Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

“Drink from me and live forever”

Vampires today aren’t as cool as they used to be. They glitter and have romances rather suck blood. Honestly, I hate it. I miss the gothic tales of redemption and the horrors it is to be a vampire. Sucks that doesn’t exist anymore.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is a well-made film adaptation of Anne’s Rice novel Interview with the Vampire in which Louis, played by Brad Pitt, gives his epic life story to a young journalist, played by Christian Slater. In his story he opens up about his past life, his maker, and his struggles at becoming a vampire. He overcame problems and troubles with his maker Lestat, played by Tom Cruise, and his “daughter” Claudia, played by Kirsten Dunst.

One thing I loved about this film is the direction that Neil Jordan took. It was so atmospheric. It reminded me of old classic horror films, most notably Nosferatu. One great addition to the direction is the soundtrack and chilling gothic thrills. The music was so loud and very moving to every scene. It strongly supported the thrills and scares that this film had. The thrills were amazing and made the film really fun to watch and made it more appealing.

To me, the film picked up a lot on plot and characters when Kirsten Dunst came in. Dunst plays Claudia, a very young girl who is made a vampire by Louis and Lestat. The story then turned into a gothic thriller, focusing on the relationship of Louis and Claudia. That’s also where the other elements, such as betrayal and loneliness, came in.

Despite the strong cast of characters, the acting was a bit off. Tom Cruise personified his role just as every other role. His seriousness was often unnoticed; I always thought he was trying to be funny. Now with Pitt, he seemed a little too out of it. Louis was the reluctant one. He didn’t want to drink blood or kill people, and Pitt was able to portray that, but he got way into character and often, I thought that he wasn’t such a big character in the film even though he was the main character.

By the way, I loved the costumes.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles was a well made film with a great soundtrack and wonderful direction. However, it wasn’t fully faithful to its original source and I can’t say I liked the acting. I give the film a 3 out of 5 and you can buy it now on DVD.