QUEEN OF THE DAMNED: Full Movie Breakdown Vs Book 

Aaliyah's loss hit those off us in her hometown of Detroit very hard. She was so celebrated at her high school Alma mater, Detroit School for the Fine & Performing Arts (DSA), that her success as a musical artist made the school one of the most coveted places to attend. She was such a light. Those of us who got to interact with her, however briefly, were touched by how sweet she was. Quiet but so fiery when it was her time to shine. Truly the highlight of QotD. She's sorely missed.

I remember that Anne Rice was VERY against Tom Cruise playing Lestat in Interview. Then she saw a screening of it and how great Tom was and completely changed her mind. I actually went through the same thing. I didn't think Tom was right for it, but I was WRONG. Of course Tom pulled it off. He's one of the best actors to ever work in Hollywood. And Aaliyah is the only thing I love about QotD. Man, she was such an awesome, beautiful woman.

Honestly, when separated from the books, Queen of the Damned was an fun vampire movie. It flopped as an adaptation, but I just simply cannot hate it on it's own. Between the amazing soundtrack, the awesome gothic vampire vibes, and Aliyah absolutely killing it as Akasha (Rest in peace), I just really enjoyed the movie. I hope that now we have AMC's IWTV, we may see them take their own, more faithful stab at Queen of Damned.

The soundtrack was a banger.

I was excited when it first came out only to be incredibly disappointed. Trying to mash two books together was a horrible idea. They left out the biggest part of Queen of the Damned. The creation of vampires, Akashas whole back story with the twins. Everything to do with Mekare was left out and SHE was the one who became the new Queen of the Damned, oh, and Jesse's whole psychic connection to her. Aaliyah was the only good thing about this abomination.

I agree with you if they remake the movie they better follow the original book

What saved this film in any way is the fact the titular character was phenomenally rendered. Aaliyah brought such a captivating and dynamic essence to Akasha that it covers for so much of whatever the hell went wrong with the rest of the film. It's almost like the movie wasn't based on the book at all and but somehow Aaliyah pulled off one of the most amazing vampire portrayals ever.

Akasha ended up being able to walk in the sun due to Amals spirit being spread out over so many vamps. So, with the blood exchange between akasha and lestat, he was able to walk in the sun.

I haven’t read the QOTD book yet. After reading the first two Mayfair books, IWTV and Merrick (another story that would be really cool to see in film/show) I needed a break, Rice’s books are very long and slow paced if you’re not used to it. QOTD (this movie) was my first exposure to Rice’s universe. As a lifelong vampire fan I was absolutely ecstatic to see a beautiful black woman like Aaliyah playing the QUEEN no less! I get why people hate the movie but it holds a special place in my heart for the black representation, the amazing soundtrack and the fact that it was my “first” lol

Aaliyah had such a sweet natural voice, and to turn it dark was amazing. It reminds me of Rose Mcgowan from Charmed, when she deepened her voice to play Paige's past life, The Evil Enchantress. All the deleted scenes to showed the ancients should've stayed in, it could've saved some points, cause when this film came out when I was a teenager who never read or heard of the books, I was confused as to who were they. I do love the flying scenes. Walking in the sun, I did a little research. The book says Lestat flies as high as he can towards the sun during daylight and, although he does survive, he suffers very extreme burns. The music was also another good thing about the film too, I enjoy listening to the soundtrack.

The Soundtrack of Queen of the damned is absolutely the most incredible to date! Absolutely incredible. Steward is gorgeous, Jesse, gorgeous. Aaliyah dying right after filming absolutely destroyed us fans so we were so happy to see her, that added to our love of this movie. I completely agree and completely understand that this isn’t the actual adaptation of the book, this is another story all together, that we Love.

I agree it's a very bad movie but for me personally this is a guilty pleasure bad movie I still have a lot of fun with this movie it's got cool music and pretty cool vampire action and I've never read the book either so maybe this is why I'm a bit more forgiving towards this movie than many others fans are, don't get me wrong I wanna see a proper adaptation of the Queen of the Damned book and I hope it's coming with AMC's Immortal Universe

"Nicky, Lestat's "friend:." Friend....yea, thats what he was. lol

The movie wasn't great but Aaliyah played Akasha well.I loved Aaliyah as the vampire queen and even though she wasn't in a lot of movie, she's the only reason why people watched it. I also enjoyed the soundtrack.

