Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

A stellar, long haired duo in the lead roles of a vampire movie that’s entertaining at last. A convincing atmosphere and the passing of the ages is almost tangible (Superman roolzz). Even so, IWTV is a bit too slow for my taste, and at two o’clock at the morning my eyelids had were heavier than was practical. After all, I am not a vampire. At least I think not... (16/08/2010)

A very well-made picture, brought down mainly by the actors. Not that their acting is bad, quite the opposite, most of the performances are above their usual standard, but the casting could certainly have been better. Mainly Lestat (but I have almost nothing against Cruise) completely lacks the aura of charisma that the book gives him. The only one who manages to get under your skin with her acting is “young" Claudia, played by the splendid Kirsten Dunst. The adaptation went well, but all that remains are nice illustrations of the book, because they left out its philosophical level. Absolutely completely. Which, considering the whole story, atmosphere and message is founded on it, is rather a serious shortcoming. (19/10/2006)

A remarkable vampire epic, which certainly does not rank amongst vampire horror movies, but rather, with surprising elegance, balances on the edge of drama and a relatively controversial love story. The quintessence of this spectacle is the convincing performances of Cruise and Pitt, whose homosexual relationship is hinted at throughout the film. In the end, in Interview with the Vampire, the relationships between the characters and the kind of "realistic" view of the vampire underworld play a much bigger role than any vampire props. Definitely an interesting film, which is not quite perfect perhaps only due to a lack of significant gradation and a slightly better built story. But these deficiencies are replaced by the atmosphere and some really great and powerful scenes that will stay with you. (22/08/2004)

This is a film that shaped me like no other. It would be futile to count all the reruns I've seen, all the formats in which I've watched Interview with the Vampire, and to calculate how intimately the adaptation rooted my love for Anne Rice within me. Even twenty years later, the film hasn't aged and every little detail is still fascinating. The soundtrack comes from another world, and Lestat and his story never cease to inspire. Kirsten Dunst became a legend and Antonio Banderas has never forgotten his Parisian days at Theatres des Vampires... The new series Interview with the Vampire (2022) is also great. (03/02/2009)

So far, I haven't given an above-average rating to any of Neil Jordan's films, and this one is no exception, although it's probably the closest. Great actors, dense dark atmosphere, several excellent scenes... And that's where it ends, because the plot seemed rather empty to me most of the time, almost uninteresting and tedious. In the story of a vampire who retained the remnants of his humanity, I did not notice any added value. Sometimes it seemed to me that I was watching more of a parody (for example, sleeping in coffins seemed to me more like What We Do in the Shadows or Dracula: Dead and Loving It), and I was quite annoyed by how the film defined itself against almost everything that belongs to the genre, just to be different and interesting. (02/04/2021)