Movie · 1994 · Horror, Drama, Fantasy · 2h 3m · R · English
Curator score: 5.2/10 (908K ratings)
Drink from me and live forever.
Overview
A vampire relates his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness, and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.2/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.59/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
Neil Jordan
Production
Geffen Pictures
Cast
Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, Stephen Rea, Kirsten Dunst, Domiziana Giordano, Thandiwe Newton, Laure Marsac, John McConnell, Mike Seelig, Bellina Logan, Lyla Hay Owen, Lee E. Scharfstein, Monte Montague, Nathalie Bloch, Jeanette Kontomitras, Roger Lloyd Pack, George Kelly, Nicole DuBois Favre
Where to watch
AMC+, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A lush, melodramatic vampire tragedy with gothic atmosphere, queer subtext, and a surprisingly emotional core. It works as horror, romance, and character study at once, with standout performances and a decadent visual style.
Best for
fans of gothic horror
viewers who like tragic romance
people drawn to queer subtext and campy grandeur
audiences who enjoy lush period production design
fans of prestige horror with emotional weight
Skip if
you want straightforward monster horror
you dislike heightened melodrama
you prefer fast pacing and clear genre boundaries
you want a purely faithful, solemn adaptation
Overview
Interview with the Vampire is one of the most seductive studio horrors of the 1990s, a film that treats immortality less like a superpower than a curse that corrodes every relationship it touches. Neil Jordan leans into velvet darkness, candlelit interiors, and a sense of emotional ruin, giving the movie the feel of a gothic confession as much as a vampire tale.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the tension between its operatic style and its intimate sadness. The story is full of betrayal, longing, dependency, and the strange domesticity of its central vampire bond, which gives the film an unexpectedly tender and perverse edge. It is also beautifully cast, with performances that understand the film’s mix of menace, vanity, and wounded yearning.
Bottom line
Even when it tips into excess, that excess is part of the appeal. The movie has the confidence to be romantic, grotesque, funny, and mournful in the same breath, and that tonal instability is exactly why it has such a strong afterlife with audiences. It is a glossy, blood-soaked melodrama that knows immortality would probably be unbearable.
Top Letterboxd reviews
kaitlyn (5★) · 18581 likes
lestat said i'm pregnant and it's yours
sophie (4★) · 15313 likes
imdb says the gay subtext from the novel was taken out of the movie but....? sis.... seemed pretty gay to me. it's literally about brad pitt and tom cruise being a married couple and struggling to raise their daughter. the only way it could've gotten any gayer is if brad fucked a peach.
kyle (3★) · 13478 likes
nothing about this makes sense....
is this a romance? a comedy? a horror film?how was this so gay? but how was it not gayer? how was this marketed? who funded this? how was this made?whooooooo saw this in theaters? where are they now?why did kirsten dunst have to snap so hard? why was tom cruise given the go ahead by scientology to make this extremely erotic film? why did the audience not clap after antonio banderas' extremely thought-provoking play? why is this dedicated to river phoenix?
is brad pitt... like... okay?
and last but not least.. where is the sequel!?!??!?!
Ellie ✨ (5★) · 10907 likes
louis: a hundred years ago my husband, lestat, perished in a fire
lestat: quit telling everyone i'm dead
louis: sometimes i can still hear his annoying, uneducated voice
Patrick Willems (3.5★) · 8442 likes
Tom Cruise as evil gay vampire is one of the greatest casting choices in film history.