Interview with the Vampire: a hardcore book fan's review

A review from me, a hardcore Vampire chronicle book series fan ever since 2007.

[@riopato2009]

Louis in the book was a plantation owner, Louis in the tv show a pimp. They are both slave owners, the slaves were just different. Both versions of the character lost their connection to their humanity and ironically found it when they died to become a vampire.

[@geminihexx9858]

the sex workers in Storyville were paid, they were not slaves, yes they worked in terrible conditions and were selling their bodies, but it wasn't slavery and wasn't forced upon them from birth. comparing the two isn't accurate.

[@richardstevens2052]

Wow, imagine calling sex workers slaves in 2023.

[@riopato2009]

@@richardstevens2052 oh the irony

[@riopato2009]

​@@geminihexx9858 are you suggesting these women could leave any time they choose and do whatever they want during that time period?

[@gilsurf8]

As a (3 decades fan ) of the first two novels. I freaking love the first 2 episodes

[@Marvelite]

Can’t wait for episode 3!!!!

[@briankeys5941]

I am also a 3 decades fan. man, the best part of this series was when they took the old tapes... and threw them in the trash, such respect, bc thats what the showrunner kept saying in that little promo. how much Anne work was respected. im sure Anne appreciated throwing her life's work in the trash and burning it. JUDGE THE SEASON, and u will see what a "good job" they did luring a bunch of ppl into thinking, will this actually be good... no. is it EVER, when adapting someone's genius, into a "MODERN" script. And yes, some ppl think the "feed on the evil doer" shit with Lestat is corny, from the books. well, see, Lestat is THE MAIN PROTAGANIST, so we kind of need him to not be despised. Im sure ppl will just love the domestic violence episode where Lestat beats the fuck out of Louie. Such nobility, just like the books, lmao. ONCE AGAIN... ZERO RESPECT FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL. Im out, for way too much too type, breaking all kinds of rules from the books. Drinking dead blood, sex (sooo, what's the downside? can vampires get high too? we are now in camp children), (why did Killer RAPE fake Claudia? Why is fake Claudia trying to be part of the Sabbat (Bloodlines deep cut). Shit like that, tells me all I need to know. What a shame for the actors, my guy nailed Lestat, but was failed by the direction.

[@Malkiore1]

@@briankeys5941 Agreed. This show is pure shit. It is obvious the pitch meeting was. "Hey lets take Oz + True Blood and dress it up in one of Anne Rices books like Interview With The Vampire and BAM ...instant hit my fellow HBO addicts." ...I mean has anyone not noticed that when you stick the book material and slightly tweek it then yea u can have a success on your hands and when you stick to the entire book material then uh yea you can have a success but when you go in and slaughter the book material and ignore all the rules laid down of this world and just do wtf ever you want? Then um no. You just fucked yourself. Now they have the The Witching Hour series coming out and just knowing how they ruined the Vampire Chronicles first book of the Lestat series then I cannot imagine how they are going to ruin this.

[@johnderat2652]

Fun fact, my mother named my older brother Lestat because she loved the 1994 film.

[@Marvelite]

Omg I freaking love the name

[@remholloway2579]

I was thinking about naming my cat Louis and my dog Lestat

[@batgurrl]

That could be ‘a curse’ by giving him that name. It’s the sort of things that makes teens emancipate themselves from their parents. It’s hard enough to be an adolescent in ANY decade. Sounds like a burden

[@batgurrl]

@@remholloway2579 they are pets and won’t know why or care as long as you feed them and play with them

[@johnderat2652]

@@batgurrl I also have a rare and unusual name, and while some kids made fun of it back in elementary school, I dont care about it anymore. I always liked my name and wouldn't change it for a dumb super common name like Nathan or Nicholas in a thousand years. And yes my username is just an alias obviously

[@laurabradfield8539]

"vampires are white" -- honey...vampires are undead humans. Are there only white humans on this planet?

[@angelicagaldos]

As a fan of Interview with a Vampire and the book series in enjoying the show. It's nice seeing the actor who plays Grey Worm from Game of Thornes in a different role. Great way to honor Queen of Vampires.

[@Marvelite]

Yaaayyyy me too😋

[@RebeccaNeffati]

Loved your review! I am the same as you, read the books when I was younger, waited 15 years for this, and then boom! It finally arrives and it blew me away. Loved every minute of it.

