QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
A Warner Bros. release 

review by Joseph B. Mauceri

SYNOPSIS: Based on Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles," QUEEN OF THE DAMNED is a bastard hybridization of her novels The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. Lestat is awakened from his long slumber by a band of musicians who are practicing in what was once the home for him and Louie. Louie, you remember, the vampire Brad Pitt played in "Interview With a Vampire." Anyway, he decides the rock star lifestyle suites his vampire nature. His music has
attracted mortal fans, but angered his fellow vampires. In fact, his music has awakened Akasha, the mother of all vampires. She and Lestat had a moment a few centuries ago, and she decides it's time for her to do that Emperor Nero thing, but with a vampire's flare. Anyway, if you read the books you know what happens next. In fact, you know more then most people who will be experiencing the material for the first time and be left clueless as to what the hell is going on in the background.

REVIEW: Anne Rice's Victorian vampires are re-envisioned as angelic waifs, and the character development, along with vast pages of the plot, are drained from this cinematic adaptation of the tale. Screenwriters Abbott and Petroni have thrown the proverbial "baby" out with the bathwater in trying to cram the contents of both The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned into a 90-minute feature. There is an arrogance on the filmmakers' part that the majority of the audience
for this film will be the millions of fans of Rice's series. Therefore, they've rendered a character driven narrative to it's scarcer components of setting and action. Still, this might have worked had the filmmakers had a sense of style, storytelling and the power of this modern myth. Simple and cliched cinematic devices should have been employed to add some richness and a dash more back
story to make the film engaging, but it is extremely flat. I believe that any film based on source material should lead the audience back to that material. However, that is not the case here. In discussing the film with my colleague Mike Sargent, he said, "I never read the book, but I like this movie. It's a vampire film, and I don't why, based on this, that I would have to read the book." I think that clearly illustrates the point that a bad film adaptation can inhibit a new audience from discovering the material.

As a fan of Mrs. Rice's fiction, even though I had some problems with Neil Jordan's adaptation of "Interview With a Vampire," the film succeeded in capture the period, mood, and look of the vampires. I think actor Stuart Townsend gets Lestat more then Tom Cruz did. Now had he been present in the fashion with which Ms. Rice created her character it would have won some points
with the fans. Overall the casting here is weak, as is the direction of some major talent. The director's lack of skill is evident in the flaccid performances of the talented Vincent Perez and Lena Olin. These major stars are tragically wasted. It's obvious that Aaliyah was cast as the
Queen Akasha due to her popularity. It's sad to say, but she can't act. And with a director who
isn't getting much from his actors, what should have been a regal, erotic, charismatic and terrifying monster comes across more like a spoiled child vampire character form a single episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

The final key element to this section of "The Vampire Chronicles" is the music. Again, the filmmakers come up short. It's obvious that Richard Gibbs is no Danny Elfman or Elliott Goldenthal. All the composers I've interviewed make a statement to the effect that a score should
be unnoticeable in its effectiveness. Gibbs score is unmemorable. That could be a result of the horribly memorable music by Jonathan Davis. Davis, the lead singer of KoRn, was brought on to create Lestat's rock songs. It's obvious that this duo is no Elton John and Tim Rice.

At the beginning of The Vampire Lestat, and the film, Lestat talks about how he was driven to his slumber by the uninspired period he found himself in. Michael Rymer's adaptation of QUEEN OF THE DAMNED could very well have driven Anne Rice and her "Vampire Chronicles" to their crypt. However, the fans should set upon this film like the vampires upon the Queen because there
is hope. As I write this review, I have confirmed that Elton John is working with Anne Rice on a musical stage verison of "Interview With a Vampire." Plus, we can always lick our fangs and return to the fantastical gothic world of these tragic vampires that still lives within the pages of Mrs. Rice's fiction.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
http://queenofthedamned.warnerbros.com/

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