Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire TV Assessment

Plot: A sensuous, up to date reinvention of Anne Rice’s revolutionary gothic novel, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt and Claudia’s epic story of affection, blood, and the perils of immortality, as instructed to journalist Daniel Molloy. Chafing on the limitations of life as a Black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis finds it unimaginable to withstand the rakish Lestat de Lioncourt’s provide of the last word escape: becoming a member of him as his vampire companion.  However Louis’s intoxicating new powers include a violent value, and the introduction of Lestat’s latest fledgling, the kid vampire Claudia, quickly units them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement. 

Assessment: Anne Rice’s vampire mythology has lengthy had a devoted fanbase who chronicle the tales of Lestat, Louis, and centuries of the undead. When the 1994 movie model of Interview with the Vampire debuted, Neil Jordan’s lush adaptation showcased Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Cruise in roles not like any they’d undertaken earlier than or since. Regardless of a standalone sequel (Queen of the Damned), Rice’s Vampire Chronicles has been dormant for a very long time. Now, AMC’s extremely anticipated sequence based mostly on the primary novel within the sequence debuts with a macabre and sexually-charged reinvention of Louis and Lestat that’s much more trustworthy to Rice’s books than the 1994 film whereas including new layers to the story of a vampire reflecting on a century of change. It’s a modernized retelling that restores a whole lot of what was stripped from the earlier model and units the stage for a broader universe of Rice diversifications to come back.

Following the identical core construction because the novel and have movie, the brand new Interview with the Vampire is about within the modern-day and follows Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) as he interviews vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) about his life as a bloodsucker. Transitioning the story to the twenty first century, the pandemic is part of the general narrative whereas the up to date flashbacks shift the origin from 1791 to 1910. Louis can be now a Creole which provides the extra component of racism and bigotry together with the gay subtext of the vampires themselves. Lestat, performed by Sam Reid, remains to be a debonair and foppish aristocrat who’s a relic of the nineteenth century. It turns into instantly obvious from the outset that this model of Louis isn’t the identical forlorn landowner that Brad Pitt performed in his pre-vampire scenes. Anderson portrays his character as a pimp and hustler who works to help his household. When Louis meets Lestat, their relationship begins a lot otherwise than within the film.

The primary two episodes, directed by Alan Taylor (Recreation of Thrones), spend a substantial amount of time introducing Louis and his relations, giving us a extra layered have a look at the character than the sullen and grief-stricken model performed by Brad Pitt. Jacob Anderson lends completely different types to his up to date and flashback performances which accentuates the evolution of his character from man to monster. By ageing up Daniel Molloy, Eric Bogosian is ready to give a extra mature efficiency as he asks questions of Louis who fawns over his love/hate relationship with Lestat. The sequence picks up over the following three episodes because the a long time move and we come to fulfill Claudia, performed by Bailey Bass, who’s an aged-up model of the kid vampire made well-known by Kirsten Dunst. The acquainted relationship between Lestat, Louis, and Claudia is simply as demented right here as ever however someway much more plausible because of the larger funding in growing the relationships on this sequence.

Whereas Tom Cruise was initially panned when forged as Lestat, even Anne Rice got here to reward his energetic efficiency. It’s laborious to think about anybody however Cruise now, however Sam Reid performs Lestat as otherwise as Mads Mikkelsen performed Hannibal Lecter in comparison with Anthony Hopkins. Reid has a deep unhappiness behind his efficiency that echoes the centuries that Lestat has lived his undead existence. His love for Louis is palpable with the 2 males exuding chemistry that was missing between Cruise and Pitt. Reid usually shifts from charming and seductive to horrifying and the intense violence, each verbal and bodily, isn’t spared right here. The blood runs freely on the display screen as do some really graphic kills. The sequence additionally doesn’t skimp on the nudity, one thing I used to be not anticipating from an AMC sequence. This can be a rattling horny sequence and brings again the erotic aspect of vampire tales.

If you’re a fan of the novels, you may be very pleased with the world-building that this sequence does to arrange not solely the world of vampires but in addition Anne Rice’s different supernatural creations. Whereas solely the primary 5 episodes have been made out there for this evaluation, there’s a lush fullness on this world that appears and feels grander than something within the film. Anybody unsettled by the queer undertones of this story is clearly not conversant in the supply materials to which this sequence is indebted and someway manages to enhance upon. Everybody on this present is healthier than within the movie variations of Rice’s novels and topping Cruise, Pitt, Banderas, and Dunst isn’t any straightforward feat. Director Taylor, Keith Powell, Levan Akin, and Alexis Ostrander all make New Orleans of the previous and Dubai of the current look eerie and ethereal whereas by no means making this sequence really feel something however attractive and horrifyingly lovely.

Playwright Rolin Jones serves as showrunner on Interview with the Vampire which accounts for the standard of the scripts. Anne Rice herself, alongside along with her son Christopher, function govt producers on this sequence however didn’t have direct scripting involvement. Whereas Rice handed away late in 2021 and didn’t get to see the completed outcomes, I’m positive she would have been ecstatic with seeing such a trustworthy tackle her novel come to display screen. Even with the substantial modifications to time durations and characters, Interview with the Vampire works much better as a sequence than it did as a movie. The casting is great and each scene is dripping with ambiance. I had felt that vampires have been performed out however Interview with the Vampire proves that these tales are simply as immortal because the monsters themselves.

Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire premieres on October 2nd on AMC.