Interview With The Vampire is one of the best films I have ever seen

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2002)

***Spoilers likely***
Interview With the vampire is one of the best films I have ever seen and thats high praise considering Anne Rices original books are my favourites books of all time.
Although the story is not totally faithful to the book it certainly manages to capture that dark romanticism and even eroticism the book conveys.

One word of warning to potential watchers, there is undeniably a homo-erotic undertone to this film so if you don't like that kind of thing stay clear.
Lestat is captured almost perfectly by Tom Cruise. He manages to convey the vampire's hidden insecurities but also his confidence, vitality and sensuous pleasure in his existance as one of the undead.
Brad Pitt's Louis is very faithful to the book character. His sadness and pain is clearly seen in Pitt's eyes and his relationship with Kirsten Dunst's Claudia is wonderful and moving to watch. Dunst's performance is e ye opening and terrible. The trauma felt by a woman trapped in a child's body could not be any better presented.
Christian Slater, although not what I pictured Daniel Malloy to be does the part proud as does Stephen Rea in the role of Santiago.
The only problem I have comes from Banderas' portrayal of Armand. Although he does it extremely well, capturing Armands power and grace and seductiveness I cannot meld the image of Banderas' black haired man to the beautiful 17 year old Russian that Armand is in the book.
But the relationships between the characters are filled with the tension and passion that comes to the fore in the book, although I would have liked to have seen interaction between Lestat (Cruise) and Armand (Banderas) as these two are very dynamic personalities. Overall the film is excellent. The set and score are haunting and although die hard Anne Rice fans might find fault with the ending in particular it would be hard to create a better interpretation of her novel. I fell in love with this film and it left me with a wrenching feeling deep in my gut which I only get on the rare occasions a film truly moves me.