View Full Version : Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned
I was flipping through a magazine when I noticed that the sequel to 'Interview with a Vampire' is being released on the 15th March (I know that the vampire Lestat was the sequel in the books)
Has anyone read anything about it? With none of the original stars in it, I'm not holding my breath. Slightly surprised it hasn't gone straight to rental (must have something to do with Blade 2 due out soon)
I'm a huge Anne Rice fan, but prepare for bad news - Any review and or test screening has this down as one of the WORST movies ever made... UTTER TOSS!
Its a Stonkin' book - could have been a beautiful film series in the right hands... pity.
And as far as I know the Lead playing Lestat was the origional Aragorn for Fellowship - He actually started shooting, but he/Jackson had 'differences' and was sent packing - I think...
Anyway - The Trailer looks like a guy from a MTV beach party put it together, and well, the makers LET HIM...
I'm sure Mrs. Rice is plenty upset... wonder how they got the rights so easy - We all know how 'Interview' had her somewhat miffed at the origional casting of Cruise - She recanted after seeing it though... I still feel that movie could have been soooo much better though...
http://homepage.eircom.net/~garryleavycomedian/Avalon.jpg
...ahh... Queen &c.... earce...
http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/queenofthedamned.html
...still... America's pre-eminent movie critic was kind enough to award this film two (out of four) stars...
http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2002/02/022202.html
. . . :D . . .
This movie is watchable but thats as far as it goes. Apparantly is the combination of two books but really only uses the Queen of the Damned book for about a few minutes.
Its mostly about Lestat becoming a rock star - apart from that theres not really a plot as the other segments aren't explained well enough (e.g. whos that, why are they doing this? etc). The queen of the damned herself, played by Aaliyah is only in it for at most 15 minutes.
The only good thing is the soundtrack, five songs written and performed by Jonathan Davis, the lead singer of Korn:clap: (one of my fave bands)
Apparently they offered the lestat role to Cruise who turned it down and Anne Rice even offered to write the screenplay for free and they turned her down.
Anne Rice even offered to write the screenplay for free and they turned her down. [/B]
WOW! - where did you read that?
Jimmyboy
03-03-2002, 14:54
Its currently no.1 at the US Boxoffice.
Although Aaliyah's probably got something to do with that.
Dont care for reviews on this one, I'll be checking it out regardless of what people say.
Probably end up in my dvd collection as well.
See rottentomatoes.com - they collate all the reviews across america. last time I looked it had about 20% good reviews which is very poor.
There's been a lot of bad vibes about this film - it seems accepted that if Aaliyah hadn't passed away it would have been going straight to video.
Incidentally, when I was in New Orleans a couple of years ago I got to meet Anne Rice and invited to one of her houses - she owns several but had opened it up for a day for all her fans and was signing copies of her new book - Truely Amazing day!
I watched this last night - mostly because I'd just seen The Breed and was in the mood for another vampire flick.
QOTD - It's awful. Really a distressing experience for any Anne Rice fan... Even the music sucks. In the very short plus column some of the mise en scene is actually quite well handled. Shame it's then populated by actors unfit to be in Hollyoaks, nevermind try to bring Lestat and co to life. Guess this will be the end of this film series then...
i saw this and thought it was certainly watchable, i actually really enjoyed the music aspect of this film as the entire soundtrack is very much too my taste (thank god Aaliyah didn't have a track on there!!).
Loved the fact that Lestat was awoken by a Korn track (one of the ones Davis wrote for the film i believe) :D Jonathan Davis even had a tiny part as an extra, who spotted him? (hard not to miss really).
I think if you like the music you'll probably enjoy the film to a certain extent, doesn't really make it a very good film though. PG13 rating sucks (no pun intended!) too.
dave.
Jimmyboy
05-03-2002, 14:22
Originally posted by kanedaa
i saw this and thought it was certainly watchable, i actually really enjoyed the music aspect of this film as the entire soundtrack is very much too my taste (thank god Aaliyah didn't have a track on there!!).
Johnathon Davis wrote serveral songs for the film so that comment really is a bit rich.
Beside's, I cant see how a film like QOTD could benefit with that type of soundtrack, it would end up looking more like a bad Crow sequel than an Anne Rice adaption.
