Interiew with the Vampire Season 1 & 2

This is the one fans of the acclaimed series have been waiting for: Season 1 and Season 2 in one box set! Outstanding in its bold and unique approach, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, based on the ‘The Vampire Chronicles’ by Anne Rice, truly is a cut above the rest and has been developed by Rolin Jones for AMC. Be prepared… be very prepared!

Unlike the 1994 movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, the TV series doesn’t shy away from the more homoerotic elements of Rice’s novel while additionally addressing topics such as different race and abuse. Glorious to look at, with a strong chemistry between the leads and an overall outstanding production design, this is a production with bite.

Season 1:
In a brief prelude sequence, elderly journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), a deeply cynical man with Parkinson’s disease and a history of drug and alcohol abuse, receives a parcel while in the middle of a phone conversation. The parcel contains recordings and transcripts from many years ago (San Francisco in 1973 to be precise) of his interview with a vampire by the name of Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), which ended with Molloy being attacked by him. Now, 49 years later, Louis summons Molloy to pick up the very same interview – this time round in a luxurious apartment overlooking the skyline of Dubai and with an imposing Francis Bacon triptych on the wall. Always at his side is servant Rashid (Assad Zaman) and some other servants, who ensure things are going smoothly during the interview.

We then travel back to New Orleans of the year 1910, where Louis’ story begins. As a young man of black Creole descent in his early thirties, the colour of his skin prevents him from mingling with the highest of society, even though his family (who run a plantation) are wealthy. Louis meanwhile finds his own success as a brothel owner in Storyville, a seedy part of New Orleans. It is in his brothel where he encounters Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), a French vampire and hedonist with a talent for music, who has his eyes on Louis from the first. Initially repulsed by Lestat’s seemingly aloof and arrogant manner, Louis can’t help feeling increasingly attracted to him and eventually, they become lovers and in a key scene, Lestat turns Louis into a fellow vampire. As both are hunting for prey, it becomes obvious that Louis prefers four-legged prey to two-legged prey – something which prompts Lestat to tease him.

The storyline glides from New Orleans to present day Dubai, where Molloy points out certain discrepancies between Louis’ original version of the interview from the 1970s and his current version. The interaction between Molloy and Louis is always on edge, with Rashid functioning as the mediator. Although Molloy grows increasingly sarcastic, he is well looked after and treated to a sumptuous 7-course meal, prompting a cynical remark: “Are you fattening me up for the inevitable?”

It’s in episode 4 (‘The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child’s Demanding’) that the character of Claudia (Bailey Bass) is introduced, a 14-year old teenage girl of mixed black and Creole background, who eventually is initiated into the vampiric world of Louis and Lestat. Now their mansion has another coffin in the parlour as she becomes a close companion to both of them, although later on the friction increases because Lestat, who can sense that Louis and Claudia form a very strong brother and sister attachment, becomes paranoid about losing Louis – triggered by his own abusive childhood. At the same time, Claudia begins to resent the fact that Louis and Lestat are lovers, fully aware that she will remain a 14-year old teenager for all eternity. “You have each other to love” she exclaims bitterly, “but who do I have to love? Where is my Louis and my Lestat?” When she falls in love with a young lad who serenades her and takes her to ice cream parlours and other establishments, she is delighted and decides she wants to turn him into her forever-companion. Unfortunately, due to her inexperience in sucking blood from victims, she drains him of too much blood and he dies instead of turning into the undead. The entire scene would be comical if it weren’t so tragic, with a devastated Claudia helplessly watching on as Louis and Lestat chuck the young man’s corpse into the incarcerator which they have in their yard (well, most of us do, no?).

Claudia’s resentment towards Lestat grows by the day, leading to a bloody climax when she and Louis decide to rid themselves of him during a savage orgy in a mansion. While all the other victims end up in the incarcerator, Louis chucks Lestat’s mutilated corpse in his coffin and out with the other garbage, thus ensuring it will get picked up by the garbage collectors. Louis may have fooled Claudia but he doesn’t fool Malloy, who is quick to point out that garbage heaps are full of big, fat rats and thus provide an opportunity for Lestat to come back from the dead and feast on blood… While Lestat’s coffin finds its way to the local garbage dump, Claudia and Louis pack their belongings and drive direction port to board a ship which brings them to Europe. The time is now the early 1940’s and Europe is at war… The final episode of Season 1 (‘The Thing Lay Still’) ends back in present day Dubai, where Louis introduces his ‘servant’ Rashid as Armand, a 514-year-old vampire and the love of his life…

Season 2:
Things become a lot more complex here, with Louis and Claudia (now played by Delainey Hayles) arriving in a Europe devastated by WW2 and not helped by the fact that their friendship feels strained. There is so much crammed into the first couple of episodes, for example when both arrive at an outpost guarded by German soldiers who demand to see their papers. Claudia, who has the ability to learn languages quickly, speaks with broken German and explains that she and her companion are Ukrainian servants who want to go home (the German soldiers don’t seem to wonder about Louis’ and Claudia’s dark skin colour at all….). Of course, minutes later the soldiers are dead and the journey continues into Romania, where our two vampires hope to find evidence which proves that Vlad the Impaler really was a vampire and in the process, encounter a refugee community terrified of Soviet soldiers. They also encounter Daciana, a feral vampire, who ends up throwing herself into the fire.

Upon hearing the news that Paris has been liberated from Nazi occupation, Louis and Claudia travel to the French capital and it’s here where the next chapter of their adventure unfolds. Unbeknownst to them, they are watched by a local vampire coven who run a theatre, the Théatre des Vampires (it looks like those scenes were filmed in the former Parisian Grand Guignol Theatre) and Louis is approached by their leader, Armand, who invites him to watch one of their performances. Later on, an enthralled Claudia, fascinated by what she sees on stage, comes back for more and eventually decides to join the troupe, though at first she is only allowed to work backstage. Both she and Louis make the acquaintance of the other theatre vampires, including the charismatic yet scheming Santiago (a terrific Ben Daniels) who will play a major part in the undoing of Claudia… But first, other characters bounce onto the scene, for example Madeleine Éparvier (Roxane Duran), a somewhat timid dressmaker who becomes Claudia’s immortal companion. Her fate too will be sealed at the hands of the cruel Santiago.

Back in the present day, Molloy meets with a Talamasca agent in a restaurant who reveals more about Louis and Armand to him and later on, Armand recounts his first meeting with Lestat and the founding of the Théatre des Vampires. No prize for guessing that Lestat re-emerges again in Paris, like a phoenix from the ashes… and the stage is set for more bloody mayhem, jealousy and a sham trial – with Santiago as the one who pulls the strings. Or does he? We also find out a little more about Armand’s background and he will play a big part in the fate of Molloy towards the end of Season 2 though of course, there are some surprises thrown in, for example, a reconciliation between Louis and Lestat in present day New Orleans.

This is tense and riveting stuff and such an inventive take on Rice’s original source, with more adaptations of ‘The Vampire Chronicles’ in the pipeline.

The picture of this Blu-ray release is crystal clear and the Bonus material includes 2022 San Diego Comic Con’ panel (Season 1) and ‘Pre-Premiere Inside-Look’ / Behind the Scenes / ‘Show Me More’ episode plus Episode Insiders.