AMC+’s excellentInterview with the Vampirehas bloody moments to rival the goriest horror movies. The gothic horror drama was released in 2022 and is in the middle of adaptingAnne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. This pioneering creator of gothic horror and fantasy novels popularized the vampire as an antihero, stepping away from the vampire as a villain. These complex works contain some of the most impressive character studies in the genre. It is good to see that the show is embracing this while welcoming full-blown horror.
Rolin Jones' critically acclaimed show is just as romantic as it is gruesome, which is exactly how it should be. Jones flawlessly cast Australian actor Sam Reid as Lestat de Lioncourt and Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac, the show’s two lead roles.Interview with the Vampireseason 3will adaptThe Vampire Lestat, the second book in the series, and looks set to continue the show’s uncanny respect for its source material. Lestat will take over from Louis as the main character in season 3 in what will likely be a bloody modern-day version of the ’80s story. In doing so, the show will become even more brutal, but there have already been shocking moments.
10Louis Disemboweling Fenwick
Season 1, Episode 3
InInterview with the Vampireseason 1, tensions between Louis de Pointe du Lac and rival club owners reached a head andLouis ended up brutally killing a local official. The unfortunate victim was one Alderman Fenwick, who had shown himself as a total miscreant from the get-go. As such, while his bloody and public disemboweling was horror gold, it was a strangely triumphant moment.
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Lestat de Lioncourt may be the best Anne Rice character, so it stands to reason he would have some of the best lines in Interview with the Vampire.
Louis broke into his home and terrified him with his deathless nature, surviving multiple shots to the heart from Fenwick.Louis sliced off an ear and left Fenwick to try and stem the bloodwhile he realized his impending doom. This came quickly and left Fenwick strung up on a gate in New Orleans with his guts hanging out of him in one ofInterview with the Vampire’smost horrifying moments.
9Louis Beheading Santiago
Season 2, Episode 8
The final episode ofInterview with the Vampireseason 2tied up its loose ends masterfully, but Louis lost the plot. After being imprisoned and starved, Louis was in no mind to be taking any prisoners himself.Louis took his revenge on the Theatre des Vampiresfor their murder of Claudia and Madeleine in a savage sequence of violence, starting with burning down their theater.
The screams of the vampires could be heard coming from their coffins as the place burnt down. Ignoring the wailing, Louis continued on to his pièce de résistance - his hunting down of Santiago, the ringleader of the rebellious vampires. Of course, later events would reveal that his true enemy was closer at hand than he thought. However,Louis made sure to chop Santiago’s head offso that he couldn’t heal from Louis' attack.
8Louis’s Suicide By Sun
Season 2, Episode 5
Louis' confrontation with the sun constituted one ofInterview with the Vampire’smost alarming moments.Lestat’s story inInterview with the Vampireis fraught with misdeeds and misadventures, but for all his villainy, Louis commits many of the show’s atrocities. And yet, his most horrifying moment was an act of self-violence. Revealed in a flashback,Louis thrust himself into the sun.
Interview with the Vampirecan be streamed on Hoopla and Spectrum TV in the U.S.
This is akin to death for vampires, as they can’t tolerate the rays of the sun. Exposed to the sun’s burning rays for long enough to seriously injure him but not long enough to kill him, Louis was rescued by Armand. This resulted in Armand’s creepy nursing of Louis back to health, forcing him to remain by his side.The sight of Louis' burn wounds was a lingering horror, featuring impressive prosthetics.
7A Corpse Falling Out Of Claudia’s Closet
Season 1, Episode 5
Claudia collects corpses and their various body parts throughoutInterview with the Vampireseason 1, resulting in some of the show’s most unsavory scenes.The child vampire was probably the most uncompromisingof the coven, even considering Lestat’s gratuitous aggression. The hunger of a child without the scruples of an adult resulted in Claudia storing one corpse in her closet.
It fell out in one extremely tragicomic moment just after the police officers left the building. This grotesque moment was just as funny as it was disgusting, playing up to Rolin Jones' strengths in the series. Understanding its difficult subject matter with a strange amount of sensitivity,Claudia’s decaying body was a reminder of the reality of vampirism, knocking the romance of the lifestyle on the head.
6Lestat Puppeteering A Severed Head
Season 1, Episode 6
Lestat remorselessly killed the conductor on a train journey, dressed up in his clothes, and used his head as a puppet. It could be said that Claudia’s playful attitude to killing is made understandable by the fact that she is uniquely both a child and a vampire - children were not allowed to be turned into vampires in the books, for obvious reasons. However,Lestat has no excuse for his serial killer behavior. Although all vampires are inherently serial killers, theInterview with the Vampirecharactersare explored through the harsh lens of a modern-day crime thriller.
Lestat remorselessly killed the conductor on a train journey, dressed up in his clothes, and used his head as a puppet.
The Anne Rice booksare particularly good at interrogating the traditional norms and values of the horror and fantasy genres, and the show reflected this well in its depiction of Lestat. Doomed against his will to a life of vampirism,Lestat must drink blood to live, with animals a poor substitute. This lifestyle is explored by Louis in the show, but the reality is complex. Lestat chooses murder over his own death and doesn’t shy away from the horror of his reality, which, oddly, is somewhere between deranged and courageous.
