queen of the damned.....sad (1 Viewer)

[paul watkins]

whats up with this movie? it felt like a bad 80's flick,from the acting to the horrible framed speed movement,what was that?

i had pretty high expectations,considering it was a sequel of sorts of interview with a vampire(witch is my fav vampire movie).none of the vampires were very convincing to me.oh well 15 bucks.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Yeah, I've read the books and liked the first movie, but I've known for a while now not to get my hopes up for this movie. I'll probably rent it, but I'm not expecting much and definitely won't be buying. It's too bad, the 2nd and 3rd books could have made really good movies.

 

[Chris Moe]

I had the displeasure of watching it last night. I had a strong feeling it was going to stink and boy was I right. I am a huge fan of the books and this movie was just disrespectful to the source material. I'm glad I didn't buy it, but then again, I never make blind purchases, thats what netflix is for. Speaking of which I got it on release day from Netflix
The video quality was good, as was the sound though.

 

[Bolivar G]

I happened to enjoy this movie. Surprised me and was way better than what I was expecting. I loved all the music in the movie. I never read the books and went in watching as a complete seperate film on to itself and not a sequel of Interview of the Vampire. Maybe thats why I enjoyed the movie more.

 

[Steve Phillips]

The rumors are that an unnamned premium cable network is very interested in doing a VAMPIRE CHRONICLES mini series, with Anne Rice being involved. I think this is the way to go. It if is the network I'm thinking of, they haven't been afraid of pushing the envelope and I think we'd see a very faithful adaptation. Hopefully this will become a reality.

 

[Bolivar G]

If its HBO, maybe they can do it like the Sopranos. I really enjoy that series

 

[paul watkins]

the sound and video was good.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I got this Monday, and have watched it twice, once without and once with the commentary.

IF you haven't read the books, and not seen Interview, it's a popcorn flick at best, and not a particularly good one, with the now usual almost total lack of character development and rushed feel to it.

The commentary is mostly the director and producer self-justifying the merciless hatchet job they did on Anne Rice's work. They repeatedly mention how they didn't have time for this or that, which is bad enough as it would not have taken that long to at least let us know who those extra characters were at the end. The names of most of the ancients like Armand, Mael, and others who appear in the movie's climax aren't even mentionned in the movie--we have no idea who they are or why they are there, they might as well be extras. This is a shame as they did choose actors for the parts that look very much like what Rice described in her books.

On top of that they lamely try to excuse their total changing of some of the basic tenets of Rice's vampire world, i.e. the killing only of evildoers and the Vamp's telepathic powers.

Getting the music they wanted was so much more important to these clowns than any kind of even basic adherence to the novel(s), as if all they really wanted was a showcase for the music.

They do mention at least twice on the commentary that a tv miniseries is in the works, and that that would be a better format for fully depicting the books anyway than a theatrical length film.

While this is correct--Stephen King's The Stand could not be done in a theatrical format film--they certainly could have done a better job themselves if they'd done one book, either Vampire LeStat or Queen of the Damned, instead of trying to cram both books into one film, and added another 20 minutes of running time. Interview, which ran 21 minutes longer than Queen of the Damned pretty accurately presented that one book.

 

[Joseph Young]

the 2nd and 3rd books could have made really good movies.

The Queen of the Damned has always been my least favorite of the 1st three Vampire Chronicles Books. However, the second book, The Vampire Lestat is my absolute favorite of the bunch. If filmed by a capable auteur, this could have been an extremely epic, challenging and gorgeous film. Instead, they hijacked the worst novel and used it as an excuse to showboat the latest Billboard top 40 Nu Metal pap. Sad...

~j

 

[Eric Fisher]

it's too bad that "Queen of the Damned" was Aaliyah's final movie. :frowning:

 

[Jeff Adams]

Man, I have this reserved for tomorrow night, but this sounds like a waste of time. Is this movie really that bad? Is it even worth the rental or should I wait for it on HBO?

 

[Jan Strnad]

I bailed on this one after seeing the trailers.

Jan

 

[Malcolm R]

Odd how Anne Rice whined continuously about the first film and the casting of Tom Cruise, yet it turned out to be a pretty good adaptation. Yet, if I recall, she fully embraced and praised "Queen" before its release. :rolleyes

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Anne Rice objected strenuosly when Tom Cruise was chosen to play LeStat but did an about face on the subject after seeing the film. She discusses this in the special features on the 2nd release of Interview.

I don't remember what her public reaction to QoD was, if any.

I strongly suspect she hated it but either shut up about it or agreed to go along publicly in exchange for the promise of a miniseries that would actually have some vague resemblance to her books.

 

[Henry Carmona]

I didnt expect it to be a great film at all.

I enjoyed it for what it was, and Aaliyah looked beautiful!

I bought it.

 

[Malcolm R]

Anne Rice's official statement after viewing the Director's screening of QOTD:

"QUEEN OF THE DAMNED is an energetic and innovative rendition of the Vampire Chronicles, featuring fine performances, and a magnificent look. Well directed, elegant and intriguing, the film is surely destined to take its place among notable modern interpretations of vampire mythology."

 

[Jason Adams]

I heard that she volunteered to write the script, but Warners declined!