About the movie:
A mix of stories from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (mostly "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of
the Damned") produces this enticing tale of sex, blood and rock 'n' roll. The vampire Lestat
has awoken into a strange new world and decides to rule it and challenge it in the best way he
knows - by becoming a superstar. Curious young acolyte Jesse of the mysterious paranormal
studies group, The Talamasca, becomes obssessed with Lestat, even willing to follow him into
death itself. But there's a new vampire in town, or rather, an ancient and powerful one, who has other
plans for Lestat and the mortal world.
Personal:
While the WriterGroupie has been an Anne Rice fan for decades, she was sorely disappointed by the
first extremely poorly cast and poorly adapted movie version of Rice's Vampire Chronicles
(Interview With The Vampire). She was hesitant to even watch Queen of the Damned out of
concern that it could be even worse (though she couldn't imagine how). But finally steeling
herself, she watched it and was not only NOT disappointed, she was incredibly impressed. THIS
was the adaptation of the Chronicles she'd been waiting for. THIS was Lestat and his world
onscreen. Even the though the first film (Vampire) had the "A-level" budget and the supposedly
"A-List" cast, it was a gross mischaracterization and an offense to this fan to even represent
itself as one of these stories. Though the cast of Damned consisted of upcoming or lesser
known actors including the marvelous Stuart Townsend and the late Aaliyah and though the budget
was much lower than the first film, this movie still managed to evoke the hypnotic fascination
of the stories and characters Rice had created.
Note: although the WriterGroupie feels it is unnecessary to see Interview With The Vampire in
order to enjoy Queen of the Damned, she's including the link below to both films on DVD
for completeness' sake.
|
Release Date: 2002
Credits:
Based on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice
Written by Scott Abbott and Michael Petroni
Directed by Michael Rymer
Starring:
Stuart Townsend as Lestat
Aaliyah as Akasha
Marguerite Moreau as Jesse
Vincent Perez as Marius
Paul McGann as David Talbot
Related Links:
The Official Queen of the Damned movie
website
|
