Drink From Me And Live Forever (Interview With The Vampire (DVD))

Member Name: carolinesite

Product:	Interview With The Vampire (DVD)
Date:	28/03/01 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has a story and not just a gore film, excellent acting and cast. Brilliant direction and music score

Disadvantages: If you have read the book you will notice some flaws

DRINK FROM ME AND LIVE FOREVER.....

Those were words on the movie poster advertising this film. Tom Cruise, mouth slightly open and showing his teeth, blue piercing eyes looking out from it, and a smaller picture below of Claudia approaching Louis, sat on a lamp lit bench.
The same poster is also used as the cover to the video and the DVD. No colours apart from brown, black and cream, and of course just the blue coming from Tom Cruise’s eye. A haunting picture.

The film is based on the novel written by Anne Rice in 1975, Interview With The Vampire, the first of many books that she calls the Vampire Chronicles. She also wrote the screenplay for the film which was released through Warner Brothers in 1994.
Neil Jordan was responsible for the brilliant directing, which gave the film that extra edge. Brilliant scenery and exquisite furnishings gave the film a realistic touch as to the period (1791), before bringing it up to date.

The casting was excellent. Tom Cruise plays Lestat, a young, fair haired French vampire, with beautiful glaring blue eyes. He plays the part well, with humour, anger, love and feeling. I wouldn’t have chosen anyone else. Anne Rice, on the other hand, was not happy at all with this choice. He was not tall enough to play her character, and she publicly declared it at her book signings!
Another excellent casting choice was that of Brad Pitt. He was chosen to play Louis, a plantation owner that had just lost his wife and child, and who wished for death so much. He played the part excellently, showing love, despair, terror and disgust. When he is lured by Cruise to become a vampire, his eyes become the most gorgeous green colour I have ever seen.
Antonio Banderas plays the part of Armand, the leader of The Theatre of Vampires in Paris. Although he looked very good as a vampire, he did not fit the part that Anne Rice had created, and again she complained of the casting. His acti
ng was nothing special, and I found it hard to understand what he was saying half the time with his strong accent.
Kirsten Dunst plays little Claudia, the child vampire. She is a pretty girl and suited the part well, except I despised this character. She acted like a spoilt little brat and I began to get quite angry with her.
The Interviewer is played by Christian Slater. Not a large part but he played it well. Another character I started to dislike was that of Santiago, played by Stephen Rea. He was one of the other vampires in The Theatre of Vampires, a nasty little vampire, cruel and arrogant.
Music was absolutely fantastic, coming from Elliot Goldenthal. Silent choir type music one minute and then music of terror the next. Very eerie music at other times.

I have seen this movie umpteen times, and never tire. First on the big screen in 1994, then video, and now the DVD (which is disappointing, but I will get to that later). It is in my top 3 all time favourites list.

The film starts with Louis (Brad Pitt), telling his story to the Interviewer (Christian Slater). The story of how he became a vampire.
We are then shown Louis on his plantation in New Orleans, telling us about his wife and child and how he longed for death. A vampire (Lestat; Tom Cruise), takes him up on his offer, luring him into darkness as his companion. Louis finds it hard to accept that he has to drink from humans, and so he ends up feeding on rats for the most part.
Later, he comes across Claudia, still a human child, crying in the arms of her mother who has been taken by the plague. Louis wants to end her pain but is caught drinking her blood by Lestat. He flees. Lestat then takes Claudia back to their home and makes her into a vampire, under the protests of Louis.
The three are companions for many years until the day comes when Claudia demands to know why she will not grow up to be a woman. She is very angry and demands to know which o
f them did this to her. When she finds out who it was, she decides to get rid of him, but Louis advises her not to.

Louis and Claudia eventually leave New Orleans and head for Europe. They search for their beginnings, they search for others like them, they want to know what it is they are. They eventually find others like themselves in Paris, at The Theatre of Vampires. Apart from, Armand, the others do not seem a very friendly bunch, and after they found out what Claudia has done, they take their revenge.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Louis throughout the film, and although there are a few surprises, I am not going to reveal them! Watch it.
Listen out for Guns and Roses at the end, singing “Pleased to meet you....”

This film does have some gruesome scenes, but on the whole it is a story about vampires that are trying to survive.

The DVD.
What a let down, it really is. Apart from the usual languages (and there are only 3), and the subtitles (which is standard on most DVD’s), there isn’t much else!
No Out Takes! No Deleted Scenes! No Interviews! No Nothing!
Well, there is a write up on each of the actors, and it lists other films they have appeared in, but that’s it.
I should have known looking at the price of £12.99. Oh well. Win some. Loose some.

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