Great Film: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
Obviously misunderstood
Someone said that this movie was too cerebral for horror fans who live for
drivel like "From Dusk 'Till Dawn", and too much of a horror movie for
people who look (or at least pretend to look) for meaning in movies --
pseudo-intellectuals. That person couldn't have been more correct. I'm not
a
horror fan, I'm not an Anne Rice fan...I'm not even fond of Tom Cruise,
Brad
Pitt, and Antonio Banderas. But Interview With a Vampire was a movie that
excelled my expectations.
I refused to see this film for 3 years because I believed it would be what
I
perceived it to be: glitzy Hollywood garbage geared toward adolescent
girls
with posters of the 3 main actors all over their walls. I finally broke
down
and rented it, and I was astonished by the incredible performances
delivered, the thrilling dialogue and the way it was delivered by the
actors, the scenery, the plot, the score...everything. I never thought
that
Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise could act, but their performances made their
unbelievable characters a reality. However, the true star of the film was
Kirsten Dunst. At 12 years old, this girl was able to hold her own against
her co-stars, and often stole the scene (particularly the incident in
which
Claudia tries to cut her hair and subsequently Lestat discovers the corpse
in her bed.)
You don't want to look for the meaning of life in this movie. It's a
story.
The plot is basically the history of a vampire's life, and I don't
understand why people are compelled to trash a movie because of its
simplicity. Look at the title. That's all it is, and if you expect more
you're setting yourself up for disappointment. It's not the deepest of
movies, that's why it should be enjoyed for the intense dialogue and the
great production that went into it. Others trash the movie because of its
homoerotic undertones. This aspect is so fleeting that it's ridiculous to
dwell on it, and if you dwell on such an insignificant aspect of the movie
then you were obviously looking for something to bother you. One
additional
thing: to even suggest that the violence in this film could be responsible
for incidents such as the Columbine High School killings is beyond
moronic.
This isn't the greatest movie that has ever been made, it's certainly not
a
complex analysis of life, or a parable with a moral dictating the
enjoyment
of life. It's a brilliantly produced gothic tale of a vampire, nothing
more
and nothing less. In respect to the book, I've never read it and I don't
particularly care to read it. But for all of you who have been complaining
about the movie not living up to the novel, here's a clue that might prove
useful in the future: the book is ALWAYS better than the film. Don't waste
your time complaining about something that is understood.
Cast
- Daniel Malloy played by Christian Slater
- Lestat De Lioncourt played by Tom Cruise
- Claudia played by Kirsten Dunst
- Louis De Pointe Du Lac played by Brad Pitt
- Whore On Waterfront played by Virginia Mccollam
- Gambler played by John Mcconnell
- Pimp played by Mike Seelig







