets the roguish vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise), who grants him eternal life in death. But while Lestat delights in draining his youthful victims, Louis cannot bring himself to do murder and subsists on animals. When he breaks down and attacks a young girl, Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), Lestat brings her back to life, and she becomes Louis's close companion.

Nearly two decades after the publication of Anne Rice's novel, the news that Interview With the Vampire was finally coming to the screen no doubt warmed the hearts of Rice's fans. Yet they were outraged when Cruise was announced for the Lestat role, and Rice herself repeatedly blasted the choice in interviews. After viewing the movie, however, Rice had a two-page retraction printed in national periodicals, and it's not hard to see why. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE is a dark, lush, and reasonably faithful adaptation of Rice's novel. Cruise is masterful; his Lestat is a devilishly appealing but convincingly dangerous creature of the night. Throughout, director Neil Jordan recalls the haunting mix of dark psychodrama and visceral horror he brought to 1984's THE COMPANY OF WOLVES.

VAMPIRE's best (and funniest) moments chart the dynamics of a decidedly non-traditional family unit, with Louis and Lestat playing proud papas to the precocious Claudia. Lestat's desperate assertions of paternal authority--"Never [kill] in the house!"--make for subversive domestic comedy that's only heightened by contrast with the film's predominantly grim (and very gory) tone.

I was not at all interested in anything related to vampire's when I bought the book INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. I wanted to read it after seeing an interview with Anne Rice. She wrote this book while trying to deal with the death of her 6 year old daughter from Lukemia. The book is more about what would life be like if there were no end and her searching for her own answers concerning her daughter' death than vampires( they were the vehicle she used to describe her searching). Her characters are awesome studies. It is no coincidence that one of them is a girl(played by a very young and awesomely acted by Kirsten Dunst) turned into a vampire when she was the age of Anne's daughter. I was mesmerized by it. I like the way it develops and the sympathy she draws from you for these evil laden characters. I was excited to see it brought to film,since I am a fan of film. She was against Tom Cruise playing Lestat at first. I thought the casting was perfect and was pleased with the finished product though it was much darker than the book. I bought this movie to see again because everyone in it are quite a bit older now and it has added information on the making of the film. Opra Winfrey called it the most evil movie she had ever seen. To me it is one of the most disturbing and visually realistic films I have ever seen on this subject made more evil with visual special effects( you feel like praying after you've seen it!). It should be shown every Halloween. If you don't read the book too, you will miss alot of the story. Anne Rice wrote the screenplay but the movie would have been 6 hours long if she had included everything in the book. One of the top 10 horror movies in my opinion.

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt star in Neil Jordan's 1994 horror film
based on Anne Rice's novel. A vampire reveals his life story and
the one who made him. Tom and Brad are great together and this
also stars Christian Slater, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst and
Stephen Rea who are great as well. This dvd has nice picture and
sound plus a couple neat extras. I highly recommend this because
it's one of the best vampire films.

Interview with the Vampire is a movie adaptation of the Anne Rice novels. It was released in 1994 and it is still as incredible of a movie today as it was then.

The movie follows the vampires Lestat and Louis as they come to terms with what they are. The movie is taken from the point of view of Louis telling an interviewer all about his life since he was bitten by the vampire Lestat. It is an awe-inspiring movie and a true thriller.

The number of stars in this movie also provides you to the quality of it: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Bandaras, and Christian Slater are just a few.

5/5

Latsyrhc
Tamarack Collectibles

I remember watching this movie when it first came out as a teenager and loving it. I'm the girl thats not goth at all but manages to be a class act vamp every holloween. I recently started to read the Chronicles and obviously started with Interview. As with most books-turned-movies (Harry potter, Waiting to Exhale etc) I prefer to read the book then watch the film which i immediately purchased on ebay. It was different the second time around.

While the setting and characters are fine I was a bit disappointed by the absolutle lack of material taken from t he book. I understand that to include much of it would make the movie a few days long but it still seems cut off. What about the freakish brainless eastern european vamps or the entire trip there in the first place?

I don't mind Tom Cruise as LeStat. He wouldn't be my first choice but he isn't horrible either. Definately would have prefered Stuart Townsend in this movie as he was super in Queen of the Damned. Brad Pitt is simply sexy and does the aloof/depressed role quite well (see Legends of the Fall). (I thought Armond looked like a cherub.. not Banderas...) My favorite movie character was definately Claudia... the rage! Kirsten does a great job but my only discrepency with that is I was under the impression in the book that she was about 4 years old. I understand getting a toddler to be so serious would be hard but Kirsten looks about 10 in the film and I find it takes away from her ruthless-ness.

If you haven't read the book what you dont know won't hurt you. What is in the movie still makes a complete story. As its own entity its a great movie. The effects are super. Don't pass it up.