The Vampire Lestat, The Soft Reboot Of The Vampire Chronicles 

Lestat: What? Louis was for sure lying about me! He's such an unreliable narrator Lestat's account: yeah I'm actually a really good person who only drinks from bad people and am so charismatic I break up cults just by showing them they're stupid :D

I like the whole "What that guy said is bullshit! Here's my _real_ life story." thing for a sequel. It's a nice narrative trick.

"Lestat seems OP" Did you forget how many times he was set in fire, stabbed through the heart and declared dead in Interview? Lestat IS op.

Growing a beard for isolation purposes.

Lestat's mother on her almost-deathbed be like "SON. RUN AWAY, BE GAY, DO CRIME!" She's one of my favourite characters in the book tbh

Random person: *attacks* Lestat: I was shaking in my costum made Designer leather boots with the silver buckles

Lestat is actually known as “the brat prince” in the books. As well, he’s actually bisexual (in human terms), but prefers men over women. His reasoning first being that they were “boring” then later because they were “scary”.

"There's someone else in bed with him." I'd say I've read that fan fiction before, but Anne Rice had them all purged from the internet before I got into The Vampire Chronicles.

I showed this notification to my wife and she dragged me out of bed to set this up on the big living room TV to watch

It’s official: your reviews make people smile even during a global pandemic. Thank you!

I love Lestat so much, he is a very interesting and charismatic character that you can’t help but like him. I love that he wakes up in the 20th Century and decides “Fuck it, I want to become a rock star and make songs about vampire society as well as make my own memoirs to set the record straight.” I just love how the guy just gives zero fucks which makes so much more interesting.

I don't know why but I find the idea of Lestat not taking the threats from other vampires seriously because "what kind of vampire leaves upset messages on an answering machine?" hilarious

I'll be honest, I found Louis's tragic story to be more compelling than Lestat yeeting his way through undeath. But I never really considered the two stories inherently better or worse than the other. I would have loved the Vampire Chronicles to go farther with the idea of following the same chain of events told from the perspective of several different unreliable narrators over the years. And letting the reader try to put together what was real and what was the narrator exaggerating, playing down, misreading or lying about what they experienced.

Wait until you get to the part where Lestat feeds by eating out a nun who is menstruating. Stay Classy Rice

One of the things I really liked about the first two books was their inception style nesting dolls of unreliable narrators. Both books were, in-universe, believed to be fiction claiming to be fact written by two different vampires each one telling the story from their perspective. So I go with the interpretation that BOTH books are essentially auto-fan-fiction written by Louis and Lestat.

"Baggage isn't an infinite excuse to be a horrible person" Mood.

I like the idea of vampires staying at the level of maturity they had when bitten. But I think it’s best done in Tuck Everlasting where experience brings maturity, the more you experience and act like an adult, the more mature you become. So an immortal who never does anything but the things they did in their you, they stay at that maturity. But if they work and experience more, they become more mature. (But could you imagine perpetual puberty?! Oh gods no!)

One of the things I liked about the book is how Lestat sees the modern world (at least in the west). From his perspective it's way more equal and fair than it was in the past with average people having a lot more rights and privileges than ever before. It's something I appreciated even back in the 90's when I read the book because literature about the past focuses almost entirely about the well to do and/or nobility. It's not saying the modern world is perfect, but from Lestat's perspective way better than in his day.

One of the things that will never leave me when it comes to Vampire Lestat was the scene of him exploring the tower after magnus kills himself only to find a room full of the corpses of men with Lestats features. It's horrifyingly disturbing in its implications and Lestat has to deal with that alone. F- man

I think you can write a single book where the main character is full of self loathing. I'm not sure you can do a series that way. It's draining for a reader to deal with such a character over the the long haul, so movie Louis to a supporting role is probably for the best. From what I remember, Louis kind of develops a "murder is murder" attitude and finds the notion of only killing criminals to be hypocritical, although apparently that's what most of the others do (at least those on the "good" side).

I always liked these backstory episodes.

Ah, Anne Rice, one of the few authors that's listed on Fanfiction as someone that does not allow fanfiction. She apparently went after a few fans hard when they did some fanfiction/art and really traumatised a few people.

Lestat's particular brand of unreliable narrator is about the best thing ever. There's like.... so much to unpack :D

someone clearly realized what's sexier than a sexy vampire? a sexy vampire rocking on guitar.

“Carpe Jugulum," read Agnes aloud. "That's... well, Carpe Diem is 'Sieze the Day,' so this means-" "Go for the throat” ― Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

"The Queen of the Damned" film was so bad, I thought it would kill vampire movies. Then "Twilight" came out, and I realized it had only killed good vampire movies.