I watched this and didn’t even know it was based on books! When I finally read them and realized just how far from accurate the movie was I was a bit disappointed. Many moment in the QoTd book would’ve been awesome to see adapted to film (namely the background of akasha, enkil and the twins). But it remains a guilty pleasure lol that soundtrack was just too perfect

People who have never read the books had no idea Queen was a sequel

Im a blasphemer: i enjoyed this movie more than the actual book. But i would like a true depiction to exist.

So you say, everyone has different tastes. I like it. Don't really care what people think, and yes I also enjoy reading Anne Rice's books. Also read Tracie Harding, try her.

Jessie makes Bella seem interesting

Don’t get me wrong, yes, people will hate it, and will love Interview with the Vampire movie. But Queen of the Damned will be part of our pop culture love, even though it’s a terrible movie. Still, I still love it, cause of Stuart Townsend, and I saw him in a Hallmark movie. Sadly, if Aaliyah didn’t pass away, we would have seen her in movies. And yeah, having missing characters, definitely went out the window. Which, I hope we see something within the tv show adaptation. In which, I love it cause there is gay references within it.

The acting by all the supporting cast was beyond atrocious. The vampire gang helping Lestat in the end against the Queen was so bad..: the actors, the makeup, the special effects… ugh…

Very interesting review of this film. It's definitely nowhere near as good as the original Interview film, but I still enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. I do have one question for you: Not once in this review did you ever really talk about Lestat's songs themselves except that they were revealing Vampire secrets to the world. Does the book actually give lyrics to these songs, and do they match the songs that Korn sung for the film, or are the songs exclusively created for the film by Jonathan Davis?

I love The Queen of the Damned movie they were obviously just trying to market on nu-metal and the sort of flashy music video style of the early 2000s its amazing

I will say that I think director Michael Rymer redeemed himself by working on the excellent “Hannibal” TV series.

This movie was completely inaccurate and a crime against the books for all us Anne Rice fans but I have to admit it was also my guilty pleasure of the 2000s 😁 Stuart Townsend was steaming hot in the movie even tho he was not perfectly book accurate Lestat he captured a brat prince vibe, Aaliyah was a beautiful Akasha, and soundtrack was absolutely amazing and still rocks today. So yeah even as a book lover I am kind of nostalgic about this movie. I just see it as a seperate 2000's goth rock flick :) They did some other characters like Marius and Armand and Pandora and Maharet real dirty with the casting tho lol.

I cried after seeing the film. After years of waiting for a great adaptation of two of my favourite books from the Vampire Chronicles, that trash pile was what came out of it. No heart or soul, no root to everything. I was devastated.

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! YOU PUT ALL MY FRUSTRATIONS INTO WORDS!!

Still love the soundtrack

I cant believe Death to Smoochie did so poorly. That movie was so good!

I agree…Akasha is the only thing memorable in this movie…

Even tho it didnt follow d book i still love dis movie i loved all actors n characters especially aaliyah i love it n d music

The only good thing about this movie is Aaliyah

Anne said in an interview before the filming of QOTD that she liked Stuart Townsend for the role because she said he had Lestat's excellent speaking voice and feline grace. As much as I love the film because I saw it as a kid and fell in love with that Lestat, I do hate that they butchered her books. Credit where credit is due though, it made me read the books!

I agree with you 110% about everything that you said in this video! The ONLY redeeming thing about Queen of the Damned was Aaliyah. Nothing else of the movie was good, although I do think the actor who played Marius looks a lot like a Roman citizen with that haircut he sports throughout the movie, other than that, it sucked, pardon the pun.

12:07 "they should've just called him greg" 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂😭😭😭😭 😂 😂 😂 😂

Thank you for posting this. I even have problems with the original “Interview with the vampire” movie adaptation. However, the Queen of the Damned was so bad that even watching it makes my stomach turn. I hope with the new series that we get to see Anne’s vision brought to life.

