_Hello David..._ :vampire:

I was totally into this film (mainly due to the soundtrack) when it came out, despite the fact that it's basically 2000s Alt/ Vampire Goth Twilight, but with a bit more to appeal to boys, as it's really more about Lestat, despite Jesse being a less cringy Bela. And, if anyone of the male gender were to tempt me, Stuart Townshend would have been on a very short list.

This is very much a time capsule movie, and relevant to a very specific subculture. As such, it doesn't age terribly well overall, and as a film, it's admittedly not very good if you want a dark, semi-horror dramatic thriller to take seriously. Although, it does work better as at least somewhat intentional dark and (emotionally) edgy vamp-camp, and it does have a lot of creative juices flowing with some genuinely great art contained within. Namely, the music/soundtrack collaboration, and the visuals. Besides _The Crow_, it's probably the closest thing to having the same visual style and auditory tonality as _Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines_. Although, there are admittedly probably a lot of films from the late 1990s that influenced the visual and auditory scape of that game; this film just fits pretty neatly into the same zeitgeist right before it fell out of fashion.

The original Jonathan Davis vocals for Lestat are better than what's on the actual released soundtrack for the most part (although Jay Gordon's version is also quite apt for Lestat, I think-- and I personally really like/liked Orgy at the time), but that's not to say that the guest vocalists are bad, just that they don't really work in context, as it's supposed to be Lestat singing them. But there are some real bangers if you're at all into edgy goth rock influenced Nu Metal. And _Change In The House Of Flies_ is very much in its element as a score song played in the film.

Aaliyah really was great in this, along with Stuart Townshend, and I'm not at all saying that just because she died in that horrible, preventable plane crash caused by her record company's avarice and recklessness. She genuinely brought the character to life by completely diving into Akasha onscreen. Also, her wardrobe (well, the one outfit on the cover) is just phenomenal. Properly iconic. Also, though I'm not actually an Anne Rice reader (though I was friends with one at the time) they at least got someone to look the part for Armand, compared to the previously cast Antonio Banderas (lol).

And--speaking of camp--Vincent Perez really played it up as Marius. Again, not a book reader, but his performance was very "Udo Kier theatrical vampire", and I loved it. Lena Olin played it straight, and it totally worked for her part of the film.