Based on the iconic novel by Anne Rice, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ follows Louis de Pointe’s epic story of love, blood and the perils of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy. The series has just premiered on AMC+ and is a dark and sumptuous new adaptation that has surprised critics in the United States and the most skeptical of reboots and remakes, because Rice was always very strict about adapting her work.
However, prior to his recent passing and along with the announcement of the project, it was clear that had approved and participated in this latest iteration, which should dispel skepticism. Not a few Rice fans of all ages became fans of her work thanks to the iconic adaptation with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the 90s, which showed a kind of cheesy couple of toxic vampires that defined an era of vampire culture. popular that was the prelude to the ‘Twilight’ books and movies.
A more sensual and bloody adaptation
Now Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid reinterpret the two bloodsuckers, a racial casting decision for Louis that has drawn the usual criticism, but Neil Jordan’s original film suffered quite a few attacks and at first it was not well received by fans either, especially because of the casting of Cruise as Lestat. Yet the universe of desire, passion, blood, power, and pain reappears, capturing the same magic and mystery of Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles in a way the feature film couldn’t.
not just because the episodic format is more suitable to capture the feeling of immortality and the passage of time without there being abrupt dramatic ruptures, but because without the limitations of the cable channel the vampire world is reflected in a more wild and sensual way, there are no qualms with the fluid sexuality of the couple, very important in the texts, but rather their games of deceit , comings and goings reach a greater dimension, even revealing a more extensive universe that already takes other novels into account.
The creator of the series, Rolin Jones, changed the period in which the action is set and has made the vampire girl Claudia, previously played by a young Kirsten Dunst, something older until she became almost a teenager, moreover logical by the problems posed by some of their actions. Despite these alterations, the essence of the characters is very faithful to what the text told us. Here we see Louis (Anderson) and Molloy (Eric Bogosian) as if they had already had the interview on which the book is based, so now we see a new interview years later, in which the two characters clarify and polish memories for a more honest version.
Expanding Rice’s Vampire Universe
Anderson, captures Louis’s repressed melancholy that leads him towards Lestat, here a true being amoral and toxic, dangerous and great, perhaps the closest version to what has been seen, much better than that of ‘The Queen of the Damned’. The good thing is that the episodes know how to alternate the elegance of a period narrative and the old tropes of gothic horror, making a great balance of romance and visceral explosions that indicate that our protagonists are dangerous, our predators, in short.
The explicit acceptance of the characters as toxic lovers gives fans a much more convincing relationship than the one the film only hinted at, although in a world in which we have 10 seasons of ‘American Horror Story’ that’s not much to say either. But there is something more retro and pure in the idea of old-fashioned vampires that is reminiscent of the source of these fictions, ‘Dark Shadows’ or Dan Curtis’ ‘Dracula’, a stark violence and a resounding affinity for the horror genre. classic.
There’s a lot of gore and plenty of tense moments, leaning into the frenzy of these monsters, with plenty of scary moments where blood is spilled. But this ‘Interview with the Vampire’ works because of its characters, their erotic sensibilities, and the narrative of an old man. Penny Dreadful; is ambitious and potentially expansive in the world created by Rice, which is also included in a new “immortal universe” with the next release of the witches of Mayfair. It is clear that AMC has big plans for the supernatural world of the author and that there is already a confirmed season 2 is good news, if it maintains the surprisingly good level of these 7 episodes.