QUEEN OF THE DAMNED

Starring: Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez, Paul McGann and Aaliyah
Director: Michael Ryman
Running Time: 101 mins
Certificate: 15

Available to buy on DVD 28th October

As the pain of immortality became more and more unbearable, the Vampire Lestat (Townsend) decided that sleep would be his only escape. He was awoken years later by a new sound that may add some excitement to his everlasting life of loneliness. Seeing it as a chance to be noticed, something that is totally against the vampire code, he becomes the new sensation of rock music. With his lyrics revealing secrets of the vampire life, he draws attention to every immortal but his music has also awoken an evil from his past, the first of the vampire race, Akasha (Aaliyah) Queen of the Damned.

Based on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, this is the sequel to the Neil Jordan directed "Interview with the Vampire" that originally starred Tom Cruise as Lestat. The film will not be remembered for this however, but as the last movie singer/actress Aaliyah made before her tragic death. It is just a shame that it isn't good enough to be a lasting tribute to the talented star.

Aaliyah's performance in the film is very good but she isn't really the star of the movie, just an underused and underdeveloped supporting character. Stepping into Mr Cruise's shoes is British actor Stuart Townsend as the Lestat, the real star of the film, and he brings a younger but more clichéd take on the character. He doesn't really have the same presence as Cruise, then again not many people do and he struggles to really make the character his own.

The main flaw of the movie however is the plot. Having not read the books I didn't really know how the story continued after "Interview" but I thought that the Lestat rock star story and the Queen of the Damned were two separate books. What I was greeted with was a very disjointed story that seemed to introduce a new subplot every twenty minutes and then never really followed up on them. A very under used supporting cast just served to add more confusion to goings on. Who were the people David (Paul McGann) and Jesse (Marguerite Moreau) were working for, why did Akasha take so long to rise and why did she kill her on husband to do it, why did the press actually think that Lestat was an actual vampire and it wasn't just a stage act? All these questions and more are never answered making the whole movie just confusing and not very rewarding.

On the plus side, the soundtrack is very good and the special effects are above average but his doesn't really make up for the substandard plot, especially when the source material deserved a lot better. For fans of Aaliyah, it might be worth a look but if you really want to honour her memory I'd buy her CD instead.

Audio commentary from director Michael Rymer and the film's producer
3 Lestat music videos
'The Music Of Lestat' - interviews
'Creating Vampires' featurette
2 extended concert sequences
'Aaliyah Remembered' featurette
Additional scenes
Stills gallery
'Cold' music video by Static X
Gag reel
Interactive menu & Scene access