Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
I went to see this with my sister and friend on a weekday afternoon, there were a few people there in the theatre with us. We suspected it to be a pretty good film, and walked out of the theatre liking the film and felt we got our money’s worth. The cast was loaded with major or future major Hollywood players. Christian Slater did the acting for the role of Daniel Malloy for free and gave the money he would have earned to River Phoenix’s favorite charity. Originally River was selected for the part of Daniel Malloy but tragically died. Christian’s late friend was a lost talent and taken too early from this world.
Neil Jordan directed this film originally based upon the writings by author Anne Rice a New Orleans native. She also did the screenplay as well for this film. Neil Jordan has directed other features such as the controversial The Crying Game (1992).
You will see Brad Pitt playing a vampire named Louis de Pointe du Lac and is the leading character in this story. He is accompanied by Tom Cruise playing a vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt. Also keep your eyes open for a very young Kirsten Dunst who plays Claudia. This was her early breakthrough role which gained her popularity. To see all three of these actor’s as vampires is worth the watch itself. But, there is an interesting storyline which surrounds them as well.
Also, keep your eyes open for Thandie Newton playing Yvette. The cast is rather small, but there are other appearances by Antonio Banderas as Armand, Stephen Rea as Santiago, Virginia McCollam as the Whore on Waterfront, John McConnell as the Gambler, Mike Seelig as the Pimp, Bellina Logan as the Tavern Girl, Lyla Hay Owen as Widow St. Clair, Lee E. Scharfstein as the Widow’s Lover, Indra Ové as the New Orleans Whore, Helen McCrory as a Whore, Monte Montague as Plague Victim Bearer, and Nathalie Bloch-Lainé as the Maid.
Overall, I think you will find this to be quite an entertaining film, if you like horror films and films with narrative sequences in them you will certainly like this. The story is told in a number of flashback scenes which are fittingly done. This is a vampire tale you have to watch!
I just returned from the theater from watching this with my wife and mother, it was good and worth a trip to go out and see it. The film did drag along a bit towards the end, if they trimmed down some of the scenes it would have worked well. I understand though that the books had a lot of story in them, and it’s tough to sometimes fit everything in on the silver screen.
We had to wait in line to get into the theatre, and ended up sitting in the 4th row close to the screen, it filled up pretty fast. At one point a man yelled out: “Focus!” then someone else yelled out: “Chill out dude!” the start of the movie was a bit blurry; I rushed out the lobby to get them to fix it. All was not lost! (chuckle) Anyways, when I returned, I noticed looking around most of the audience was filled with small children and their parents. But the movie must have been good enough, because it held their attention and they kept them pretty quite.
Now about the movie, it was filmed very well and the cast did a fine job in each of their roles, it must have been old hat to keep stepping into the shoes of these characters. We basically watched these children grow up on the screen, and they have gotten better in their acting skills. I understand at least one more installment for the Harry Potter series is in store for the fans. So, more Harry Potter mania is coming. A few new faces are in this one like Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange and Dave Legano as Fenrir Greyback. The actor Jim Broadbent debuts as Professor Horace Slughorn. They all seemed to do well in their roles, and fit into the Harry Potter world. Love is also in the air again – with little teenage romances blossoming on screen between a few of the cast members. It brought a lightness to the darkness of the main story, and I thought the scenes were fairly funny. Of course Lord Voldemort is at it again, this time we see more of the beginning of how he turns to the dark ways, and started practicing the ways of evil magic. It was pieced together well in the editing room, and the camera work was great, they had a good DP (Director of Photography) I thought named Bruno Delbonnel. I recommend catching this one while it’s out in the theaters grab your seat today especially if you like sci-fi/fantasy films.