Maybe it would have been better if there'd gone with the 80's punk/Glam Rock scene as thats the era the book is based on anyway.
Aaliyah's only in the film for about 15 minutes yet she appears at the very front on the promo cover.
I guess that speaks volumes about how little faith the distributers had in this film.
Originally posted by Jimmyboy
Johnathon Davis wrote serveral songs for the film so that comment really is a bit rich.
and why may I ask?
A vampire film using a rock soundtrack is far preferable to a hip-hop (or whatever 'genre' you'd place Aaliyah in) soundtrack IMHO. In fact its a damned relief lately with films taking a more Rock based soundtrack approach (The Scorpion King finally gained my attention thanks to its soundtrack with the likes of Godsmack, System of a Down etc) rather than the plague of hip-hop/rap style soundtracks we've been subjected to of late.
Beside's, I cant see how a film like QOTD could benefit with that type of soundtrack, it would end up looking more like a bad Crow sequel than an Anne Rice adaption.
A simple point is that I've always thought this film looked like utter ****, the only reason I watched it was because I head the soundtrack, saw it had exclusive tracks by several performers that were written by Jonathan Davis. I liked the soundtrack, decided to watch the film - in my case the film benefitted heavily from the soundtrack. Like I said I thought it was highly amusing and as such, entertaining that Lestat is awoken from his sleep by a very 'Korn' sounding piece of music (and don't worry, this is no spoiler, its how the film starts).
Also, I had no idea this film was based on a book until I read this thread so couldn't really care less about that aspect.
Maybe it would have been better if there'd gone with the 80's punk/Glam Rock scene as thats the era the book is based on anyway.
If you're familiar with the book then maybe, but it'd probably end up like Lost Boys.
Aaliyah's only in the film for about 15 minutes yet she appears at the very front on the promo cover.I guess that speaks volumes about how little faith the distributers had in this film.
Well, considering the film is named after her character its hardly surprising to see her on the front of the Poster. Plus of course by sticking a recently deceased artist on the poster you're gonna attract an audience by that factor alone.
dave.
Jimmyboy
05-03-2002, 22:36
and the amusing thing is the amount of time you spent responding to my post.:D
The-tonemeister
06-03-2002, 12:39
I happened to catch the movie on my hols and was totally underwhelmed by the whole thing.
The soundtrack is patchy at best and cheesy at worst. The same can be said for the acting.
I'm not sure how closely the plot follows the book, but it certainly didn't make great viewing.
The sitting I saw (mid-evening on a Sunday) had less than 10 people in it (2 of those left after 45 minutes).
I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone apart from the die hard fan, and only if they can catch a matinee showing (when its cheap)
TM
Arch Stanton
06-03-2002, 12:45
The Scorpion King finally gained my attention thanks to its soundtrack with the likes of Godsmack, System of a Down etc) rather than the plague of hip-hop/rap style soundtracks we've been subjected to of late.
More to the point is why the hell as a 'Conan' rip off movie set in ancient Egypt got a Nu metal soundtrack?
Originally posted by The-tonemeister
I happened to catch the movie on my hols and was totally underwhelmed by the whole thing.
The soundtrack is patchy at best and cheesy at worst. The same can be said for the acting.
I'm not sure how closely the plot follows the book, but it certainly didn't make great viewing.
The sitting I saw (mid-evening on a Sunday) had less than 10 people in it (2 of those left after 45 minutes).
I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone apart from the die hard fan, and only if they can catch a matinee showing (when its cheap)
TM
Oh dear, you went to see this? Well at least I kow definately not to bother now.
I'm guessing no dvd of this for you then ;) :D
The-tonemeister
06-03-2002, 15:17
Nope, certainly not.
I was interested as it was a follow in from Interview.... and there was a vaguely rock soundtrack.
Both of which are sadly inferior to the Interview.... flick
TM
ManxMuppet
14-04-2002, 11:26
Has anyone else seen this yet and therefore capable of persuading my missus from not going to see it?
It's not very good. B movie stuff. Townsend looks the part and Aaliyah pulls her role off by doing next to nothing. But it's one to completely avoid.
If you liked From Hell you may get something from it but otherwise...
Ok, time to get flamed as I liked it.
