Based on the third of Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicle's" books, "Queen of the Damned"
follows the exploits of the vampire Lestat (played here by Irish actor Stuart Townsend), who's grown so tired of living among the dead, he has decided to sleep for an
indefinite period.
But when his slumber is disturbed by an upcoming rock band, who've taken over his former home, he decides to pay them a visit. After liking what he hears, they soon find they've got a new front man.
Unfortunately, the rest of the vampires, aren't too happy about him being in the public eye. Particularly as he has caught the attentions of a paranormal investigator named Jesse (Marguerite Moreau), who has started poking around a little to deeply into vampire affairs.
Lestat's sire Marius (Vincent Perez), tries to warn him off from coming out in the open in this manner. But when Lestat's music awakens Akasha, the Queen of all vampires (played by the late R&B artist Aaliyah), who subsequently makes him her disciple, Jesse finds herself joining forces with Marius and the rest of the vampires in attempt to stop Akasha and Lestat bringing death and destruction to both the vampire world and humanity...
Not exactly a sequel to "Interview with the Vampire" (in which Lestat was played by Tom Cruise), but rather a film based on a subsequent novel by the same author. Queen of the Damned is totally different in style from it's predecessor, and fans of Anne Rices "Vampire Chronicles" series may be disappointed with the Director's treatment of the novel (which also combines elements from the second book "Lestat").
But viewed on it's own merits, this is a thoroughly enjoyable vampire flick with excellent performances all round. In particular Stuart Townsend, who's portrayal of Lestat I thought surpassed Tom Cruise's from "Interview...". and there's an excellent thumping Heavy Metal/Hard Rock soundtrack to boot!
