The vampire Lestat (Stuart Townsend), awakened in the modern day by industrial-goth music, decides to go public and become a rock star. As the vampires of the world gather to destroy Lestat, his music awakens the most ancient vampire (Aaliyah) who could destroy all others, or make them her slaves.
An adaptation of two Anne Rice books (The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned), which followed her novel Interview with the Vampire, it can’t be considered a sequel to the film of that first book. The tones are too different and the events and characterizations in Interview are ignored (such as Armand being an adult in the first film, but being a child in the second). Interview with the Vampire, like the book it was based on, is about whining. Lots of very serious whining. Queen of the Damned gives lip service to such peevishness, but then utterly ignores it. “Oh, the world is pain and eternal life is such agony. Oh look, a band!” This is sex, blood, and rock-n-roll that moves at a rocket pace. It moves so fast that major characters are rarely described, developed, or even allowed to speak. Events that require complicated explanations just happen. A group of vampires stand against Akasha, the title character. Who are these ancient beings? Don’t expect the film to tell you. One says how Akasha can be killed. How does she know? No answer. Akasha tells them that if she dies, so will they, and the ancients all acknowledge this well-known information. It’s not well known to the viewer. To make sense of the film, you need to have read the books. But if you liked the books, you’re not likely to be fond of this massively abbreviated and altered form. So, here is a fun, involved film whose target audience is people who have read the books but don’t like them. I would have loved to see that on the advertisements.
Stuart Townsend has the sex appeal and the swagger to pull off the “bad boy” lead. Vincent Perez is even better as Lestat’s creator. Unfortunately, Aaliyah’s attractive features cannot make-up for her complete lack of acting talent. Granted, it might be difficult figuring out how an antediluvian demigod should behave, but something other than a ’90s girl wiggling would have been nice. Perhaps part of the problem isn’t her. Due to her death, some of her lines were looped by a male, her brother.
Even with its copious problems, sex, blood, and rock-n-roll are always worth the time.