---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Publicity photos for the film "Interview With The Vampire" are available for WWW (World Wide Web) access via the "Professor Neon" home page at the URL: http://www.vortex.com/ProfNeon.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE A review by Professor Neon November 8, 1994 Starring: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Stephen Rea, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater Directed by: Neil Jordan Produced by: Stephen Woolley, David Geffen Screenplay by: Anne Rice (based on her novel) Geffen (1994); Distributed by Warner Bros. MPAA Rated: R Professor Neon's rating (0-10, 5=average, 10=best): 8.5 Running time: 120 minutes Opens: November 11, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The "buzz" of controversy preceding the arrival of "Interview With The Vampire" has been extraordinary, threatening at times to completely overshadow the film itself. First we hear that Anne Rice, author of the book and the screenplay, was incensed at the casting of Tom Cruise in the lead role, then later we're told that she's very pleased with the results. Rumors circulate that Cruise had wanted certain somewhat "homoerotic" scenes removed, but those rumors are denied. And throughout, the expectations have been rising to a level that any film would have a difficult time meeting. So I was fully prepared to be disappointed. But that's not what happened. "Interview With The Vampire" turned out to be a very good film indeed, one which, I hasten to predict, will be a tremendous moneymaker worldwide. Unlike the recent "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", which suffered to a considerable degree from the inevitable comparisons to the mass of earlier treatments of the well-known story, "Interview With The Vampire" approaches the legends of the "un-dead" bloodthirsty folk from a unique perspective. More of a character study than a horror film in many ways (though the characters being studied certainly have their horrific elements and engage in suitably horrid behavior), the film successfully explores the issues of vampirism with a focus on the varied personalities of the individual vampires themselves. It is quite sensibly suggested that individual differences between vampires can be quite diverse, and that they are as prone to love, hate, jealousy, and other emotions as any living persons. Concerns that Tom Cruise (playing the vampire Lestat) would be unable to appropriately execute the role turned out to be unfounded. It's a fine performance, and in retrospect his casting choice was excellent. Cruise's acting talent seems subject to underrating from time to time, but his work in this film, which to any actor would have been a considerable stretch, should help firmly establish him as a quality performer well able to successfully take on quite diverse roles. Brad Pitt's performance as Louis, the depressed 18th century southern gentleman "recruited" into vampirism by Lestat, is fine but somewhat subdued. But then again the character himself is introspective and ridden with self-doubt, both before and after the transition from human to vampire. The performance by Kirsten Dunst as child vampire Claudia is particularly noteworthy. Her character is in some ways the most chilling of the three, and it was a decidedly difficult role. We learn through Claudia that it's an extremely poor idea to turn a little girl into a vampire; the consequences both to humans and other vampires can be quite unfortunate. When you think of vampire movies you of course think of blood, bites, and special effects. All of these elements are present in "Interview With The Vampire", but they are not the primary aspects of the film. While there are certainly some rather gory scenes, this film is not primarily trying to shock its audience. If you're looking for rivers of blood and mountains of corpses with overwhelming special effects, this may not be the right film for you. If you're interested in exploring what it might be like to become a vampire, and how your original humanity might be affected by such a change, then you'll definitely be intrigued by this movie. It's somehow reassuring to learn that vampires can have their own hassles in daily living (well, daily existing, anyway), even to the extent of forming what director Neil Jordan calls "the ultimate dysfunctional family." No movie is perfect. Some sections dragged a bit, the performances even among some of the primary actors were somewhat uneven at times, and there were plot elements which were not entirely clear. But overall the production values were quite high, the acting was good, and most importantly the film has a totality of emotional impact that is unique, valuable, and impossible to ignore. I recommend it highly. Of course, we're left with the nagging question of how we ourselves would react if given the choice sometimes offered by Lestat--the choice of death or vampirism, the choice he himself never had. By the end of the film, knowing what we now know about the "reality" of vampires, the question takes on an added dimension of complexity. I'd suggest starting to ponder the answer now, well before the question is actually thrust upon you. After all, there's no point in waiting until the last minute... [ Professor Neon ] neon@vortex.com --- Professor Neon's rating for "Interview With The Vampire" (0-10, 5=average, 10=best): 8.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reviews of additional films, and other film, television, and video information, graphics, audio/video clips, etc. are available: By anon FTP: Site: ftp.vortex.com Directory: /tv-film-video By Gopher: Site: gopher.vortex.com Menu item: TV/Film/Video By World Wide Web (WWW): http://www.vortex.com/ProfNeon.html