How could a movie with such high production values get so much wrong? 1. With exceptions of Mahatet and Akasha, the entire cast was, well, miscast! Lestat is constantly described by Anne Rice as tall (got that right), with long full blonde hair (oops!), and was French (oops again!) Lestat was turned into a vampire not by Marius, who was described as being very tall (oops!), with long flowing blonde hair - the Kelts that kidnapped him in the book kept him captive until his hair grew long. He was the illegitimate son of an Italian father by a Keltic slave woman. 2. Lestat was actually turned into a vampire by an old (as on he was old when he stole the blood from a vampire to make himself immortal) vampire, told Lestat a few basic things, gave him his wealth and a tower in Paris, then promptly killed himself by going into a fire. Lestat was now alone in Paris, having traveled there with the son of a rich merchant neighbor, Nicolo, who played the violin. 3. Lestat learned to love and play the violin, not from a random gypsy he met on a beach, but from watching and listening to his beloved childhood friend, Nicolo. 4. Lestat met Marius, not on an island as the vampire who brought Lestat immortality, but in Egypt, where Lestat had eventually wandered with Gabrielle, his mother, whom he had rescued from near death from consumption, turning her into a vampire as his companion. 5. Akasha was killed, not by Maharet drinking the last of her blood after Akasha had been drained by the other vampires at Maharet's compound, butby Maharet's tongueless, mute twin sister, Mekare, who tore Akasha's head off, taking the demon spirit into herself, not into Maharet. I can understand changing around a few things in a movie to make the plot run more smoothly, but to get so many things completely wrong, is just plain wrong! Blonde hair versus dark brown hair may not sound like much, but Lestat was known to be very vain about his appearance, and big brautiful fluffy long hair seems right - aside from the fact that Tom Cruise had long blonde hair in the prequel to this (albeit he was almost half a foot shorter than Stuart Townsend), and I doubt that list start would have died his hair brown every morning after having had blonde hair for so long! Another messed up element is one of Lestat's sidekicks, Louis, who was nowhere to be found in this movie. In her book, Anne Rice had Louis spend the night before the concery with the band at Lestat's secure compound in Carmel, California, and rode with them to the concert, which took place not in Death Valley but in San Framcisco. In her book, Marius is described as being of a towering height due to his Keltic forbears, even taller than Lestat's described 6 foot height. I don't know who wrote the script, but it wasn't Anne Rice...at times the actors seem to be speaking lines straight out of a bad soap opera. The movie us, at times, a fun one, but it would have been 10 times better had the scriptwriter kept to the story and to Anne Rice's characterizations. I was expecting so much more, but I was truly disappointed!

Queen of the Damned is a 2002 vampire horror film and a loose adaptation of the third novel of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, The Queen of the Damned, although the film contains many plot elements from the latter novel's predecessor, The Vampire Lestat. It stars Aaliyah as the vampire queen Akasha, and Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat. Queen of the Damned was released six months after Aaliyah's death and is dedicated to her memory.Vampire Lestat is awakened from decades of slumber by the sound of a heavy metal band which he proceeds to take over as the lead singer. Achieving international success and planning a massive live concert, Lestat is approached by Marius, and warned that the vampires of the world will not tolerate his flamboyant public profile.Jesse Reeves, a researcher for the paranormal studies group Talamasca, is intrigued by Lestat's lyrics and tells the rest of the group her theory that he really is a vampire. Her mentor, David Talbot, takes her aside and tells her they know he is and that a vampire called Marius made him. He also shows her Lestat's journal that he recovered and is now in the Talamasca library. In a flashback to his origins, Lestat recalls how he awoke Akasha, the first vampire, with his music. Jesse tracks him down to a London vampire club where he saves and confronts her. She later goes to Los Angeles for the concert and gives him back his journal. The two spend some time together and Lestat shows her both the horrors and the perks of being a vampire. Showing him that she's not scared of him Jesse stays with Lestat as she sees how lonely and miserable he is. She asks him to turn her as she reveals that it's her dream to be a vampire, but he refuses as he won't do it to her. The more time they spend together, the closer they become and soon Lestat and Jesse start to fall in love. Meanwhile Akasha is awakened by Lestat's new music. She arrives and torches the club, and all the vampires inside, who want Lestat dead.At the concert in Death Valley, a mob of vampires attack Lestat and Marius. Akasha bursts through the stage and takes Lestat with her as her new King. The two vampires then proceed to have a sort of sexual intercourse in Akasha's home where they mutually feed on one another. During which time Lestat becomes spellbound by Akasha and is forced to obey her. Empowered by Akasha's blood, Lestat and the Queen confront the Ancient Vampires at the home of Maharet, Jesse's aunt, who is an Ancient Vampire. The Ancient Vampires were planning to kill Akasha, to save the human world from demise. Akasha then commands Lestat to kill Jesse as The Queen sees her both as an enemy and as food as she is Maharet's mortal niece and Maharet is a big enemy of Akasha's. Queen Akasha also wanted to make an example out of Jesse because Jesse dared to stand-up to her and to put fear into the other vampires. Lestat ostensibly obeys the Queen, but afterwards he quickly comes to his senses and is released from her power. He then very angrily turns and begins to drain Akasha's blood with the help of the Ancients. Mael and Pandora are killed by Akasha's power. Armand is almost killed, but is saved as The Queen's powers diminish. Maharet is the last to drink Akasha's blood, and thereby ends up becoming a marble "statue". Maharet then becomes the new Queen Of the Damned.Lestat then turns and walks to where Jesse is lying lifeless, and cradling her in his arms, gives her his blood, turning her into a vampire. Jesse, now a vampire, and Lestat then return the journal to the Talamasca, and walk away, among mortals, into the night. As they exit it is shown that they are now a couple and hold hands while Marius enters the Talamasca. The film closes with a scene of David reading the journal as Marius's voice catches his attention, cheerfully saying, "Hello, David."