[@hang1iderswing]

I really liked the show! Definitely a different vibe. The original was based in part on Anne Rice dealing with substance abuse and the death of her only child, her son. So it made sense that Louis was struggling with surviving past the death of his daughter, realizing that it's nearly impossible for him to die, confronting the fact that his existence, despite being magical, has no purpose, no origin story (until... late books), no reason behind it. Everything is just pointless and cold and sad and there's no escape. Rice gradually changes the immortality stuff throughout the books (in book one, Lestat does tell Louis you can die from drinking blood from a dead person, but this is sort of implied to probably be a lie, later she waffles on just how immortal her characters are, in one book having an ancient vampire die by burning himself, in another, suggesting a sufficiently powerful vampire would remain alive even after being burned to ash). In this series, Louis is much different at the beginning of book 1. We're meeting the post book 2 Louis who has found purpose. Also they've made vampires much easier to kill, which means the themes have to change. In the original, vampires who are sufficiently old or powerful are virtually impossible to kill. They poison Lestat, beat him, burn his corpse, and then sink what's left in a river, and he still unexpectedly crawls back out. There's not really the thread that Louis let him live. Immortal life and infinite loneliness is less scary in the show world, where you can opt out by killing youself if it truly becomes too much, by various methods, from burning, to walking out in sunlight, to beheading.

[@louwinters508]

Anne Rice had a daughter. She died of cancer. Claudia is based on her daughter who died aged five. Her son lived into adulthood.

[@smallsignals]

Oh dear. Louis' existential crisis is the same sort of crisis from which this book was born. It's crucial for the story's philosophical exploration of morality. It's foundational to the book.

[@jesserichards5582]

I enjoyed this way more than i expected watching the trailer, thankfully i took the leap of watching it

[@geminihexx9858]

Akasha was not black in the books only in the movie. Historically, Ancient Egyptians were not genetically similar to modern Africa, they had light complexions and even red hair, Ramses hair is red and he had green eyes. Nubians were much darker and traditionally what we call "black" today, they also did not view everyone from Africa as "black" like we do today, light skinned north Africans were not considered "black" in ancient times, also modern Egyptians are not considered black because they are Arabs who migrated to the area after the fall of the Egyptian civilization. You can be African and not be black. Akasha is also described as being marble white with green eyes and she was from Kemet, not Egypt and she was pale before being turned as shown in the graphic novels. Not saying they can't change it for the show or the movies and Aaliyah was a great Akasha, but what you said isn't historically correct or correct from the books. I love the new Louis and Claudia and the way they talked about race on the show was well done so there's no complaints from me.

[@VJ-bu7sp]

usually don't like forsing casting black actors just for sake of being black and social issue that we have instead of the story and art but here really works and its much better + aesthetically more pleasing. + that period of time touch a little bit of slavery witch. And not to step on any toe for me true Lestard is Sam. Sam worked his ass off just seems more "realistic" at least in my head and has more "french/european" flavour to it. then Tom Crues Lestard.

[@nuke97]

This isn't Anne Rice anymore. Its a different story all together. At this point they just tagged her name to attract attention.

[@myvirtualtoyz7338]

Not all vampires are white. But Lestat, Louis, Claudia, Armand, Marius, Pandora and others are white. If appearances didn't matter for fictional characters, all authors wouldn't be describing the characters with such specific details in their books.

[@brandonbenjamin5425]

I agree with interpretation of a character change but is the personality, origin,and look change r they really the same character…and it honestly feels like it was a pitiful hand-me down from a respected literary source.we have black vampires and if we are to have one why is he light skinned it just feels like a milquetoast attempt at inclusion or how Hollywood keeps giving black culture ginger character to black coat them and act like “hey here’s another character we forgot about u can have them”

[@igloostudio7]

What’s wrong with being Milano…the cookie I do like… I’m LMAO “Milato”… I dated a James… His brother’s name is Tom…😅😂 We only exchanged conversation…🎉🎉🎉 My favorite Actor from the 80’s is Tom Cruise…

[@igloostudio7]

Black Fish in your Area- my Baby Angel fish is dead 🎉 😢 on Christmas 🎄 …

[@igloostudio7]

I only saw one member of BTS he wore black… 🎉…😢😅…^”*! …

[@garylee7854]

I've read the trilogy and loved the books. Wat I feel the tv series was missing was the absence of any mystery at all. For me, the books were more akin to poetry and prose, an increasing revelation of who the characters were. But in the tv series, I didn't get that vibe at all.

[@cbob213]

It kind of sounds like you are whining while talking. As Lestat would say, always wHining Louis.

[@Marvelite]

Hahaha this is the most fun and cute criticism I’ve heard on my channel, thank you funny stranger.

[@riopato2009]

She sounds high or she just woke up from a deep sleep.

[@NWGhost71]

I could only do about 20 minutes and found myself bitching and critiquing to much. I disliked several things but I will probably go back and give it another try. Maybe it will grow on me.

