PopHorror Let's Get Scared
When asked to write about my favorite horror movie, there was no doubt in my mind what movie to pick: Interview With The Vampire, which was based on the first book of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles and adapted into a movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The opening starts with Christian Slater’s character, Daniel Malloy, looking for an exciting story, and this is where he meets the vampire, Louis (Pitt). Throughout the movie, Louis tells the tale of his life as an immortal.
The reason that I was attracted to Interview With The Vampire was the vampires themselves. I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and have been since I was in middle school. However, the main reason why I love this horror movie is the story. When Louis is turned, we can see his humanity and his disgust at having to drink blood. Veteran vampire Lestat (Cruise) makes a mockery of Louis as the newly turned vamp feeds on rats and the occasional poodle.
Louis tries to cling to his humanity but that, eventually, becomes lost. There is even a line where he says that he finds peace in killing. The vampires in the film share many human traits: love, anger, revenge, hate, jealousy, and selfishness. Even Lestat, the main antagonist of the film, is selfish; it is seen as he turns the child Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) into a vampire to keep Louis with him.
Also, the character relationship between Claudia and Louis is very strong. At the beginning of her immortal life, there is a cute scene where she would crawl into his coffin. She would have to tiptoe around the light to not be exposed to the sun. It reminded me of an ordinary child waking up in the middle of the night to crawl into bed with their parents. Even when the two grow apart, Louis still loves Claudia. This is seen as he avenges her death by killing everyone in the theater of vampires.
The music in the Interview With The Vampire is just great. The main song of the film is The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.” The song captures Lestat’s personality to a tee. Other notable music was Lestat’s Sonata which was an excellent choice to pair with the mutiny by Louis and Claudia. It was folded perfectly into the scene and ended beautifully with Lestat saying, “You’ve been a very, very naughty little girl.”
On this note, I leave you with these parting words: the supernatural creatures in this film depict humanity. They sometimes portray the worst of humanity, but they do express it. I will leave you with this quote: “Goodnight, sweet prince. May flights of devils wing you to your rest.”
