Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Fangs for the memories.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 22, 2023

Obviously (or arguably, for some) standing in the considerable shadow of Neil Jordan's star-studded 1994 film, AMC's small-screen production Interview with the Vampire once again adapts the popular Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice. The author's 2021 passing has understandably boosted interest in her work, although it's worth noting that Rice was involved with this series' development -- she's credited onscreen as an executive producer -- and thus its existence in no way a capatilziation on her death. Nor are the sweeping changes to its characters and setting meant as some sort of erasure of beloved source material. Like all successful book-to-screen adaptations, it valiantly attempts to preserve the original's tone and spirit while freshening things up to avoid a purely literal translation.

As such, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson, Game of Thrones) is decidedly not a wealthy, white plantation owner living in late 18th-century Louisiana this time around; instead, he's a closeted black man in bustling, early 20th-century New Orleans who has turned to the brothel business to ease his family's financial burdens. Louis has done extremely well for himself and kept his family in "ignorant bliss", although his devout Christian brother Paul (Steven G. Norfleet) is openly resentful of his lifestyle. Nonetheless, Louis' life is fully disrupted after the arrival of dashing Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid, The Newsreader), a wealthy Frenchman who immediately takes a liking to him and even uses telepathic means to communicate directly. The morning after his sister's marriage, tragedy strikes Louis' family and he's sent into a downward spiral of grief and depression, unable to cope with the loss -- not to mention the judgmental blame of his mother Florence (Rae Dawn Chong, The Color Purple) -- and, having already been "comforted" by Lestat once before, fully gives into his urges. All the while, a series of brutal murders has left a growing pile of bloodless corpses and, soon enough, the extent of Lestat's mysterious and hypnotizing nature is fully revealed.

Much like previous adaptations, portions of of his unique life story are told by a still-youthful Louis to journalist Daniel Molloy; briefly as a young man in the 1970s (Luke Brandon Field), and later as a seasoned veteran battling Parkinson's disease (Eric Bogosian, Uncut Gems). This gap in time relates to how the first interview ended but, after receiving the original tapes and a hand-written note in the mail several decades later, the older Molloy hops a flight to Dubai where Louis now lives in a luxurious apartment built with his unique physical needs in mind. Segments of their reunion dot the landscape of Interview with the Vampire, as do brief flashbacks of their first meeting and other events, with the bulk of this first season's running time devoted to Louis' introduction to and early life with Lestat; this includes his struggles with their shared condition and, later, the introduction of a third party who they raise as their own.

I have absolutely no problems with the broad changes made to Interview with the Vampire's source material, despite the fact that its setting and character dynamics have shifted quite a bit; Louis is portrayed as a much more sympathetic character this time around, yet the clear-cut themes of race and acceptance are explored to an arguably more fulfilling degree. Unsurprisingly, this version is also more overtly attentive to the clear sexual overtones of the original -- and let's face it, most vampiric stories -- and the strong chemistry between its two leads makes this shift easier to accept. Performances are very good to excellent all around (keep an eye out for voice actor John DiMaggio in a rare live-action role) and nearly all other fundamentals are covered nicely as well, from its lavish production design to the soundtrack, cinematography, and direction, giving this first season of Interview with the Vampire an admirably focused and well-rounded start that I'd imagine most die-hard fans weren't expecting. Recently greenlit for a second season, fans can likely expect a long delay due to the ongoing WGA strike... but I've got a feeling it'll be worth the wait.

RLJ Entertainment's welcome Blu-ray edition of Season 1 clearly isn't meant to tide established fans over until then, though it'll certainly make a nice "hard copy" and broaden Interview's audience outside of current AMC+ subscribers. The good news is that this two-disc set is a fairly low-risk investment of time and money, as this first season only lasts seven episodes and it's certainly fairly priced for the amount of content included. A/V merits are solid, and we also get a bonus feature that, while unfortunately promotional rather than retrospective, adds a bit of interest.

Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally-shot Interview with a Vampire translates well enough to Blu-ray, leaving a good first impression on this set of two dual-layered discs from RLJ Entertainment. The whole show plays at a supportive bit rate with very few encoding issues, save for trace amounts of banding and black crush during its darkest moments. What remains is a mostly finely-tuned treatment that showcases its rich production design including decorative period-specific interiors, well-appointed costume design, and an appropriately dark and inviting atmosphere mostly bathed in warm earth tones (there's lots of room for red, of course). It's contrasted nicely with the more natural modern segments which, aside from the slightly confusing introductory segment in its first episode, is artfully composed with the same level of attention to detail as the much more numerous early 20th-century New Orleans footage. Overall it's an appealing presentation indeed, one that sticks mostly in 4/5 territory with occasional trips into higher quality and only a few small speed bumps along the way. Either way, this likely a much smoother and more robust presentation than its streaming counterpart.

Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unsurprisingly, Interview with the Vampire aims for "moody and atmospheric" during the bulk of these seven episodes, relying mostly on indoor conversations and other small-scale interactions; it's occasionally livened up with larger group dynamics, the requisite violent action scenes, and weather-related events, as well as supernatural freak-outs such as a near-cataclysmic event in a church at the end of the first episode. The original score likewise fills out the soundstage and occasionally ventures into the surround channels, helping to stitch together what's ultimately a robust and well-defined presentation that often shows big-screen ambitions. Likewise, this lossless track probably runs a solid lap or two around its streaming counterpart, which makes the Blu-ray all the more essential for established fans.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature only.

Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a keepcase with moody cover art, a matching slipcover, and a promotional insert. Disc 1 holds the first four episodes, while Disc 2 gets the last three episodes and a bonus Q&A detailed below.

• 2022 San Diego Comic Con Panel (39:58) - This lively session features quite a few key cast and crew members including actors Jacob Anderson, Sam Reidk, Bailey Bass ("Claudia"), and Eric Bogosian; executive producer Mark Johnson; creator and showrunner Rolin Jones; and production designer Mara LePere Schloop. Please note that it took place several months before Season 1's premiere so it's obviously light on plot and character details, but there's still some good info here that makes it worth a run-through.

Interview with the Vampire: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

AMC's new small-screen adaptation of the late Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire gets off to a surprisingly strong start during this seven-episode first season with good performances, production design, cinematography, and direction leading the way for what should be an interesting follow-up (eventually, at least). Until then, RLJ Entertainment's new two-disc Blu-ray set should help stoke its growing fanbase with solid A/V merits, a bonus Q&A and, perhaps most importantly, a low price tag to draw in curious newcomers. Recommended, even as a blind buy.