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.

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Movie Review: Guns, Girls and Gambling (2012)

A Native American artifact is stolen from an Apache casino and now a quirky bunch of Elvis impersonators, crooked cops, blonde haired women, guns for hire and more are on the hunt for it.

I love a good heist movie and I even like a bad one if the story is goofy enough.  This falls into the latter.  There are actually quite a few decent actors in this film and it was cool to see them working together.  Christian Slater totally fits the role as the main character, John Smith, who gets wrapped up in all the silliness that is a movie about Elvis impersonators hunting down a Native American mask.

As in all heist movies, there are twists and turns that I won't get into here, but they do keep you entertained.  At times it looks like things start looking up for John Smith, and then something happens(usually a hit to the face).  Slater's portrayal as the main character was extremely fun and kept the movie going.  His part made me think of his roles from the late 80s/early 90s where his career was at it's peak.

The person who shares a lot of time with Slater is "The Girl Next Door," played by Megan Park.  There was excellent chemistry between the two of them on screen making her a surprise of the film.


If you can get past the first five minutes, you should be fine the rest of the way with this film.  Although I felt most people played their parts the way they were intended, I did not like Helena Mattsson's line delivery.  She's an absolutely gorgeous assassin who quotes Edgar Allen Poe poetry before she shoots people.  Problem is, she doesn't sound confident doing it.  I'm assuming she was going for sensual but there's a crack or something else off in her delivery and it just comes off poorly.

The Elvis impersonators are great with Chris Kattan as "Gay Elvis," Anthony Brandon Wong as "Asian Elvis," Tony Cox as "Midget Elvis"- I mean "Little Person Elvis," and Gary Oldman as "Elvis Elvis."

Powers Booth is "The Rancher" and has a very Boss Hog look going for him.  Dane Cook and Sam Trammell are the Sheriffs.  The film even has Jeff Fahey and Matthew Willig as hit-men with cool nicknames.

Overall, I think that Michael Winnick as writer/director put together an okay film.  It was a lot of fun with cheesy over the top action and goofy lines.  It was definitely better than I expected.

On a scale of up to 5, I'm giving "Guns, Girls and Gambling" 3 Pile Drivers.

You can read more of my reviews here on Cinema Head Cheese and also please check out my blogs, reviews and podcasts on http://maskerpiecetheatre.blogspot.com/

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Movie Review: Playback (2012, Blu-ray)

Directed by Michael Nickles

Starring Christian Slater, Ambyr Childers and Toby Hemmingway

Nearly 20 years after a family is massacred in their home, a group of high school kids decide to do a class project based on the murders. In the process of uncovering information on the event they unwittingly release the evil spirit of the murderer who has been imprisoned in the video tapes of the crime. Once set loose, the spirit hops from teenager to teenager, with the help of hidden cameras in the girls locker room, and students bedrooms, leaving a trail of dead bodies in its quest to find one particular soul to take over. That soul belongs to Julian (Johnny Pacer) and as the movie progresses Julian discovers not only how the evil spirit is able to take over those who watch the images on film but also discovers his own disturbing link to the murders.

Movie Review: Heathers (1988, Blu-ray)

There is a small shelf of movies on DVD and Blu-Ray in my home that sit separately from the rest of them. Admittedly, I have been shrinking my collection of films recently and keeping those that I find are essential or that I cannot get easily from a number of streaming sources… but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the small shelf set aside from the rest, as I’ve said, that holds an eclectic mix of odd little films, genre classics and hard to find ghoulishness. I call that shelf the “How to Make a Me” shelf and those are the films I plan on showing my young niece as her interest and age allow. We’ve watched Dark Night of the Scarecrow and Night of the Living Dead already (not to mention Star Wars… the real one) and we’ll watch the rest eventually. Every title on that shelf helped to shape me into the filmmaker/writer/artist/whatever I am today. They were instrumental in shaping my artistic worldview. Adding to the aforementioned titles, the small (but glorious) group includes Xtro, Bloodsucking Freaks, The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism and many more. Thanks to Image Entertainment, add Heathers to that list. The dark comedy of the 1980s, Heathers reaffirmed for me that the things I found funny were weird… but I wasn’t alone. The anti-Hughes movement began, in all reality, with Heathers and anarchists and dark comedic professionals, like myself, haven’t looked back.

Buy Heathers on Blu-ray