For horror aficionados this film needs no introduction. Jordan infuses Anne Rice’s best-seller with life, beauty and an hypnotic visual quality, even if at times it seems to remain at an aesthetic distance. The film stars box office draws Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the lead roles, both of whom offer convincing performances despite Rice’s most public fears. It chronicles the life of a highly sensitive and romantic ‘undead’, Louis (Pitt), who is unable to come to terms with his vampire nature and his need to kill, as well as his interaction with other vampires, principally his maker (Cruise), which lead to much critical discussion about the homo-erotic content. Together with their young companion, Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) the two vampires become a parody of the nuclear family. The film charts over 200 years and brings us to present-day San Francisco, where Louis mingles with ordinary Americans at the cinema. Like so many contemporary open-ended horrors, there is a final twist, which is here accompanied by the song ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. As ever, Jordan’s use of music is carefully chosen to be complementary and ironic.
U.S.A., 1994. Colour. Dolby stereo SR. 122 mins.