AMC’s Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire Episode 1- In Throws Of Increasing Wonder Review and Recap- Tainted Love

The streaming wars are all about capturing that lightning in a bottle. Whether it be the juiciest novel, movie, or series from the past(usually the 80s) or wooing a proven team to create and showrun a series for your network, everyone is scrambling. Competition is fierce, and to stay relevant, you have to produce, or a fickle and bored audience will move on to the glut of content being delivered daily. AMC is banking on Anne Rice’s Interview With A Vampire and the larger Immortal Universe of her secured works, making that IP the next buzzy thing everyone is talking about. After Interview With The Vampire Episode 1, I can guarantee it will be discussed.

If you read the novel, you should know there was a substantial queer undercurrent that is all but ignored in the movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Rice’s work is ripe with self-discovery and acceptance. Unfortunately, the first movie, although watchable, was stripped of all that subtext. Pitt’s Louis emoted confusion and sensitivity, while Cruise lacked the sensual punch and emotion to carry those unspoken wants. It wasn’t their fault so much that the world wasn’t ready for something as revelatory and titillating, and thus those aspects of the story were glossed over.

There was something about the first adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire that was a little too slick, watered down, and vanilla. AMC’s serialized investment in the tantalizing story has fixed that problem and then some. Mesmerizing, sexy, gritty, gory, and wildly dramatic, it is an addictive story I can’t look away from. Interview With A vampire Episode 1 wove a stunning tale we were familiar with yet eager to learn more about. Acknowledging the past paved the way for a new and captivating future.

It’s been 49 years since Daniel Molloy(Eric Bogosian) first interviewed Louis de Pointe du Lac. Time hasn’t been kind to Daniel. He has Parkinson’s and is a recovering drug addict who regrets his choices as much as he desperately wishes he could go back and do them all over again. At this pivotal junction in time, when the world is reeling from a pandemic, Louis reaches out once more in hopes that maturity, experience, and wisdom will finally allow the men to tell his expansive story. It’s a similar setup to the book, allowing continuity even amid fundamental differences. In this adaptation, Louis is not a plantation owner but a successful closeted Black businessman.

By refocusing the narrative, an entire world is unlocked. Jacob Anderson’s Louis can visit so many things that white Louis took for granted. Anderson is tremendous, displaying soulful, ambitious, troubled, and sad aspects of Louis’s existence. He is everything Louis should be and more. Louis is such a good character because he is deeply conflicted. He wouldn’t work any other way. Reframing this vampire amplifies the conflict and introduces new layers to an already complex creature.

AMC isn’t holding back. Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire will be different while embracing the source material. There are racial and sexual dynamics at play both in the past and now. A black man calling an old white man “our boy” is explosive and underpins where this series is going. This story won’t be the same, but it will feel the same. It’s too bad Rice won’t be around to see her material brought to life in this way.

Molloy and Louis skirt hard feelings. Louis feels impotent that his story has gone unheard, and Daniel feels angry that he was almost killed. It’s a dance that the two men do well. It should frame the rest of the series nicely. Their relationship shows the push and pulls of power and money as Louis laments what Lestat did to him while failing to realize that things like getting Daniel’s private medical records are a similar violation. Both men are seeking absolution or truth and reconciliation.

This is a nastier version of Interview With The Vampire. Louis runs several flesh trade businesses on Liberty Street in New Orleans. He is tolerated by some and pseudo-respected by others for his acumen and money. He provides for his family, which includes a troubled younger brother named Paul. Louis loves Paul, but he is challenging. Louis is also a closeted man who uses a prostitute named Lilly to hide his sexuality.

At the Fairplay, where Lilly works, Louis first meets Lestat. Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt oozes predatory sensuality. Moreso than Cruise, He embraces an ambiguous hedonism that has no equal and no boundaries. He showers Louis with admiration and emasculation in equal measures. Lestat is obsessed with Louis and immediately begins seducing him. He communicates with him telepathically and showcases talents that intrigue Louis. It isn’t long before the two men find themselves naked together.

This encounter rocks Louis, and he refuses to see Lestat, but that doesn’t last long. Shortly after Grace’s wedding, Paul climbs to the roof with Louis and inexplicably jumps. His mother blames Louis, and frankly, Louis does as well. Unfortunately, his grief leaves him vulnerable to Lestat. When Louis goes to church to confess, Lestat steps in, killing the priests and turning Louis into a vampire. It isn’t clear why Paul jumped, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Lestat got into his head. Louis’s brother had a mental illness, but we know Lestat had already got into his mind. He could have easily caused Paul to jump as a way to get to Louis.

Reid and Anderson are electric together. Reid’s Lestat is a monster who isn’t afraid to destroy anyone to get what he wants, while Anderson is a repressed, traumatized young man who vacillates between wanting to be free and doing the right thing. Louis knows Lestat killed Lilly and watched him gruesomely kill both priests, yet he is powerless to resist him. Shame, guilt, grief, and pain make him weak. Creator Rolin Jones has somehow captured the melodrama of an addictive drama and the grisly gore of a modern horror story. The spectacular fist through the face effect late in Interview With The Vampire Episode 1 was perfectly executed and timed.

As much as things change, others stay the same. Daniel is still impatient to hear the full story, and Louis is still holding back. Time has tempered them some but sharpened other aspects of their relationship. Louis still struggles with acceptance. He can’t quite acknowledge his complicity even now. That gives his story fresh legs and an urgency the previous movie did not have. We are watching a mesmerizing retelling of the past where we know how it will end, and yet we cling to the hope that something will be different. It should make for swoon-worthy must-see television competing with HBO’s House of the Dragon and Amazon’s The Rings of Power.