While some of the casting was poor (in that they soooo couldn't portray the characters they were meant to) Stuart Townsend was perfect. One review I read of his performance said that he looked way too pale - guess that particular person had never read anything about vampires before.
Next, the music. I loved it. In more than one way, a heavier score makes perfect sense for a film about a 'modern' vampire; the whole goth thing has always contained a psydo-vamp element anyway, with the pale makeup contrasting with black clothing and hair. Plus, did I mention the music ruled?
However, the bit that got it for me was the vampire bar, the Admirals Arms. As a WW VtM fan, that really reflected the world of darkness, and if you are interested in the 'modern' vampire setting, you should really check out White Wolfs stuff on it, even if you don't play the game.
In the end, I think this was a film I don't regret going to see, but I'm not sure if I could recommend it to many people. It seems to cater for quite a small demographic, and people expecting a sequel to Interview will be disappointed. I won't let that stop me from getting it on DVD when it comes through, however.
As a last point, it does seem to be an in-between film - if it had gone straight to DVD/video, I believe it would have been a film that would be hailed by its fans as a cult flick; it has the soundtrack, CGI and actors to acheive that status.
Originally posted by Chunky253
One review I read of his performance said that he looked way too pale - guess that particular person had never read anything about vampires before
LOL!!! :clap:
Disappearer
14-04-2002, 19:35
Originally posted by McD
If you liked From Hell you may get something from it but otherwise...
What does that mean?!?
Originally posted by Disappearer
What does that mean?!?
Simply that the two films have a lot in common. They are based on well regarded genre source material. They've both been done already in the past by other filmmakers (not exactly in the case of 'Queen...' but the lead character and scenario isn't new).
Both have really dodgy scripts that needed a lot more work, and over rely on fancy production design to hide all the other faults. They are both glorified B movies that add nothing to the genre, although one benefitted from a lot more hype than the other.
From Hell benefits from a bigger budget - even to the extent of stealing the female cast of Naked to play the other Whitechapel prostitutes. But it's not a better film than Queen OTD. And, IMHO, in both cases they shouldn't have bothered.
i downloaded this earlier in the week and didn't think it was too bad. i was dissapointed that it wasn't a sequel to interview. it was also too light. i also wish they had explored situations more like lestat becoming a rock star and revealing himself to the world and the vampire world's reaction to that i think should have been a major part but it was only a minor sub plot. the whole akasha thing could have been left out if it had been written properly.
i havent read the book so can anyone tell me what happens in that that's different to the film?
Lenny Nero
15-04-2002, 01:55
Well I expected more from it but still kind of liked it. Especially the scenes with Aaliyah where she kicks everyone's ass in the bar (great music too) and later says "They believe in nothing, and now they are nothing." about a pile of dead corpses. Hehe, it's okay, better than some other crap in theaters anyway
Disappearer
15-04-2002, 09:02
Originally posted by McD
Simply that the two films have a lot in common. They are based on well regarded genre source material.
From Hell was an admirable attempt at adapting Alan Moore's book for the big screen, while Queen Of The Damned is trash that does absolutely no justice to Anne Rice's work. Sorry mate, can't see the link.
Originally posted by Disappearer
From Hell was an admirable attempt at adapting Alan Moore's book for the big screen, while Queen Of The Damned is trash that does absolutely no justice to Anne Rice's work. Sorry mate, can't see the link.
Well we'll just have to agree to differ then. But IMHO From Hell is just as much trash but with bigger stars. I would not call it an admirable adaptation of Moore's work at all - quite the opposite - and frankly they could have made much the same movie without crediting Moore. It's very loosely based on From Hell.
EdgeOfVictory
15-04-2002, 11:56
I saw it last night,. but only because I have a UGC cinema pass. I thought it was pretty terrible. Having not read the book or seen Interview..., I really didn't get the plot at all, or rather, it made little sense.
The performances were generally laughable (especially the girl that played Jessy, certainly one of the worst performances I had ever seen), although Aaliyah was rather good (the scene in the bar was cool). I didn't think much of Stuart Townsend at all either.
I wont say disappointing cos I had heard it was pretty bad, but certainly not something I would recommend
Have to say I liked it - it was sooo camp!!! Will def' buy it when it comes out on dvd... haven't laughed so much in ages:D
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