After walking for some time, the road winding its way out of the valley, you crest the top of the rise. The sun is high in the sky and you get your first real look a the Island from anything approaching a vantage point.
Trees and swampland stretch away before you to the north, with a glimmer of blue in the distance hinting at the deep waters of the surrounding sea. South, back the way you have come you see the deep valley and the imposing cliff of the valley’s southern edge, taller than this side, impenetrable.
To the west is thick woodland, stretching both north and south. The southerly section presumably containing Tavernmaw with the port town of Summerisle itself beyond.
To the east, a strange mist blocks your view, strange because all else is clear in the bright sun.
Looking north again you see a large house in the swamp, the road you are on passes close to it before disappearing into the mists to the east. Perhaps they have a phone, the Inn back in town would be wondering where you are.
You pass no vehicles or people on your walk to the house. A potholed driveway leads to front door and as you approach you see the building is in the Georgian style, a mansion, something the aristocracy of earlier days would call home. It also appears somewhat neglected, the white paint is peeling and several of the window shutters hang askew.
After knocking on the door for several minutes you try the handle and find the place unlocked. The door swings inwards with surprising smoothness and a waft of stale air greets you. You call out but again meet with no response. You search the entrance hall and adjoining rooms, all lavishly appointed, but terribly neglected. You do not find a phone, but you do find a tape recorder on the floor of a plush sitting room. A tape recorder in the middle of a dark red stain.
You press play.
We’re on firmer ground this time, with a film that definitely fits in the horror genre. It’s vampires, what more’s to be said. What is perhaps unusual though is that it stars big name actors, when they’re already famous, well OK, Tom Cruise was already a big name. Brad Pitt, not so much, this was really one of his breakthrough films. Christian Slater plays a minor role but was fairly established by this point and Antonio Banderas had come into the spotlight a year earlier in Philadelphia alongside Tom Hanks. This was also Kirsten Dunst’s breakthrough film.
So OK, one big star, some known actors and some future stars, either way Tom Cruise’s inclusion alone makes this a film that people outside the horror genre would take note of.
So with that out of the way, let’s review Interview with The Vampire.
I first read the Anne Rice novel around 2001 when I was at University. Nothing to do with what I was studying but something which intrigued me. Everybody had heard of the book, it was pretty much up there with Dracula as far as vampire literature went. It was different, these were sexy vampires, long before the likes of Twilight (Caveat, I’ve not seen Twilight, they seem like they’re probably sexy vampires). What I don’t recall is whether I’d seen the film before I read the book, or vice versa. Certainly my memory of the book has faded entirely, especially if you were to ask me what is different between the two, so sadly I’ll not be making any “Well this was different in the book” statements. All I can say is, I enjoyed it enough to move on to ‘The Vampire Lestat’ and ‘Queen of the Damned’, I’m pretty sure I was listening to HIM at the time as well.
Basically I was very into it at the time so there may be some rose, or blood tinted glasses present however I’ll try not to let that influence me.
The film follows the exploits of our main protagonist, Louis, the titular vampire. He is being interviewed by Christian Slater’s character and narrating the events of his life, from 18th Century pre-USA New Orleans to the present day. Along the way we meet his maker, Lestat, and his daughter of sorts, Claudia.
These vampires are social creatures, living among the people they feed on, more socialite than monster, at least on the surface. This allows us to spend time with them in their everyday lives, not just when they’re committing atrocities, allows us to get to know them…and like them…perhaps?
Going back to that cast, let’s talk about Tom Cruise. People love him, or hate him, or both! His personal life is one thing but it’s hard to deny the energy he puts in. This is far from a standard Cruise role, he’s not the hero, not even the main character of the film, but he really makes it. Take Tom Cruise out of the film and it loses so much. His character Lestat is the passion of the film, he is all of the energy, at least until Kirsten Dunst’s Claudia is introduced. I’ll admit to being a Tom Cruise fan when it comes to his acting. He’s that rare big big star who I manage to see as their character and not themselves. He’s no Denzel Washington as Denzel Washington (Sorry Denzel, love you x).
