Well before Twilight and his glittery vampires in the sun, who broke the cinema market around the 1910s, there were already those who had thought well of combining the concept of the vampire with that of the fascinating, dangerous and extremely magnetic man. Instead of Robert Pattinson there were Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt: it was 1994.
Interview with the vampire, directed by Neil Jordanis one of those films that mark an era for several reasons. The 90s were the glorious period for the return of the gothic novel and for dark aesthetics in fashion, music and even film characters.
Here are monsters, murderers, witches and vampires return to being great protagonists of films and TV series of all genres. Right in the mid-90s came the vampire movie of the time; After Interview with the vampireaudiences would never see these mythical, bloodthirsty creatures the same way again. Well before Edward Cullen.
“Interview with the Vampire”: the gothic charm of the 90s
Interview with the Vampire it really is everything you need to know about the 90s: the dark aesthetic, the fragility of the “bad guys”, the desire to see true stories, of imperfect, losers, marginalized characters. The real fear, here, does not come from pointy teeth, but from eternal loneliness and the loss of loved ones. The vampire becomes a metaphor for the outcast, the decadent artist or anyone who feels “different” from society.
The plot
In San Francisco in 1994, the vampire Louis tells his story to a reporter. It all starts in 1791 a New Orleans, when, desperate for the death of his family, he is transformed by Lestata charismatic but cruel vampire.
Louis experiences vampirism with guilt and suffering, refusing to kill humans, unlike the cynical Lestat. To bind Louis to himself, Lestat also transforms a little girl, Claudia. The three form a macabre family for decades, until Claudia, furious at being trapped in a body that never grows, attempts to kill Lestat.
Louis and Claudia flee to Paris, where they meet the vampire Armand and his congregation. To avenge Lestat’s supposed murder, the coven kills Claudia. Louis takes revenge by destroying the group and returns to wander the centuries in solitude. The film ends with the surprise return of Lestat, who bites the journalist after the interview.
With a stellar and forward-thinking cast – in addition to the ones already mentioned Tom Cruise e Brad Pitt also appear Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst e Christian Slater – Interview with the Vampire was able to catalyze the tastes and feelings of an era, ennobling the “vampire” genre, which has always been the prerogative of fans of the horror B-Movies niche.