Did lestat part 3 start yet

Louis is the reason i got into the vampire chronicles and they ignore him in this, ridiculous

Agree 1000%, dead on here man. Great video

Alliyah was supposed to play in the Matrix if she didn't die. But that mid actress Jada Pinkett Smith got the role after she died. Man did Jada do a horrible job in that part all mechanical and robot like with no passion. Ugh. And Alliyah was so gorgeous at the end of her life. Her always looking super happy like these interviews made her shine. Sad to learn about how she was bought by R Kelly from her mother for like a car or a living room set or something like that as a young teen. Very similar to Elvis and Pricilla where he bought her from her parents for some things for their home.

THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH! I have been saying this for years! It's a running joke with me and my family that it's "The movie that shall not be named!"

The only reason why I keep on watching this film is because of Akasha(Aaliyah )❤

You don't understand how bad I want to see a movie adaption of "The Vampire Lestat" that is accurate to the book. 😭 Warner brothers should have listened seriously

I love this damn soundtrack though I listen to it so much. This also guilty pleasure movie. Stuart Townsend was a TERRIBLE Lestat. Aaliyah was amazing & really liked Marius

Oh and the str8 washing they wanted to make him str8 so badly

Queen of the Damned the movie cost 35-40 million dollars?! Someone needs to go to prison for that act of theft! That book was easily adaptable to the bid screen if done correctly- maybe even in two parts like Kill Bill- or even with some good editing. Aaliyah looked phenomenal and I think Stuart Townsend gave a good performance given he was following Tom Cruise’s turn as Lestat. However- I hated how they butchered the story of the twins- didn’t bother casting a redhead as Maharet, totally disregarded descriptions of the other vampires (did the movie even include Gabrielle?? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it). I’d love to see it remade by a fan of the source material because Queen of the Damned was a fun read.

There was literally no depth to any of the characters, Ive never watched a movie where all of the characters felt so shallow and one-dimensional. I did like the aesthetic of the movie , for example the whole concert scene. They nailed the "gothy" look of the fans (even tho the music istn technically goth) I really enjoyed that scene. Aaliyah nailed the Queen of the Damned tho, I actually prefer her over the book Akasha, or at least over the way I imagined her when I read the book!

I grew up with this movie it wassomething my mother and I shared She let me watch Interview with the Vampire when it came to home video / cable. She would read me the book before I was able to read such a large book that had the complexity . I did not read the book seris myself until long after watching Queen of the damned . While not a great or even good adaptation of the book / books It was meant to fill in for I enjoy it for what it is and what it meant to my mother and I , She just recently passed and watching this and other movies we both shared make me feel closer to her again.

I love this movie sm lol 😂😂 i want the director cut to be released

The opportunity to simply make it an Akasha origin tale would've been better than what they came up with. There's so much in the series, it's a lot like trying to cram Game of Thrones in a single movie. Impossible.

Honestly I wish the vampire Chronicles would get an entire movie treatment with a huge budget and stick very closely to the book I like both movies but both are really different from the books but I really enjoyed the cast from interview more than the cast from Queen of the Damned when I read books and then see them on screen I want to see what I read being portrayed I don't like things being changed from what the author put on paper it was good to begin with sure do your own thing but at least give us accurate adaptations please

Gotta cover vampire hunter D

Atleast they got Armand correct unlike Interview. Other than that it is an absolute mess as a narrative and butchers the book. BUT I actually love it. The soundtrack, the visuals, that late 90s early aughts feel. The film is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. The addition of the Ancients is more a distraction than serving any purpose

aaliyah (RIP) was great & so sensual. marius was a fun character in itself, but nothing like the book. everything else sucked, no pun intended

They should have just called him Greg Omg

Maybe I need to rewatch this. I watched this when I was really young, and I remember liking it at the time. Or maybe, maybe, I just got swept away by the soundtrack.

