I had asked for an opinion on this movie, because I believe that great novels do not always lead to great books. (HP and LOTR notwithstanding)This movie was the 4th and the last movie of a movie marathon, which started at 9 in the night and finished at 4 in the morning. And boy, did it wake me up!
Before watching this movie, try and watch “Interview with a Vampire”, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. This is because only then will you understand concepts like “making a vampire” and many other small details, and most importantly, you learn about Lestat, played superbly by Tom Cruise. It is on the character of Lestat and Akasha, that the movie is based.
OFTD is based on the Vampire Chronicles, written by my hero Anne Rice. The first novel in this series was IWTV and this is the second in the series.
Story in a nutshell
QOTD is a story of vampires vs. vampires. There are “good” vampires, played by Vincent Perez and a host of other actors, and the bad mama, played superbly by Aaliyah, who wants to destroy all humans and vampires. Lestat (played by Stuart Townsend) is the one crucial barrier between victory by the good vampires over the bad vampires.
About the Movie
At the ending of “Interview with a Vampire”, Lestat is shown...(darn, cant tell that, would spoil the fun for you), well, in a certain state. He becomes disillusioned with the vampire way of life, mainly due to the philosophy of Brad Pitt, who was “made” by Lestat. Lestat decides to sleep eternally, having had enough. He wakes after 200 years, to the sound of hard rock. Oh yeah, if you like hard rock, you will love this movie. There are 3 superb songs, plus the background of the movie is all hard rock. (I have downloaded them on Audiogalaxy, even though I abhor hard rock. These are good!)
Lestat follows the music that has woken him up, and it leads him to a group of failed musicians. He reveals who he is to them. They are suitably shocked. Instead of feasting on them, Lestat tells them he will join their band and make them famous. He transforms it into the latest greatest thing, gaining the adulation of millions. He also decides to disregard the unspoken rule that vampires must hide away from the rest of world and writes songs encoded with specifics of the secret life of vampires.
This angers other vampires and intrests Jesse Reeves (played by Marguerite Moreau), who is a member of the Talamasca society, which is dedicated since ancient times to the study of vampires. The Talamasca only study the vampires, they do not interfere with them. As Jesse decodes Lestat’s messages hidden in his songs, she discovers that he is telling all vampires to “come out” and stop living in the closet. Jesse also stumbles upon Lestat’s journal, written 200 years back, in which he speaks of his life.
The movie goes in to flashback, and we are introduced to Marius. Marius is an “ancient”, i.e., he is a vampire from the BC era!!!!!! He is also the “maker” of Lestat. There is a brilliant scene, which shows how Marius selects Lestat and makes him into a vampire.
After Lestat become a vampire, Marius teaches him on when to drink blood, how much to drink, i.e., how many humans to kill without drawing attention to himself. He constantly drills it into Lestat’s head that we must not kill indiscriminately, as otherwise humans would band together and hunt us down. Lestat though is impetuous. He kills when he likes and does so brazenly, not caring if he is seen.
One night, Lestat finds a secret passage in Marius’s castle. Here are two marble statues. Lestat is playing a violin when he is exploring, and one of the statue’s eyes flicker. Lestat, (I don’t know why) starts to drink the blood of the female statue, when Marius suddenly arrives and stops him. The next day, Marius and the statues are gone, and Lestat is left alone.
Fast forward to the future. Jesse, after reading this, is curious to meet Lestat, and to ask him about the statue. Coded in the lyrics of his songs, is the name of a bar in London. Jesse decides to go there. The bar is for vampires and their “dates”. Jesse’s life is in danger as 3 vampires surround her; suddenly Lestat appears and saves her.
Lestat is fascinated and somewhat taken by Jessie. He tells her that the statue was of Queen Akasha (Aaliyah), the most ancient and dangerous vampire to ever exist and that Akasha was the mother of all vampires. She was the only vampire who drank the blood of vampires, and that Marius was her safe keeper. He was responsible for her not coming to life, as that would be the end of humanity, as Akasha killed by the thousands.
Lestat’s music awakens Akasha...she asks Lestat to be her king and that together they would rule the earth. Lestat agrees, but says that he must perform a final concert in California’s Death Valley, (Note: The Death Valley was recrated in Werribee, near Melbourne, Australia.) where he has planned one of the most controversial publicity stunts of all eternity: he is holding a one-night rock concert, inviting all vampires young and old (along with his extensive fan-base of mortals) to join him.
The good vampires, led by Marius, converge there to stop Akasha and Lestat, but they do not know that the headstrong Lestat, who is the most impulsive and irresponsible of immortal beings but practically a god in the eyes of mortals, is the only one who can defeat Akasha and save the world.
Will Lestat join hands with the good vampires and save the world? What happens to Jesse? How can Akasha be stopped, when she kills vampires by simply looking at them?
Find the answers to these questions by watching Queen of the Damned....coming soon to a theatre near you!!!
Tom Cruise was offered the role of Lestat, but chose not to do it. The movie would have been even more brilliant if he were there as Lestat, but Stuart Townsend does an excellent job as Lestat. The only problem is that he will be compared to Cruise as both have played Lestat, and might suffer for it. Aaliyah is very good as the slinky, sexy vampire goddess. She doesn’t have many lines in the movie, but her eyes are very expressive. And of course she has a figure to die for, which she exposes quite a lot.
Contrary to how it appears, it is not a horror movie in the sense that you feel scared. Well, you won’t be venturing near any dark alley, for sure, but you will sleep ok...maybe....
This is a stunning movie visually. The special effects are mind blowing, particularly the scenes where the vampires attack Lestat. The final battle sequence is amazing! The movie is not for the faint hearted, as there are numerous sequences of vampires attacking humans, each other and off course, Akasha. Technically a brilliant film, with crisp direction and an attention to detail. If you like vampire flicks, you cannot give this one a miss. If you do not like vampire flicks, watch it. But my recommendation would be to watch it after seeing Interview with a Vampire.
