Extras:
Aaliyah Remembered documentary, 2 original documentaries, audio
commentary, 13 deleted scenes, 3 full length Lestat music videos, cast
and crew, extended concert sequences, gag reel, and production stills
gallery.
Director:
Micheal Rymer
Screenplay:
Scot Abbott and Michael Petroni
Cast:
Lestat: Stuart Townsend
Jesse: Marguerite Moreau
Queen Akasha: Aaliyah
Marius: Vincent Perez
Maharet: Lena Olin
When I first heard about a sequel
to the hit movie based on Anne Rice's
famous Vampire Chronicles books,
Interview with the Vampire,
I was mildly interested. When I heard it had Lestat, the vampire from the
first, returning to be a rock star, I lost interest. Having not read the
books I didn't know what to think. Then when the film released last
February I let it slip by. But I intended to watch it on DVD and I kind
of wish I would have seen it at the theater because what I found was a
decent and different kind of sequel.
Queen of the Damned tells the story of ancient vampire, Lestat, awaking
hundreds of years later to our present time. Amazed by the difference,
Lestat flocks to a new world where gods are made of those who sing and
play heavy metal. Sounds different huh? Lestat wants to be one of these
"gods" and finds an inspiring metal band. He promises to give them
everything they've always wanted if he becomes the lead singer. And this
is only in the first few minutes. The band becomes insanely popular and
Lestat doesn't hide the fact that he is a vampire.
He calls out to the vampire world to stop hiding. This draws the
attention of a vampire historian named Jesse who wants to discover the
secrets of Lestat. A vampire covenant is also bent on silencing him.
Meanwhile, the Queen of the Damned, Akasha (Aaliyah) awakens and is
drawn to Lestat's music and pursues him as king. There are so many plots
going on in this movie that if I tell anymore it'll spoil it.
Queen of the Damned may not hold a stake to the first film but it does
do what a sequel is meant to do, provide something different. Who knew
that Lestat in Interview with the Vampire would go onto become a rock
star? Cheesy, yes. This was also Aaliyah's last performance before her
death and she is very good in this. I think she would have gone on to do
even better things but fate had a different plan. The movie does have a
flaw or two though. One, there are WAY too many plots going on due to
the fact that two books have been combined. I found it difficult to sum
it up for you. Next, some scenes are screaming to be cut, mostly in the
beginning. Those are the only real problems but it's enough to knock it
down a few pegs.
It should be no suprise that Warner has released two seperate versions,
full frame and widescreen. Into the disc, Warner has provided a great
transfer here. I wasn't holding many expectations but this is one of
their best. This is a movie that is pretty much consumed in darkness all
the time and they took that into detail as pixelization is nearly
impossible to spot. Blacks are solid and deep. One of Warner's best
transfers in awhile.
The sound is provided in 5.1 and is very good. Most of the movie
contains heavy metal music and it comes across very well. I never had
any problems with dialouge or anything.
Warner knew this movie had a following so they went the full nine. Tons
of extras pack this release. There is a nicely done featurette titled:
Aaliyah Remembered and two others. Then there's 13 deleted scenes and
the music videos featured in the film are here in their entirity.
Extended concert sequences, a gag reel, and some production galleries
round it out. Oh and there's cast and crew information as well. Quite a
bit of supplements.
Overall, don't go in expecting the great storytelling of Interview with
the Vampire and you'll like this movie just fine. A good transfer and
some great extras make this a good recommend or at least a weekend
rental.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
