Review of Queen of the Damned (2002) by Becky A — 14 Mar 2012

I think the best way to deal with the disappointment that is Queen of the Damned is to forget that it ever existed. The screenplay was adapted from two (yes they combined The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned) Anne Rice novels which is still one of my personal favourites. The first book in the Vampire Chronicles was adapted for the big screen and became the highly acclaimed "Interview with the Vampire". I liked the second and third book much more than the first; so why is Queen of the damned so bad?

1) Terrible casting. Stuart Townsend's Lestat is no match for Tom Cruise. Don't even get met started on Matthew Norton as Armand. I'm not surpised he hasn't done much since.

2) Music. Lestat's band sounded to much like Korn - Jonothan Davies from Korn did the vocals so it isn't surprising, but it put me off . Everything felt semi ripped-off; that sounds kinda like Placebo, that sounds like Smashing Pumpkins...They rather should have gone with something original.

3) Make-up; What the hell were they thinking when they did Armand? Why did they try to make it look Gothic? The stylist obviously doesn't know anything about Korn - they are anything but gothic.

4) The cinematic adaption of books should stand on their own two feet. Unfortunately I've read the books multiple times and as I've said I'm a huge fan. I just couldn't handle the pointless changes they made to the story. Imagine how upset Tolkien fans would have been if they changed anything in the book.

Ten years on and my opinion hasn't changed a bit. They should remove Anne Rice's name from this mess and try again.