Death is no respecter of age.

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2011)

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is directed by Neil Jordan and written by Anne Rice (novel & screenplay). It stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, Stephen Rea and Christian Slater. Music is by Elliot Goldenthal and cinematography by Philippe Rousselot.
Modern day San Francisco and reporter Daniel Malloy (Slater) is interviewing a man named Louis de Pointe du Lac, who claims to be a centuries old vampire..
Monstrous!
It's a completely different vampire movie! Certainly it's not conventional, this is told from the vampire's point of view, we the audience are observing the lifestyle of the undead, hey they have issues and angst too. It's a wonderfully dreamy, visually stunning, movie, the pace is, shall we say, sedate? And it's very rarely scary. However, it's a film that pays dividends on repeat viewings once there's an awareness of what type of film it is. This can be said of the casting as well, where two of Hollywood's then biggest stars, Cruise and Pitt, sprout fangs, wear make up, suck blood and ponce about like dandy fops. It's only really on repeat viewings that it proves to be astute casting, especially Cruise, who not only didn't have the trust of story creator Anne Rice, but many of his hardened fans were casting doubts on him playing such a role. Rice, upon viewing the finished film, and after wanting Julian Sands for the role of Lestat de Lioncourt, ate humble pie and wrote Cruise a letter of apology and praise of his performance.
I've drained you to the point of death. If I leave you here, you die. Or you can be young always, my friend, as we are now, but you must tell me: will you come or no?
Jordan was a great choice of director, his work on the fantasy/fairytale/nightmare that is The Company of Wolves made him the ideal choice. Here armed with about fifty five more million dollars! Jordan crafts a near homo-erotic tale and surrounds it with Gothic splendour. The money didn't just go on the cast, the set designs are sights for sore eyes, from period houses to underground catacombs, the production design is first rate and was rightly nominated for an Academy Award for Art Direction/Set Decoration (it lost out to The Madness of King George). As a story the film remains interesting because new characters are introduced into the undead world and that brings about in-fighting and shifts in tone. Thankfully the two most important characters in this factor get fine performances from the actors, firstly young Kirsten Dunst dominates her scenes like an old pro, no surprise that it would prove to be a career starter for her that shows no sign of coming to a close. And secondly is Antonio Banderas, who is utterly beguiling and elegant as the leader of a Paris vampire troupe. Elsewhere, Rea makes an effective top hatted vampire luvvy, and Slater (stepping in when River Phoenix sadly died) competently portrays the "in awe" reporter for the present day scenes.
The lavish visuals do tend to lend the film towards being style over substance, particularly as the film is 15/20 minutes too long. But it remains a fascinating flip-flop of a vampire movie, and one that's expertly acted as well. 8/10