Interview With The Vampire 4K UHD Review
“Interview With The Vampire” is a classic vampire film.
Based on Anne Rice’s beloved novel, 1994’s “Interview With The Vampire” (AKA “Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles”) is a feature film adaptation that was also penned by Anne Rice. The story begins in San Francisco and is framed around a reporter (Daniel) who interviews a vampire (Louis). Louis tells the story of how he was turned into a vampire by Lestat and how he spent the past 200 years. As the story flashes back to the past, we (the audience) learn about Lestat’s bloodlust, the struggles Louis endures and how he doesn’t want to kill humans, Lestat turning a young child (Claudia) into a vampire, the sort of warped family dynamic with Lestat, Louis, and Claudia, and Louis discovering a vampire theater group.
Director Neil Jordan is primarily known for making smaller films such as “The Crying Game” and “Mona Lisa.” With “Interview With The Vampire” he crafted his most mainstream and successful film. This adaptation could have easily been star studded escapism, but in typical Neil Jordan fashion, he and author Anne Rice manage to make a more psychological vampire story about survival, immortality, and morality. Although erotic at times, this story never glamorizes or sensationalizes the concept of being a vampire, but rather explores the dark side of it. We see the loneliness, the emptiness, the pain, and the often cursed and tortured existence. For instance, seeing Claudia discover that she will eternally be a child weighs heavy on her mind and soul as she knows she will never be able to become an adult. The psychological exploration of the themes and the mindset of being a vampire really sets this film apart from so many surface level vampire films out there.
Another appealing angle here is the cinematography by Philippe Rousselot. The film was largely shot at night and is frequently darkly lit. The characters tend to lurk in the darkness which really gives the film an immersive feel knowing they can never travel in daylight.
As mentioned above, this is a star studded affair as the cast features Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Stephen Rea, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Thandie Newton in a bit role. At the time of its release, there was a great deal of controversy about Tom Cruise being cast as Lestat, but it was all noise. Cruise showed real range as the lonely, cruel, sadistic, and murderous Lestat. Although he had several notable roles prior to ‘Vampire,’ this is really the film that catapulted Brad Pitt’s career into super stardom. He does a fine job leading the story as Louis. He’s the audience’s gateway into the vampire world. Likewise, this is the first film that made Hollywood take notice of Kirsten Dunst whose career quickly took off after this. She truly held her own opposite Cruise and Pitt. Antonio Banderas had many Spanish credits and appeared in “Philadelphia” prior to this, but much like Pitt and Dunst, Banderas became a household name not long after this. It’s incredible how many big stars came out of this film if you think about it.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.85:1 2160p. How does it look? As crisp of a transfer as you could want.
Audio Track: Dolby Atmos. How does it sound? They rolled out the red carpet for this disc in the form of a lively Atmos track.
Extras:
* Digital copy
* Commentary by Neil Jordan
* An intro by Anne Rice, Neil Jordan and Antonio Banderas
* 8 minutes of deleted scenes
* “Eternal Night And Deadly Light”- A new extra about the cinematography
* “Interview With The Vampire: Creating The World”- Another new extra about the production design.
* “In The Shadow Of The Vampire”- A vintage featurette
* “Lestat, Louis, And The Vampire Phenomenon”- Another archival extra.
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