Interview with the Vampire (1994)

One of my all time favorites.

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

I was pleasantly surprised by Interview with the Vampire. Aside from the semi-Twilight-vibe, it's actually a decent drama. And Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst give some excellent performances. I'm not saying I'm an Anne Rice fan or anything, but it's a well-made vampire movie.

If you enjoy dark, angsty, well-dressed, Gothic homoerotic vampire movies then you will probably like 'Interview With A Vampire'. I don't think this was a bad movie at all, but I was expecting more given the current 7.6 rating and good reviews. It didn't seem very original and had little true substance beneath the good performances given by Brad Pitt and, especially, Kirsten Dunst. It felt like it could've been very good if it had been more subtle with it's messages and spent more time on real character development. No one in this movie seemed like real people and behaved very unrealistically. They are so dramatic they aren't relatable anymore. I get this is a vampire movie, but still. I can't say exactly what my problem with this movie is, but it might be that it simply isn't my kind of film. Good movies are, in my opinion, supposed to have more to them than this. I haven't read the book, but I stand by my first description. Dark, angsty, Gothic, and homoerotic. That's about it. (But Kirsten Dunst was very good. Watch it for her)

I'm always down for a horror film that switches up the conventional tropes of the genre. Interview with the Vampire certainly does that, but it also fails to capture one's undivided attention for a full 2 hours.Coming out in 1994, this was the very beginnings of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's rise to fame, and that plays into a lot of the fun with the film. Cruise plays a seasoned vampire, Lestat, who seeks out a partner in crime, Brad Pitt, to be the next vampire along his side. Pitt had dealt with plenty of loss in his life and so a step away from his normal life and into the immortal life isn't the worst thing. But Lestat's harsher ways of living prove to be too much for Pitt's 'Louis' character. And there you have much of the first half of the film.It's pretty weird watching these established actors back when they were obviously taking on more risky roles such as these. I can't see either of the two taking on a vampire film now, so I guess that adds to the uniqueness of this film. There's plenty of bloody fun to be had with the film. There aren't a ton of scares, which is disappointing, but there's no shortage of obscure Cruise monologues and slasher twists.With that said, the film takes an unexpected turn about half way through, and the rest of the story falls of the rails because of it. So much so that the first and second hour feel like completely different stories. Mixed in you get a touching arc about Louis taking in a young Kirsten Dunst, who is surprisingly great (at only 12 years of age), but it's not enough to overcome a really weak second half.To me, the film is at its best when it explores the dynamic between Louis and Lestat, and lets Cruise and Pitt go crazy with dialogue and peculiar actions. Once we dive deep into why there are vampires and Antonio Banderas' character, the film falls flat.+Cruise & Pitt playing strange/creepy vampires+Bloody fun first half-Flat second half5.8/10

This film opens in modern day San Francisco as Louis, a man claiming to be a vampire, starts to tell his story to a journalist. His story begins in New Orleans in 1791; Louis is a wealthy plantation owner but he can't get over the loss of his wife and child a year previously. He deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations but rather than getting himself killed he meets the vampire Lestat. Lestat turns Louis into a vampire but he seems no happier and can't bring himself to feed on people; instead he survives by drinking the blood of rodents; something that disgusts Lestat. Eventually he feeds on the housemaid before heading to a plague infected area of New Orleans. Here he bites the young Claudia, Lestat then turns her into a vampire. Louis treats her like a daughter but as the years pass she has difficulties accepting the fact that she will always be a child and eventually takes her revenge on Lestat for turning her into a vampire. Louis and Claudia then travel to the Old World looking for other vampires; what they find isn't what they hoped for.Vampire films usually centre on those seeking to destroy them of their potential victims so it is interesting to see the story told from the point of view of a vampire. Brad Pitt does a fine job as the emotionally tormented Louis and Tom Cruise is impressive as he plays against type as Lestat. Young Kirsten Dunst is great as Claudia; beautifully portraying the girl who is doomed to never grow up. The story is told in an interesting way and the old New Orleans setting provided plenty of atmosphere. As one would expect from a vampire film there is some bloody violence although less than one might expect. The action is important but not as important as the characters and looking at the question of what it means to be a vampire. Overall this is an impressive film that fans of the vampire genre are likely to enjoy.