Why this lavish retelling of the vampire story is worth a watch over Christmas

The Independent

Yes, you've seen this story told before, but the TV series of Interview With The Vampire is a great spin on the tale.It's lush, lavish and being a TV series, it's allowed AMC to really open up and let the story breathe to great effect. And it's why it's Jacob Stolworthy's ninth pick for his 12 days of Christmas round up.

Transcript

00:00On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a vampire TV show you really need to see.

00:05Who are you, Louie?

00:06I'm the reticent vampire of the night, Theron D. Small.

00:10I walk the night, capturing disappointment and regret.

00:14Wait, stop the tape.

00:17Now, when I put on Interview with the Vampire, which is a TV adaptation of Anne Rice's Vampire

00:23Chronicles, on a flight, thinking it was just gonna be some throwaway rubbish to pass the time,

00:29it's probably one of the most underrated shows on TV at the moment.

00:34It's absolutely fantastic.

00:35And, of course, you will know that Interview with the Vampire was made into a film in 1994,

00:38starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst.

00:42Here we have Jacob Anderson playing Louie de Pont-du-Lac,

00:46who is turned into a vampire by Lestat de Léoncourt, who's played by the absolutely

00:50fantastic Sam Reid.

00:51I mean, this guy was not on my radar.

00:53He's brilliant.

00:54He's better than Cruise was in the film.

00:56He really embodies the role of this powerful, you know, centuries-old vampire who has got

01:03this guy under his spell.

01:04And then they bring in young girls, played by Kirsten Dunst in the original, and it really

01:08messes with their dynamic.

01:10But it's set to the backdrop of Louie, years on in this contemporary age that we're living in,

01:15recounting his story to a journalist.

01:17So, yeah, the show, it throws you back a full three times.

01:21It's got a rhythm to it that's really intoxicating.

01:25It's really well done.

01:26I think the production values are high.

01:27It's made by AMC in America, so, you know, they did The Walking Dead, so they got a bit

01:33of money behind it.

01:34Available in England to watch on BBC iPlayer, and it's coming back for a third series,

01:39thankfully, because if it did get cancelled, I would have probably launched a petition

01:44to save it.

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