The low score on here is not from a majority of 5/10 scores given by viewers after watching a borderline bad movie but much more a reflection of how passionately Anne Rice fans feel about somebody altering the content of their beloved Vampire Chronicles. This is no relation to Interview with a Vampire which was closely based on the book. Queen of the Damned is only loosely based on the original and there are some significant changes to the story and certain characters, even to the extreme of characters being left out completely.I myself am a huge fan of the books, but am also realistic enough to accept that the books contain such detail that they do not lend themselves easily to screen, except perhaps in the form of a film series such as The Lord of the Rings. So, as a stand alone vampire movie that is heavily influenced by the book, any grievances can be left outside.The film's story (spoilers!) in brief then, tells us about Lestat (Stuart Townsend), who has been at rest for decades but stimulated by the sounds of the time he rises, soon becoming the front-man of a successful metal band. Publicly admitting that he is a vampire and revealing vampire secrets within his lyrics soon draws the attention of the authorities, both of the living and the un-dead. It even wakes up the original vampire Akasha (Aaliyah), a very different creature to the rest of them, with near god like powers and an insatiable blood lust.We learn of Lestat's past life and of his creator Marius (Vincent Perez). We also meet a few of the other Ancients, namely Maharet, as the aunt of another main character, the Talamaskan Jesse who develops a fascination with Lestat. Jesse is the link the ancients have to the living but she soon becomes caught in the middle of the action.Marius therefore is a change from the book where he is not Lestat's creator, and the changes don't end there, however he is a compelling character and is well played by Perez. The plot is far from complex and has holes, but then it was never intended on being taken too seriously. Accept it for what it is and not what it isn't. It is not an accurate adaptation of the book to film, but as a stand-alone vampire movie inspired by it, what's left is a decent and entertaining vampire movie.The soundtrack of the movie is from Jonathan Davis of Korn, and other famous names from the industry including Maralyn Manson feature so the movie gives a very credible musical contribution from what is ultimately a fictitious rock band. This aspect is worth consideration after all, as if it had not been good, this film could have stunk!

Lestat de Lioncourt is awakened from his slumber and bored with his existence, has now become this generations new Rock God. While in the course of time, another has arisen, Akasha, the Queen of the Vampires and the Damned. He want's immortal fame, his fellow vampires want him eternally dead for his betrayal, and the Queen want's him for her King. Who will be the first to reach him and Who shall win the final battle of the vampires and survive.......There are some films that never need a sequel, despite the fact hat the first was based on a best selling collection. Interview With A Vampire was a phenomenal movie, and changed the way the vampire movie was imagined for a few years.It was classy, sultry, and Cruise conquered the screen as Lestat.So eight years later, this movie was as welcome as a hole in the head, and was just a blatant cash in for those good ol' greedy folk at Warner Bros'I haven't read the scourge material, and forgive me if I'm wrong, but who in the right mind would bring back a very sinister signature character, and have him try to conquer his race by becoming a Rock Star. In the hands of Rea, its possible that it could have been something, and he may have coaxed Cruise back in the title role, but no, we get an out of his depth Townsend trying to emulate the panache cruise had with ease eight years prior.And despite his best efforts, it's no surprises that he fails, and the fact he is carrying the film only adds insult, the audience know he isn't Cruise, so detach away from him.And I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but Aaliyah is awful in her role, and spends her screen time movie really strangely and hissing her lines.It's a worthless sequel, most of the cast know this, and I feel sorry for Townsend, he's a decent actor otherwise.