Interview With The Vampire 4K review by Bobby Blakey
Before Anne Rice’s vampire series hit the small screen it brought the blood sucking to the big screen in 1994 starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Stephen Rea, Kirstin Dunst and Christian Slater from The Crying Game director Neil Jordan. Now the film is getting the high-def treatment for the first time.
Interview With The Vampire follows a 200-year-old vampire who tells his story--of desire, love, yearning, grief, terror, ecstasy--to a young reporter, weaving the history that has come to be known as Interview with the Vampire.
I remember when this film came out, I had zero interest in it. The idea of Cruise and Pitt as vampires just seemed silly and the tone felt like something I was just going to hate. I left the film admitting I was wrong and absolutely loved this film so was excited to revisit it for the first time in years. It had been so long it felt like a new journey that I once again loved it even more from a more mature visual reference.
This film is not just a vampire tale, but one of loss, betrayal, loneliness, love and
so much more. The relationship between Lestat and Louis is a love hate on all levels as friends, enemies and even an underscore of lovers without human intimacy. The film relies on their relationship, and they are both outstanding in their roles. I love watching these two interact in every way here. As good as they are they are both out shadowed by two other performances that still stand out to elevate this film.
The young Kirsten Dunst is brilliant here bringing the cute lovable desperate child your heart breaks for before becoming an unhinged killer and is so much fun to watch. She is all in with a performance rivaling any adult in the film. It’s no wonder she was nominated for so many awards. In a much smaller role is Antonio Banderas who chews up the scenery and delivers my favorite vampire performance of the entire film. He just oozes style and stature that fully pulls you into his world and status and elevates those around him.
The visual style and storytelling keep the film compelling further engaging with all the great performances. I loved revisiting this movie in all its perfection. I have never read the books so have no references there, but I know despite her initial anger of Cruise’s casting, ended up liking him in the role. That alone tells me that it was at least in the right direction to what the creator wanted and is enough for me. HD doesn’t do all that much for the film to make it stand out anymore, but it stands on its own and hope it at least gets fresh eyes on this excellent film.
Grab your copy of Interview With The Vampire when it hits 4K for the first time on September 22nd from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.