Wampyrii doesn't live here any more. Play nice y'all. :)
Wampyrii doesn't live here any more. Play nice y'all. :)
Member since:15.09.2000
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Personally I find reading Anne Rice’s work to be something of an arduous task. Not because the stories are not very good, but simply that her style is somewhat overbearing and arduous. Interview with the Vampire is a superb novel however and when it was touted as being translated to the silver screen I had high hopes for a vampire movie which truly explorers the darkness of the soul. Then came the problems. Rumours abounded that Tom Cruise was to play the role of the callous Lestat, Anne Rice herself panned the casting of the lead actors and it looked as though Hollywood had once again turned an excellent novel into an abysmal movie. How wrong can you be. Shortly after the movie was finished Anne Rice, having seen the finished product, had a two page retraction of her previous comments published. The fans, being fans, were still not convinced and even having seen the movie were still sceptical about the movie as a whole, but then does a movie ever match up to the book? You can’t please everyone. To me, IWTV is a superb movie, but then you’ll want to know what its about before you hear why...
In modern day San Fransisco, Daniel Malloy(Christian Slater) is approached by Louis(Brad Pitt) who claims to be a vampire who has lived for hundreds of years and now wants to let his story be known. We flash back to Louisiana in the 18th
century where Louis is a young plantation owner, now alone after the premature death of his wife and child who both died during a difficult birth. Caught in an understandable fit of depression he is courted by a vampire by the name of Lestat(Tom Cruise) who grants him the gift(curse) of eternal life and tries to instruct him in the ways and means of being a vampire. He wants a companion, a protege and has seized upon Louis for his wealth and home, but finds that Louis has no taste for the life of a vampire - not being able to bring himself to even take human life for nourishment. Much to Lestat’s disgust he finds Louis scrabbling around for rats and other small animals for sustenance instead of raping and pillaging as he desires. Louis snaps one day, no longer able to cope with seeing the slaves who work for him tormented and killed by the callous Lestat, burning down the plantation and rendering them both homeless in the big city. However, in his weakened state of mind he attacks and kills a young girl, who Lestat brings back to life again as a vampire creating the ultimate example of the postmodern family unit and setting the scene for things to come...
Directed by Neil Jordan(A Company Of Wolves), IWTV is a dark, lushious exploration of the murky recesses of the soul as depicted through the life and times of a creature of the night whose soul islong departed. Simultaneously horrific and funny, IWTV is a movie full of great contrasts and thought provoking events. When Lestat tries to assert his ‘paternal’ authority over Claudia "Never in the house" (kill that is) you can not help but smile but the events are far from humourous. It is these contrasts which occur consistently and the exploration of 'family values' within the undead trio which make this movie truly interesting.
The character development here is also outstanding in a genre which all too often ignores such matters in favour of shock tactics. Claudia is a woman trapped eternally inside a child's body because she can never grow old. She has lived longer than any non-vampiric female has ever done yet still looks like an angelic child - with a woman's desire yet never to be taken seriously by anyone. She loves and hates all at once, emotionally twisted and wrecked. Lestat needs respect and followers because he is lonely, trapped within his own eternity and unable to break free. His is a leach in the purest sense of the word, sucking the blood from his victims and drawing life from those around him. he needs Louis to repect him and is frustrated by his failure to do so. Lestat is an extremly weak character who must feel strong in the eyes of others, unable to die, yet unable to exist without others around him. Louis is trapped within his vampiric body. He despises what he has become yet can not break free because of his paternal love for Claudia for whom he feels eternally responsible for. It is the character of Louis which develops the most throughout the movie, from the weak, pliant character at the beginning, to the worldy wise figure towards the end. Whereas Lestat never learnt from his years as a vampire, Louis makes sure that he does and uses his knowledge well.
All character performances in this movie are superb. Tom Cruise is purest evil as the vampire Lestat, damning Rice's condemnation of his casting in the role. He is at once sensuous and dangerous, a creature of the night with all the charms of the devil. This is one of his finest acting performances and even if, like myself, you are not a big fan of his previous work, then you can not help but be won over by his performance here. Brad Pitt, again proves what a talent he is here as well. I had thought, when looking at the cast list before seeing the movie that the two were cast in a cynical ploy to lure Anne Rice's army of female fans to the cinema screens, but obviously I was completely wrong. The pair play off against each other perfectly here, both strong characters locked in a battle of wills, balanced perfectly by the diminutive figure of Kisten Dunst as Claudia, who is perfecty adorable and yet sugar laced with arsenic in her role. Antonio Banderas also appears later on, suitably haughty and regal as the ancient french vampire Armand and all in all the casting here is simply perfect.
All this is topped off by some superb direction, camera work and costumery to make an absolutely fantastic visual experience. Most of the action takes place at night as you would expect, with rain swept streets, shadowy alleyways and tendrils of mist everywhere setting the scene for the actio nto take place perfectly. It is a fantastic movie, and one which I can not recommend highly enough. Someof the character development is lost from the book, but that is always the case as it is impossible to include everything unless you are going to have a 5 hour movie.
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Production Year: 2005 - Horror - Director: Eli Roth - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Shane Daly, Lenka Vlasakova, Eythor Gudjonsson, Jan Vlasak
IMHO, you've completely connected with the movie and the book, I can see that you clearly understood all of the transitional aspects between the writing and the adaptational screenplay. I empathised with every point you made and completely agree. Before the film was released I wondered if a film audience would really be able to appreciate things from louis' prespective seeing as he isn't as lively a or what is generally seen as an 'attractive' character in comparison to Lestats own charisma and magnetism. However, Brad did a marvelous job of portraying and embodying Loius' forlorn beauty and sorrow filled, sombre soul yet inflamed with fury and passion when angry - he was very impressive. My only qualm was with a certain aspect of Tom's character portrayal, whereas Pitt's was flawless, the only thing (I thought) missing from Lestat was that on occassion he is somewhat naive, boyish and one can really see that he 'died' at a very young age and it lingers. Other then that I applaud Cruis on a very fine performance where he carried off Lestats decadence and recklessness perfectly.
Ok - I'll stop rambling now lol :) It was a very satisfying read, thank you.
All the best
Lady of Sorrow
When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in this adaptation of ... more
Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicised objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she sa...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in this adaptation of ... more
Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicised objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she sa...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The undead are among us and livelier than ever when Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and a talented ... more
group of young-bloods star in 'Interview With The Vampire', the spellbinding screen adaptation of Anne Rice's best seller that's 'one of the best films of the year...
Advantages: Excellent for horror fans as well as non horror, excellent acting, music score and direction Disadvantages: If you have read the book you will find flaws
Advantages: Excellent for horror fans as well as non horror, excellent acting, music score and direction Disadvantages: If you have read the book you will find flaws
![Interview With The Vampire [1995] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78234942.jpg "Interview With The Vampire [1995] [DVD]")
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