Definitely agree with you there’s so many things that they mess up on The only character I loved it from the movie was Aaliyah that played akasha and the soundtrack is really good but the movie just not really that good

It may have been a better movie had they not tried to shove several books with characters all their own into one movie without properly introducing said characters. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but there should have been a multiverse with the twins and how Akasha came to be and Lestat’s back story and Pandora and the other Ancient Ones. So many missed opportunities…

The series made it very clear that changes, when well made, can be very successful in an adaptation. But QoTD to me was a cringe fest, and I hadn't read the books. I watched it when it came out. The 1994 movie is one of my all time faves, I wasn't excited about the series at all and now I lost count of how many times I rewatched it lol! Can't wait for S2 and S3 (not confirmed yet but it's what the showrunner is most excited about).

As an adaptation, I dislike it But I love it as a fun bad teen horror film If had different names and titles it would have been less disrespectful But I still love the soundtrack It's a terrible adaptation Its only good for music and the the scenes; with akasha, the violin scenes, Lestat killing the fan girls The music videos, The concert and the opening the movie Could have been any other vampire movie (along with Dracula 2000 Sexy Nu Metal Vampires)

I never read the book so I had the pleasure of enjoying it just as a stand alone movie. Still some of the acting is poor but I love the look and the soundtrack is the best of all time! 😂

The AMC Interview With A Vampire series is just as far off the mark, and plagued with “woke” reimaginings of the relationship between the two main characters. It reinvents Lestat and Louis’ relationship as a steamy gay interracial romance when in the book, Lestat (admittedly bisexual) chooses and creates Louis as a means to obtain his estate and treats him like a disposable object, doesn’t care for him whatsoever and teaches him absolutely nothing about surviving as a blood drinker, constantly mocking him as emotional and pathetic and doesn’t actually develop true remorse or love for Louis, or at least the idea of him, until nearly two books later in The Tale of the Body Thief, when he’s lost everything and is haunted by Claudia’s spirit who chastises Lestat for his psychopathic indifference to the people that should mean the most to him. In the books it has little to do with real attraction or romance and has everything to do with Lestat going through a very messy dark night of the soul as he watches his father die in New Orleans and needs a new place to live and would have given just about any rich plantation owner immortality to secure a place for himself.

The album was and still my favorite thing from the movie. But yes wish they followed the book

Warner crammed 2 books together and made a crock of poo-poos. The Vampire Lestat is in first person Narrative and Queen changes narrative several times. It would have been fantastic to see TVL as a memoir leading up to the cliffhanger and see QOTD tell the stories of the individual Vampires and mortals leading up to the gathering. Instead they gave us an eleventh hour cash grab and middle finger to Anne Rice regarding the film rights. This is another example of Warner's making crappy decisions with potentially huge franchises that continues to the day. Yeah, I'm still a little salty about it but am glad Neil Gaiman is so passionate about Sandman, one of my other favorite reads, and keeping it from falling into the wrong hands. Aaliyah's performance and the soundtrack by Johnathan Davis are the only good things to come out of this film. I can't wait to see what AMC does if the series runs long enough for us to see Akasha and rock star Lestat. I have critiques about the series but overall it's been a great ride so far

Please make a video about the series they just made... I got so bored in the first episode I did not continue... is it worth it? and Lestat's actor... don't like him at all

Hahaha, I loved Death to Smoochy. 😂💜

Literally watching this last night

oh you capture all my complains with the movie

I agree!

Movie was badass. Still has the best movie soundtrack

Queen of the Damned...Aaliyah, Aaliyah, Aaliyah everything else ughh. With ALL those powers, yet she died so easily its ridiculous! Aaliyah❤❤❤❤❤

would love to watch Lestat the vampire, it is my favorite book!!!!

The only good thing about the movie is the soundtrack - and the Death Valley concert scene was cool im not gonna lie

This was a fantastic movie...of course...I haven't read the Books...so...yeah.

Question for everyone. Do u think Lestat and Louis, in the books, are in a homsexual relationship? And if so, how, if they are portrayed as being asexual beings? I've always wondered... Great video as usual mate! I agree with all ur points

If you can forget about anything related to the VAmpire Chronicles than queen of the damned isn't a bad movie. However, the moment you compare it... yeeesh.

