An absolute waste of money

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

An absolute butcher of the book , the Jonathan Davis soundtrack is all that saves it . This incredible series of books needs a ' game of thrones ' treatment. Faithful to Anne Rice's original vision of this story .

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."

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.

First off let me say that I have never read either of the books that this movie was inspired by. In fact Memnoch The Devil is the only Anne Rice Book that I've ever read. However, after watching Queen of the Damned for the first time now, nearly 12 years after is release, I am intrigued by it's premise and will make time to go back and read both books. As for the movie, it is a middling affair. There are many positives, among them are Stuart Townsend's portrayal of Lestat, Aaliyah as Akasha, fantastic songs written specifically for the movie and a few stylistic flourishes here and there. I absolutely bought in to Lestat's hard rock persona. On a lesser note I couldn't help but make involuntary comparisons to Interview with a Vampire. Needless to say THAT is a better movie. Yet this movie could have been much closer in quality had some more elaborate choices been made in regards to special effects, a moodier screenplay and a greater focus on detail in general. There is absolutely zero tension or suspense in this film in thanks partially to it's metal music overload. I like the songs yet I feel that the dramatic scenes would have been better served with a more brooding or sinister soundtrack. Also, the climax was a bit rushed or underwhelming or trivialized. Not bad though.