5Lestat’s Murder In The Church
Season 1, Episode 1
Setting the pace for a series that would never let up in its harshness or its surprises,Lestat slaughtered a priest in a church, proving to Louis that his attachment to his faith was nothing compared to him.Interview with the Vampireloudly declared its horror influences in this Exorcist-like scene of carnage. For a first episode of a first season, it was gutsy for the show to take on religion from a sociopolitical standpoint, eschewing cheap horror thrills. Perhaps even more horrific than the image of Lestat looming over the priest like a monster was Louis' loss of self in Lestat’s total control.
Lestat’s seduction of Louis impressively made the dead priest fade into the background.
Having recently lost his brother to suicide,Louis had been at his brother’s funeral while Lestat called to him telepathically, causing Louis to run to a church, seeking salvation. Needless to say, this backfired on Lestat’s arrival. Right on the borderline between love and manipulation, Lestat’s seduction of Louis impressively made the dead priest fade into the background, which is testimony to Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson’s performance.
4Lestat Dropping Louis To His Doom
Exhibiting his “cloud gift” for the first time,Lestat beat Louis to a pulp and flew with him into the clouds before dropping him to his doom. Although Louis wasn’t to die from the impact of the ground, he would be recovering in agony for months, coming to understand a torture unique to vampires. Nearly impossible to kill, they can survive horrendous injuries that would mercifully extinguish the life of a human.
Lestat may not be quite as evil as seasons 1 and 2 would have viewers believe.
The show’s horror elements are always balanced impressively with its human drama. Whilethe visceral mess of Louis' face in his fight with Lestat and likewise Lestat’s faceis shocking, the emotional pain of the breakdown of this incredible relationship is somehow yet more shocking. Viewers can’t help but ship Lestat with Louis, which may have something to do with Louis' unreliability as a narrator. Lestat may not be quite as evil as seasons 1 and 2 would have viewers believe.
3Armand Keeping Daniel Suspended In A Squat
Armand and Daniel’s story inInterview with the Vampireis a fan favorite for good reason, making Armand’s torture scene particularly difficult. Interestingly,the show’s most horrific moments really all occur between its main charactersbecause viewers are made to care so much about them. The vampires' victims are the subject of horror that gets examined and respected, but the gore pales in comparison to Armand’s potential for cruelty.
Daniel Molloy Can Secretly Become One Of Interview With The Vampire’s Most Powerful Characters
Daniel Molloy is an exceptional character in Anne Rice’s world for a few reasons, and Interview with the Vampire is taking that and running with it.
Book readers will know that the future - or the past - holds something particularly special in store for Armand and Daniel. Running on flashbacks and poignant and timely cuts to the modern day,Interview with the Vampiredidn’t quite confirm its timeline for a while and still hasn’t fully done so. Even without the sharpness of knowing the consequences that the torture may have on Daniel’s story,Armand’s attitude is chilling.
2Paul Jumping Off The Roof
Paul jumping off the roof in season 1, episode 1, is undoubtedly one ofInterview with the Vampire’smost shocking and devastating moments.The suicide of Louis' brother took viewers by surprisejust as much as it did Louis, which was rather the point. The wedding Louis was at with his brother seemed like a turning point between the two, and it seemed as if things were getting better.
This was the cruelty of the twist of fate that had Paul step off the roof as simply as if he were taking a step down a flight of stairs. Plummeting to his doom in the beautiful sunset,Paul sent Louis' path spiraling into a fate as tragic as it was empowering. Louis only really seemed to get over his brother’s death by the end of season 2, but this character development felt more earned due to the profound shock and horror of Paul’s final moments in season 1.
1Claudia & Madeline Turning To Ash
Season 2, Episode 7
Through all the violent butchery of vampire victims inInterview with the Vampire,the show’s most appalling character deaths may have been Claudia and Madeleine. All vampires in the show are incredibly sympathetic, which says a lot about the humanity of Anne Rice and the show’s screenwriters. But Claudia may be the show’s most innocent character, stolen by Louis and Lestat in their dual turning of her from a dying girl to vampire.
Robbed of her chance at adulthood, Claudia’s choice was suicide or immortality in the body of a 14-year-old girl. Her strength was palpable and Madeleine’s addition to the show underlined it well.Claudia and Madeleine were murdered by the Theatre des Vampiresin a terrifying display of supernatural horror. They both crumbled into ash as the sunlight burnt them to death, making for one of the saddest and scariest moments ofInterview with the Vampire.
Interview with the Vampire
Cast
Based on Anne Rice’s novel series that began in 1976, Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror fantasy series that explores the life of Louis de Pointe du Lac through an interview with a journalist. Told through flashbacks of Louis' life during the interview, the series examines Louis' relationship with the vampire that turned him, Lestat de Lioncourt, and a teenage girl named Claudia, whom he turns. The series is the first of Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe media franchise.
