So you might have noticed a little less from me, as I had promised I would leave but I have had to extend the reviews until the end of the year. One because there are so few good film reviewers and two because I have a dream of 2000 reviews in my career (I have a paltry 110 to go to reach this target.)

Now INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE tweaked my interest a while back, after a conversation with a friend. We were both fans of Neil Jordan’s homoerotic masterpiece of aging and addiction. We also were both fans of Anne Rice’s equally sexual and subversive book. The one is not exactly the other and so after a few wags of the tongue, we both agreed that the announcing of a TV series based more on book than the film, was an exciting proposition. Indeed, what we got was a Blu ray that has all seven episodes from the first season of the gothic horror series to review.

So the story. Updated to 2022 and the Russian oligarchs second home, Dubai. Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) begins retelling the story of his life to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). So far so, seen it before. However he has to include the darker aspects of his life. His relationship with Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), his adpoted child Claudia (Bailey Bass), the struggles he faced after becoming a vampire through history as brutal as it is sexual. Each step leading us closer to a revelation of vampirism and villainy, vilification and virtue.

I was honesty worried. The book is a behemoth of style. It dabbles in lurid and lush voices. Timelines and tensions. These dualities of the book are all here and are revisited well by the series in total. No surprise with a half decent thing that it is that it would attract good writing, acting and directing talent. Neither that all this would make it renewable. However I think it would have been fine as a standalone. Though it is obvious from its last three episodes, the clear arches setting up a step forward into a future narrative. But the series didn’t need it. It looks, sounds and feels exceptional. The excel part of the work is all this and is something unexpected. This is actually better than expected and more vital for a current point of view. I wonder if its second season will hold up?

RELEASED 6th NOVEMBER 2023