“So Mr. Dulac, how long have you been dead?”
What is Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire about? Who stars in Interview with the Vampire Season 1, Episode 1?
This is a review and recap for “Interview with the Vampire” – Season 1 Episode 1, “In Throes of Increasing Wonder….”
Viewer beware – Spoilers below!
Interview with the Vampire Season 1, Episode 1: Recap
Anne Rice’s much-loved vampires series returns to screens 28 years after Neil Jordan’s well-regarded film, twenty years after the less favoured ‘Queen of the Damned’ and less than a year after the passing of Rice herself, this time as a big-budget series from AMC. And based on this first episode, the creators have satisfactorily updated Rice’s text in many ways while still staying true to her intent and characters.
‘In Throes of Increasing Wonder’ introduces us to the interviewer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), as a middle-aged journalist who receives a mysterious package containing the tapes from his initial interview many years previous. Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson – best known as Greyworm from Game of Thrones) lures Molloy to his current home in Dubai (a place where money can buy anonymity) to complete his story. Interview with the Vampire posits that Molloy (known as the Boy in the novel & played by an ill-fated Christian Slater in the ‘94 film) never included the original interviews in a book, a slightly unconvincing and unneeded retcon to bring the story into the present day.
After that, we are whisked back to 1910 New Orleans (itself an update from the slavery era of the novel), where Louis is a wealthy brothel owner in the Storyville precinct. Making Louis a wealthy black man in the early 20th Century is a welcome change, as it gives the show more scope to examine race and inequality while also giving us the romantic vampire action the text promises. Despite the grudging respect Louis is afforded by the white businessmen of the city, they are quick to remind him of his perceived place when they try to lowball him in a business deal.
Enter the Vampire Lestat De Lioncourt (Sam Reid), a debonair and seductive presence who first spies Louis when he fights with his troubled brother Paul in the street. Lestat appears to be smitten instantly, and it isn’t long before he insinuates himself into Louis’ life, through a shared friendship with prostitute Lily. As in the book and earlier film, Lestat is still an antagonistic figure, but Reid plays him as much more hypnotic and sensuous than Cruise’s cocky and self-absorbed take, and we can see why Louis is both repelled but ultimately drawn to him.
Before long, Louis has brought Lestat home to meet the family, in a tense dinner scene that reveals the vampire’s scant regard for religion, an attitude that draws the ire of Paul, who is immediately suspicious of the French gentleman. This leads to a family tragedy for Louis following his sister’s wedding and sees him ostracised from his family.
Finally, torn between his desires for the vampire and loyalty to his family, Louis seeks solace in the church, only to be violently interrupted by Lestat and ultimately turned to the dark side.
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So what does this new iteration have to offer the subgenre in 2022, after countless vampire properties from the swooning romance of Twilight, the dark violence of 30 Days of Night and the sleazy fun of True Blood? Well, there is the aforementioned racial aspect, which, while not at the forefront of the narrative, is keenly felt and will hopefully be further explored.
Then there is the explicitly queer love story between the two lead characters, which was chastely hinted at in the 1994 film, but is fully realised here. The attraction between Louis and Lestat is helped immeasurably by the performances and chemistry between Anderson and Reid. And if it is this strong in only the first episode, it bodes well for the rest of the series as their relationship becomes more complicated.
And for a modern horror show from the network that gave us ‘The Walking Dead’, it is also satisfyingly bloody. When Lestat attacks his prey, it is often a vicious, animalistic assault, spraying blood and in one scene where he stops a fleeing priest, gleefully gory.
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Interview with the Vampire Season 1, Episode 1: Review
My one complaint is that this pilot episode feels a touch rushed, by the end of the episode, Louis and Lestat’s romance is in full swing, Louis has been turned, and it won’t be too long before the child vampire Claudia will be introduced. I would have preferred a more slow-burn approach to this introduction and spread it over several episodes. Then the tragedy of Louis’ family would’ve been more affecting, and his burgeoning attraction to Lestat could also have been elongated. It feels like a whirlwind love/hate romance, whereas it needed a touch more breathing room.
But fans of the book shouldn’t have too much to complain about. ‘Interview With the Vampire’, while faithful, has been reinterpreted into a smart, entertaining show while staying true to the sense of history, romance and horror that endeared Rice’s work to her huge fan base.
Interview With the Vampire is available to watch on AMC+
Who are the Interview with the Vampire Actors?
- Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac
- Sam Reid as Lestat de Lioncourt
- Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy
- Bailey Bass as Claudia
- Assad Zaman as Rashid, Louis’s familiar in 2022
- Steven Norfleet as Paul de Pointe du Lac, Louis’s brother
- Kalyne Coleman as Grace de Pointe du Lac, Louis’s sister
- Rae Dawn Chong as Florence de Pointe du Lac, Louis’s mother
- Jeff Pope as Finn O’shea
- Chris Stack as Thomas “Tom” Anderson
- Luke Brandon Field as Young Daniel Molloy
- Rachel Handler as Peg-Leg Doris
- John DiMaggio as Alderman Fenwick
- Dana Gourrier as Bricktop Williams
- Christian Robinson as Levi Freniere
- Maura Grace Athari as Antoinette, a blues singer
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