Interview with the Vampire

18123 min

Controversial at the time of its production for the casting of Hollywood superstars Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Anne Rice’s queer revisionist vampire story, Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire has become essential viewing for vampire and gothic horror fans, alike. Set against the sultry and sensuous backdrop of New Orleans, the film chronicles the nocturnal undead lives of vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, his maker Lestat de Lioncourt, and their vampire child Claudia. Weaving together the aesthetic flourishes of quality period drama, with the delights of gothic romance and the gory violence of vampire horror, the film invites the audience to luxuriate in their world while daring us to sympathise with these monstrous creatures. Cruise delivers a career-defining role as Lestat, playful and monstrous in equal measure, while Pitt embodies the angst of the reluctant vampire, tormented by feelings of self-loathing and guilt. In an outstanding early performance, the 12-year-old Kirsten Dunst is simultaneously ferocious and tragic as Claudia, the child-vampire, cursed to face immortality stuck in the body of a child and desperate to break free. Together the vampires are trapped in a destructive triangle of love, passion, hate and violence. Featuring additional stellar performances from Stephen Rea, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater alongside Cruise, Pitt and Dunst, the film is a landmark of Hollywood prestige horror cinema.