[@remholloway2579]

Don't be too hard on yourself for not liking the show. You gave it a fair shot, I'm assuming as much since you express desire to go back and give it another chance. But it's completely understandable if as a book fan the changes are too much for you. I think as part of the fandom we need to do a better job of holding space for that. But the problem comes when people don't even give the show a chance BECAUSE Louis is black, and from there on it colors the entire view of the show. This was never meant to be a one to one recreation of the original source material, no adaptation truly is not matter how close they stick to the books; there are always going to be changes, there's always going to be slight disappointment. But if you're ok with this, and allow yourself to be open, that's when the real fun begins!

[@louwinters508]

I thought it was just boring. Just switched it off after half an hour. I'm hoping they will do something else with the vampire chronicles. Maybe the Vampire Lestat. And actually sticking as near as possible to the book.

[@Spiritinthemate]

New Louis' still pretty bad casted. His looks don't fit the character in my opinion. Not because he's black, but because he looks boring

[@-Mister-_._-Sir-]

I mean I am not racist either, so I guess I would not have an issue if new blade reboot changed blade into being white.

[@BloodSweatandFears]

Right. The point is changing peoples favorite characters isn’t cool. Also just race swapping isn’t fair to the black community, they deserve original good stories and characters. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

[@-Mister-_._-Sir-]

@@BloodSweatandFears to put it simply, I agree with you. To expand on it, I got to say this. It's not really a secret that a lot of western media been dominated by white characters. I also understand that people usually create something they can or want to relate to the most. So many writers/creators make characters akin to themselves in some way. There some black only, Asian only, Indian only movies and stories and not once have I went "where the white people at?" That's just not fair to ask someone to please everyone while also being talked shit to. Swapping race also not only lazy and obvious pandering but it's also kinda insulting in my opinion. It's much harder to create new characters but easiest route hardly ever the right one.

[@BloodSweatandFears]

@@-Mister-_._-Sir- Couldn’t have said it better myself 😂

[@raymonenorwood7296]

👍🏾

[@raymonenorwood7296]

@@-Mister-_._-Sir- absolutely agree

[@_ifrit]

I did try to like this show, gave it more than 2 episodes but after always loving EVERYTHING from Anne Rice, this was just an extreme letdown. They had such good source material and just eh. I was expecting something great and got something mediocre.

[@joshuacovey3437]

When you use "like" as an adjective, you loose credibility for doing a review, and you should read the books again cause obviously you don't remember properly

[@mariamunie0696]

Horrible. And Lestat is one of the most repulsive characters Anne Rice created (which is good because he’s an anti-hero). Great review, but Lestat/Louis relationship was not romantic, he saw Louis more as hi minion and wanted Louis’ estate to hide himself and his father.

[@TheBeelzeboss]

You didn't read past the first book, did you? Lestat was a millionaire, he didnt care about money. Louis thought he did because he didnt know the first thing about him.

[@riopato2009]

The show title is misleading. This isn't the book of the same name but a second interview which supposedly tells the true story in which Louis lied about in the book. Not sure why didn't they just title the show The Vampire Chronicles. It would explain why Lestat is more like Lestat in his own book in this show. It's assumed that Louis didn't really wanted to tell the truth about Lestat in the first interview since they hadn't see each other for a long time during that first interview.

[@riopato2009]

@@TheBeelzeboss readers of the first book who didn't read the series of later books wouldn't know that Louis was only telling his perspective and of course didn't make Lestat seem more complex than what he is.

[@TheBeelzeboss]

@@riopato2009 Thats what I mean. The 2nd book TVL was released like 40y ago, no excuse to stop at the the first out of 15 books if you're gonna call yourself a fan, talk about Anne Rice's creations and offer opinions about it like she did. And if she did read the rest, well, I have no words.

[@riopato2009]

@@TheBeelzeboss I think TVL took place 40years after interview in the book. Anne wrote the book a decade later. She was quoted as falling in love with her lestat character she had to make amends of her portrayal of him in interview. The tv series seems to incorporate the real Lestat and Louis's 2nd interview feels like he's gotten over his grudge against Lestat.

[@riven241]

How can people having a problem with the changing of characters make them racist? That takes away from a legitimate gripe of changing story and character. For example Louie is a slave owner in the book and a white guy. The problem is by changing Louie you change the story and his issues with immortality and guilt of owning people later in his story. Being a whiny and reluctant vampire looking for connection and redemption is his character. To change that is changing the story for something different.

[@richardstevens2052]

White people complain about their culture being fucked with and back washed they are racists, white people even dare to emulate black culture it is cultural appropriation. One of the many huge double standards we are supposed to just live with these days.