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"Queen of the Damned"
(Reviewed March 2, 2002)
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So-so adaptation of the second and third of Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" books rolled into one. The screenplay is very choppy; I have read the books, but even I was getting lost here and there. I can't imagine how confusing all of the family-tree flashbacks, Talamascan history and vampire-commune segments must seem to the uninitiated. Also, the movie just plain isn't scary, which is a bit of a drawback for a horror movie. (I found only a single shot in the entire thing genuinely creepy, and it is not even an action sequence. It is the shot that reveals what has become of the Queen of the Damned's King. What that shot implies somehow is more disturbing than any of the bloodletting and general carnage we actually see taking place in the rest of the movie.)
There also is a faint aroma of cheese about the entire production, which more than occasionally threatens to lapse into camp. It is not as bad as it could have been, and Rice herself is to blame for the intrinsically goofy premise of making Lestat into a rock star. Singer Aaliyah actually is okay in the title role, but Stuart Townsend is a bit too slight and unthreatening as Lestat. Also, it is impossible to watch this movie without thinking of the Saturday Night Live "Goth Talk" skits, which pretty well punctured (ha-ha) the pretentiously silly "Bela Lugosi's Dead" crowd.
The best way to describe my mixed feelings about this movie: Imagine how cool it could have been if a stylish director with a real affinity for the "dark side" (David Fincher is the first name that comes to mind) had been behind the camera. Yikes!
Back Row Grade: D+
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