Kirsten Dunst is excellent in what is her first major role playing what equates to two parts, an innocent young girl and a homicidal vampire, but more on that later, she really is superb.
Weakest of the three main characters is Brad Pitt’s Louis. This is early in his career, and Pitt is not a bad actor by any means, but this role doesn’t suit him. It’s hard to see him as a melancholy gentleman full of ennui. Louis’ lack of enthusiasm as a character comes across more as stilted and a little wooden. Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t awful and Pitt would go on to be excellent in a number of films, this just isn’t one of them.
The visuals of the film are beautiful. The initial New Orleans setting gives a fun slant to the usual 18th Century Europe we see, invoking a Voodoo quality to the death and undeath. Be it foggy swamps or beautiful Georgian interiors it all looks great, as do the costumes. A lot of care and attention went into the making of this film, it never looks cheap, it feels solid and real and authentic. Having never been in 18th Century North America it could be entirely wrong in its portrayal, but it looks fantastic, and it has vampires in it anyway so frankly who cares!
This isn’t a scary film. I would say that vampire films generally aren’t, especially when, as in this instance, we are following the vampires as the protagonists. If you enjoy horror for the fear factor then this won’t give you that, but if you love the lore and a general spooky vibe then…well again maybe not even that, it’s an unusual film. It’s more like we are following around a family of psychopaths where one of them feels bad about what they’re doing and they’re all fabulously well dressed, like American Psycho meets Pride and Prejudice. If it wasn’t for the high level of gore this would probably come under period drama.
Score time. I enjoy this film, it’s one that’s easy to watch, nothing too complicated, fun costumes, great moody atmosphere, Tom Cruise giving it his usual energy, same for Kirsten Dunst. It’s let down a little by Brad Pitt, and a rather weak final act, but still, a fun film with lots to enjoy. 4 Scythes out of 5. If you’re looking for a well made, fun vampire film with some twists on the usual lore it won’t disappoint.
**WARNING** SPOILERS BELOW **WARNING**
Welcome to the spoiler section. This is the part where I can bring up some specific parts of the film which I’d like to talk about more, whether they be good, or bad.
Going back to Kirsten Dunst, her role as Claudia is really the most varied of the three main characters. She has to play an innocent human orphan, a young vampire and then ultimately a grown vampire trapped in the body of a child. She switches seamlessly between sweetness itself and a psychopath. More so than even Lestat she seems to revel in the killing, and though it’s ultimately Louis who she gravitates towards, it’s Lestat who she is most like.
The film is surprisingly funny, in a macabre way. Stand out scenes include Lestat dancing with Claudia’s Mother’s plague ridden corpse and Claudia killing her music teacher. OK so they don’t SOUND funny when I write them down, but trust me.
Blood. It’s a vampire film, of course there’s blood, but oh they don’t skimp here. We see a character cut in half with a scythe and in particular the scene where Claudia cuts Lestat’s throat has an enormous pool of blood spreading across the floor beneath him. Yet…it never feels excessive, it’s well done and though we have these moments of extreme violence they’re balanced out by the more subtle moments.
Forgive me another moment of Tom Cruise praise but he isn’t afraid to be ugly here. Most of the time he is his usual self, but at various points of the film he slides towards dishevelled and gaunt all the way to a living decaying corpse. It’s no fault of the film, it is based on the book after all, but when we essentially lose Lestat in last third of the film we feel the poorer for it.
So about that last third. On paper this should be the most exciting part of the film, it has the most action, the most death, and a new location, Paris. Unfortunately…and I feel like I say this a lot, I just don’t really care enough. I don’t care about the adventures of Louis and Claudia. The death of our youngest vampire is well done but I don’t feel sad about it, you feel she deserves it. Who I do feel bad for is the lady who we’ve only just met who shares her fate, it just seems very unfair! Louis never seems in danger, after all he’s telling the story so we know he’s alright, and his rampage of revenge through the catacombs feels impersonal, and again I find myself not really caring.
The thing is I do care about this film, I like it very much, it just loses something for me towards the end.
I must go. I think I see the first tendrils of dawn approaching…
Summerisle 