AKA: Interview with the Vampire : The Vampire Chronicles

Tag Line : Drink from me and live forever

Another film to follow in the wake of the success of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was this adaptation of Anne Rice's novel "The Vampire Chronicle's", which proved to be far more popular than the "Frankenstein" remake that was released in the same year.

The film starts by showing us a young reporter named Daniel Malloy (played by Christian Slater), who's followed a chap named Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) back from a party, as he believes there's more to him than meets the eye (how right he is!).

He confronts the enigmatic pseudo Frenchman at his apartment, and he agrees to be interviewed. However, Molloy gets more than just a great story when it turns out the mysterious person he is interviewing is actually a vampire.

Louis then proceeds to tell Malloy about his former life in France, and how he lost the will to live in 1791 after his wife and child died. But following a chance meeting with a vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise), he discovers a whole new world living life as a vampire.

His story takes us through the ages, showing us how he spent the years living life in the shadows, how he and Lestat were condemned for turning a young 12 year old into a vampire, how they fell out of favour with the vampires in a travelling circus, before finally settling in America.

The film is very moody and atmospheric, and fans of "Bram Stokers Dracula" should find this equally enjoyable. I must admit I enjoyed the film considerably, however I did think it was a bit of a con giving Tom Cruise top billing as the main star, as most of the films screen time was devoted to Brad Pitt's character. Antonio Banderas also makes an appearance, starring as the character Armand.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Other Information.

• River Phoenix was originally cast in the role of the interviewer, but he unfortunately died before filming began. Leonardo DiCaprio was then approached for the part, but it was ultimately given to Christian Slater, who donated all of his earnings from the film to Phoenix' favourite charities.

• The films budget was $50,000,000.

• Director Niel Jordan also directed the terrorist thriller "The Crying Game".

• Author Anne Rice originally wrote the part of Lestat with Rutger Hauer in mind, and was very concerned that Tom Cruise wouldn't be able to do the character justice. However, after she attended a screening of the film she was apparently very pleased with Cruises' portrayal and even wrote a letter of apology to him.

• There was apparently an extended scene where Louis (Brad Pitt) finds the burnt bodies of Madeline and Claudia in one of the earlier test screenings, in which he takes a locket from Madeline's ashes that contains a picture of Claudia in it.

• Cruise was placed on an elevated platform during some scenes to reduce the height difference between his character and the other vampires.

• In order to keep the vampires makeup a secret, tunnels were built between the dressing rooms and the film set so that cast members could move to from the set undetected.

• The Victorian house that inspired Anne Rice's novel on which this film is based is located at 503 Divisadero Street near Alamo Square in San Francisco.

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD

Buy the complete Vampire Chronicles books

Buy the US DVD.

Buy the US DVD box set (double bill).

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Other films in the series.

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