Featured Film Review
'Queen of the Damned' 2002 Warner Brothers starring Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah, Lena Olin, Vincent Perez and Marguerite Moreau. Length: 1hr 41 mins.
Lestat, a vampire created in the 18th century, has spent a century sleeping. With preternatural hearing, he discerns the sound of an electric guitar, which sparks a remembrance of the passion heard in a gypsy violin back when he was first made. He rises from his hibernation and tracks down the band. Still angry with earlier betrayals and abandonment, he breaks every rule in the vampire code of survival, by becoming the band's front man and blatantly marketing himself as a vampire.
International stardom brings this flaunting of what he is to the attention of vampires everywhere. His lyrics dare them to track him down and attempt to kill him. But this very fact of openness awakes the oldest vampire of all, Akasha, Queen of the Damned, who has slept for over a millennia and once ruled openly in a reign of terror. She wants to reign again with Lestat at her side, while the rest of vampire world moves in on the band itself.
I have read a good many reviews of this film which are extremely negative. Cheesy and badly acted is the main consensus, but I beg to disagree. It's stood the test of time with me and I still don't tire of watching it now.
Yes, there are elements missing that are in the books, but this amalgamates two lengthy novels into just over an hour and a half worth of film. I've even watched the director's commentary version now and listened to the reasoning behind the amendments and cuts. It all made sense to me.
One of the most prevalent criticisms really annoys me. It is the charge that they all have non-American accents, with the assumption made that the actors are trying to ape the Hammer Horror Dracula speech. May I remind these critics that Lestat is French, Armaud is Russian, Marius and Pandora are both Romans, while the rest of the ancient vampires are Egyptian. They have all spent between 300 and 2000 years travelling the world. Amongst the younger vampires, who by the very narrative of the story have smaller roles, then there are English and American accents aplenty. I would be the one raising eyebrows if they all sounded like they came from Hollywood.
I love the books and I have enjoyed both of the films which they have spawned. However, I prefer 'Queen of the Damned' to the earlier 'Interview with the Vampire' because of the dark Gothicism. It is inkeeping with the tone of the books themselves. The soundtrack is garage, not the Goth Rock which was the obvious choice as Anne Rice wrote the books; it's heavy, dark and wonderful. It's for screaming along to in your angrier moments.
Angry is the mood of this film and it does it well. The themes of betrayal and abandonment are played out over and over again, most notably in the story of Lestat and Marius. Also under the spotlight is the question of what it means to be human, particularly if you are no longer a human being. It's about self-destructiveness and redemption; and choosing to do the right thing, even at the risk of your own immortal soul (oh and your life).
I'd recommend it, because it's my most often watched film this past 18 months.
Reviewer: Mab
If you would like to join in on a discussion about this film, please go to the forum here: Queen of the Damned