A Binge too Far #44 - The Grim Aesthetics of the Interview with the Vampire duo (1994 – 2002)

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

Based on a novel by Anne Rice that is beloved among Goths and the like, these two adaptations may be of interest to teens that like gorgeous vampires, but it is of little appeal to anyone else, especially fans of the real cinema of the macabre.

 

Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

 

Set in 20^th century San Francisco this is about beautiful vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) who gives an interview to Danie Molloy (Christian Slater) that results in several flashbacks that go as far back as in time and place as 1791 Louisiana, exploring numerous blood-drinking situations.

 

This massive $60 million production by The Geffen Film Company was directed by Neil Jordan [The Company of Wolves (1984)] and is featuring an outstanding cast of beautiful people (aside from the aforementioned players it also includes Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, and Kirsten Dunst). It was distributed by Warner Bros and became a box-office phenomenon as it grossed $223.7 million. It was nominated for a couple of Oscars too, because the Academy must have seen something in it that I don’t. All I see is endless boredom beyond belief.

 

Queen of the Damned (2002)

Queen of the Damned (2002)

 

The well-known ancient vampire Lestat (Stuart Townsend making a ridiculous Ville Valo impersonation, but at least he is sexually appealing to alternative girls, I imagine) makes a return to the modern world – in a Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) fashion, and we all know how that went – in the form of rock star that is fronting an awful band that sounds like a zombie version of Korn. And while it is said in the film that he has become bigger than Elvis (despite hanging out in the usual small Goth clubs and bars) he finds trouble in the form of the titular vampire (Aaliyah, who is also sexy enough to appeal to male audiences, but nowhere near looking anything exceptional enough to be certified as the leader of all vampires by any means).

 

Based on the third novel in The Vampire Chronicles series penned by Anne Rice, this loose sequel to the sleeper hit of the 1990s gets the emo upgrade (do you remember them?) from director Michael Rymer (better known for his television work) and is full of badly dated CGI and equally awful music that includes terrible acts such as Disturbed and Static-X. It didn’t do much at the box-office as it grossed a mere $45.5 million on a $35 million budget, but it resonated well with kids of that era’s style that still cherish the film as something special, which is definitely not.

Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast 
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

Movie Review: World War Z (2013, Paramount)

 ...good grief, George!!! In the 45-year aftermath of the macabre and gruesome concept introduced in the classic 1968 horror chiller, "Night of the Living Dead" (...as well as the countless incarnations of such, which have prolifically ensued, over the years...in movies, television and books), look what that concept has wrought...look what it has come to. What was once a unique, albeit graphically visceral, threshold-testing cinematic reinvention of definition (...the 'zombie'...once merely relegated to representation by one whose death is feigned, who is redrawn from the grave...thought still dead, but very much alive...and who is herbally enslaved to a master of the dark rituals of Voodoo.....now, a wayward viral infestation...origin varying, depending upon the story...whereby although the infected also rise from the dead, they instead are mindlessly frenzied, decaying, independently operating re-animations, driven to that one primal instinct, which indelibly remains in the fading vestige of their minds...to eat...or horrifically rather, to eat human flesh), has since become a world-wide, commercially recognized institution...like Twinkies...like Walmart...heck, like the very megastar of the following film to be reviewed herein, Brad Pitt. We've definitely come a long way, since genre fav George A. Romero's genre-changing horror classic...indeed, even since the deliciously over-the-top, stomach-churning 'spaghetti' horror days of Fulci, Bianchi and Mattai...so much so, in fact, that the 'zombie' concept in recent productions, like AMC's "The Walking Dead", seems to have taken an 'oh-by-the-way' back-seated backdrop, in favor of the suspense, tension and high-drama of having to survive in the midst of such apocalyptic turmoil. In a surprisingly tame and UN-visceral way, for better or for worse, such can be said for the recent entry in the well-worn horror sub-genre...the internationally intriguing, spansive and epic-sized apocalyptic "World War Z"...