Queen of the Damned is a very cool Vampire movie.. until.. you realize there is source material and they took from two books to make one relatively short movie.. The Vampire Lestat could have easily been 2 movies. And how much they changed from the books & how much left out that really pissed everyone off.

Sorry i loved the movie🤷🏽

la pelicula como adaptacion es pesima pero entretiene igual tiene buena musica he leido todos los libros de anne rice varias veces parece que las personas no entienden el termino de adaptacion y en cuanto a la serie es excelente tiene cambios si pero la hecen mejorar que su version filmica puesto que hay mas profundidad de los personajes y una audacia que no posee la pelicula

One of my favorite bad movies. Got it on blu-ray

It's a bad movie, sure. But it's a guilty pleasure movie. So at least there is some pleasure. And that is not just the most important thing in any art, it's the ONLY thing that actually matters. If people read/watch/listen to/look at, your output, and don't feel pleasure, then it doesn't matter how clever you think it is, it's garbage. I think I'd probably rather watch this movie than the TV show. I can't be sure yet, because nothing has actually happened in the show, yet...after an entire season.

it was too short, impossible to explore the numerous characters, that was it's big flaw. but it was well acted and bloody. it was a good movie overall, i disagree with this

I didn't like this movie as an adaptation, but it is also a guilty pleasure movie for me.

You are i watch this movie first the 1994 movie and After reading the book I only liked Aaliyahs character in queen of the damned movie I hate when writers create something from someone's work and butcher it happened here and now with the witcher..

Loved Aaliyah as Akasha, but the movie itself was terrible.

I saw the movie before i listened to the book and was disapionted by the movie then.

You cant tear apart appearence without bringing up.amc version. Lestat isn't even white. A lot of characters aren't their descriptions😂

I'm sure if they make a movie that follows the book 100 percent, it'll probably be the best vampire movie ever but, I loved this movie!

The only good thing about Queen of the Damned was the soundtrack.

in the new series they also invented this bs of vampires walking in the sun and added that they can stay awake during the day just because fr i hate that anne’s books are not well adapted to the screens or stages it feels like her stories only work as books and in our imagination

I agree. I love the movie..for Aaliyah only. She was perfection. The rest..meh. The books❤.

Literally the only good things about the movie, were Aaliyah, and the music. I listened to the music for years after. As just a basic Vampire movie, not connected to Anne Rice, or the VC, it wasn't terrible. But as an adaption, an actual dumpster fire. My father and I are massive fans of the VC, and we'd watch it just to yell at the screen and tear it to pieces. I personally think the straight-washing was the actual worst part. They went so damn hard at it, that it's homophobic. That pisses me off, even to this day, more than anything else. Don't even get me started on them just tossing out Jesse' ENTIRE character arch, just so she could be the "cute girl on Lestats arm". They legit don't even properly meet in the book. He says like 2 words to her, before she's almost accidently killed and has to be saved by Maharet. Before that though, she literally has a whole adventure all her own. But they just toss it all out, and all that mattered to them is that she gets "with" the male lead, to make him aggressively straight. Lord. So pissed. Literally why the VC fandom, as a whole, acts like this movie doesn't even exist. It's embarrassing.

This movie is my favorite vampire film ever I loved Aaliyah in it that’s probably why 😂

Yes aaliyah was truly the great thing about this film the movie is a bad adaptation the studio truly wanted to bury this film to me they should had kept the deleted scenes of the ancients in the film it would had made the movie better

I heard how bad the movie was before I had a chance to see it, so I never watched it.

Yes Aaliyah Made this Movie. Sorry it can't be bad of its still being viewed as a Cult Classic. Of course the book is detailed. The movie is 2 books in one. There was actually going to be a spin off of a Sci Fi series "Queen Akasha" would have loved that

I reckon it's decent as a stand alone movie but it's terrible as a book adaptation.

Alot was changed for no reason. Mashing two books together too. Vampire Lestat book should have its own film. Queen of the Damned was a great book. Not my favorite though.

I enjoyed the book more than the movie.

Totally agree with your opinion about the book to movie adaptation. I have read both books. The music was good though