‘Interview With the Vampire’ was originally released as a novel by the late Anne Rice in 1976. In 1994 it was turned into a major motion picture with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the lead roles of Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac. While the film was a huge success at the box office, there were rumours that Cruise had requested that the romantic elements between the two lead characters be toned down. Nearly 20 years on and ‘Interview With The Vampire’ is on the small screen with a new retelling of the classic story, courtesy of AMC.
While taking the general storyline from the source material, this version of ‘Interview With The Vampire’ has changed up key elements to give the story a contemporary spin across 7 episodes (although it should be noted that a second season is on the way). Among the things that are different, the series plays around with the timeline a fair bit and transforms Louis (Jacob Anderson) from a white plantation owner in 1791 to a black pimp in 1910. While there was some commentary about race in Rice’s original book, the series takes the opportunity to further expand on that with Louis’ race frequently being part of the storyline. Some viewers of the show have accused the makers of ‘going woke’ by adding in too much social commentary.
In this series, Louis is telling the story of his life to Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), who is older and ailing, against the backdrop of a pandemic. The narrative jumps from the present day to the past as Louis recounts his meeting with Lestat (Sam Reid), who turned him into a vampire before the two became lovers. The series fully embraces a romantic relationship between Louis and Lestat with things getting rather raunchy throughout the seven episodes. Claudia (Bailey Bass), who was a child in the book, is now a black teenage girl who is taken under the wing of Louis and Lestat and struggles to control her cravings once she too becomes a vampire.
Rice’s world is brought to life pretty well for the series. There’s some dodgy special effects and blue-screen in places, but you can overlook those for a TV show. There are moments where Daniel and Louis are in Dubai and you can tell the view from the windows and the balcony is fake. That is a little distracting at times. Similarly when the series ramps up the violence and the gore, it far too often looks artificial, which lessens its impact.
Much of the series rests on the shoulders of Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson as Lestat and Louis. Their chemistry is believable, and at times electric, and each commits to their roles. Reid gets a much less-rounded character and he decides to play Lestat fairly straight for the most part, which makes him a little two-dimensional. Anderson gets more to go at with Louis, a much more layered character that viewers are more likely to root for. Of course, the series is told primarily from Louis’ perspective so he’s the character you get to know better than any of the others.
The only extra on the Blu-ray release is a featurette from the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel.
‘Interview With The Vampire’ is perfectly watchable if not particularly remarkable. I remember watching the original film as a child and loving it, although I must admit its impact has lessened on me over the years, and while I enjoyed the series, I didn’t think it was as much fun as the film. The two leads are solid enough and there’s enough sex and gore to keep most viewers engaged, but the series doesn’t ever rise to the heights that it could have, which is a real shame.
Cast: Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Bailey Bass Certificate: 18 Duration: 336 mins Released by: Acorn Media International Release date: 6th November 2023 Buy ‘Interview With The Vampire’ now
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