I was waiting for this for so long! I do have to admit that Lestat does feel like a more honest narrator than Louis maybe not in the OP way he portrays himself but in the little details he sprinkles throughout the story which make him sort of a self-aware brat. Example: When he mentions that he KNOWS Magnus chose him because he is so cool and special, and then almost immediately mentioning he was so hungry he went to eat a pile of corpses in Magnus' dungeon and then saw a pile of failed vampire experiments that literally all look like him, implying he was not chosen or special, just that Magnus had a type. Or when he switches narrator from himself to Marius but has to make it VERY clear to the reader that when Marius mentions he is blond and cool and beautiful it's not Lestat himself trying to make himself look better, oh no, it's 100% what Marius thought at the time, fur reals! But then Marius never actually mentions that Lestat is particularly any more beautiful than any other vampire.

I used to convince myself that the so-called "lies" of Interview with the vampire were actually true and it's Lestat's ego that makes him deny it. Lestat admits hew as in that he was in that house and in that condition, just denies that Louis saw him that way. Then how did Louis know what house he was in and the condition he was in? Armand hadn't told him. The only logical explanation is Lestat denies it for his own ego's sake.

The image of Lestat rocking out made my morning.

The first three books in the Vampire Chronicles are amongst my very favorite books of all time... everything that comes after is getting mostly ignored in this household. Well, I did read the newest books and decided to treat them as entertaining crack fic, but those first three are my canon.

I've never actually read it, granted, but I don't see how a woman wearing trousers is automatically a gender identity thing. I wouldn't want to go live my new free life in the wilderness wearing four layers of skirts and a whalebone corset! It might cramp your vampiric style somewhat. I mean, yeah, she's wearing "men's trousers", but it's not as if there was such a thing as women's trousers, in the time period. And women quite like trousers. We're not hard wired with a love of skirts. Seems like a rare case of a lady vampire making a sensible wardrobe choice, to me. Bella Swan, take notes. Hunting deer in an evening gown is ludicrous behaviour. I don't care HOW hungry you are, or how resistant to chafing your shiny diamond skin is. That silk dress isn't, and if you keep flinging yourself at tree trunks and scrambling up cliff faces in it, you'll be flashing the whole of Forks before too long

I remember when reading The Vampire Lestat, I kept waiting for the big reveal that Lestat had heavily fictionalized his history, that Interview was the "real" Lestat. I just couldn't see it going in any other direction, not with how absurdly "amazing" Lestat was portrayed. Except that reveal never happened. And he only became more "amazing", eventually turning into a full on vampire Superman. I expected him to reverse time by flying around the world, firing heat rays from his eyes, and to develop a weakness to Kryptonite. Instead, his weakness was just bad writing.

I think your closet is more extensive than the BBC's wardrobe department!

Honestly, it does still seem quite a bit of a retcon from Interview, where she realized how popular Lestat became and/or she fell more in love with creation as time went on. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I do get a bit irked when authors do this because they decide they love certain characters. I can see it both ways, whether Louis was just that unreliable of a narrator because he resented Lestat and was dealing with his own guilt or Rice just loves Lestat that much and it was a deliberate retcon. I think it's possible to still enjoy both, though. I did read Interview back in high school, but unfortunately, due to my own personal opinion of Rice, I'm not quite sure I'd actually read the other books, so thank you for taking care of the work for the first three for me, Dom!

Ah yes the 80’s, a time in hard rock where it was still unusual for band members to pretend to be vampires. Now we just have Powerwolf and nobody bats an eye about it. The past truly was a simpler, but not necessarily better, time.

so, a fanfiction of the vampire chronicles? which anne rice is known to hate? im in

i was about 13 when, freshly liberated from a cult like fundamentalist christian upbringing by my parents divorce, i stumbled across this book. it would not be an exaggeration to say it changed my life. it introduced me to so many different possibilities of thought.

"No restoration is worth being with an abuser." LOVE this line; but then again you have a large selection of clever lines! Well done.

By the way, talking about Queen Akasha: am I the only one that finds her suspiciously similar to Princess Akivasha from "The Hour of the Dragon"? I mean, she comes from the ancient kingdom of Stygia, that following Hyborian Age canon, is the Egypt before there was an Egypt, and have very similar names. Did Anne Rice took inspiration from Robert E. Howard, or are both characters inspired in a previous vampiric myth I'm unfamiliar with?

Interesting origin for Akasha. I like it a lot more than the whole "deal with the devil" trope that's been done to death by Dracula. Corruption via ghost or demon is a lot more interesting IMO

The movie is trash honestly, but its my trash and I LOVE IT.

I know no-one asked for a mini fandom history lesson, but I've seen several discussions of Anne's history with fan-works down in the comments and I think it'll help newer fans understand Anne's weird mindset/actions, and the sheer terror they induced, when put into the context of the period. Her reactions were more terrifying then than they seem now for the simple fact that her threats were genuine and existed in a period of total paranoia about fandom life. At the time, read up to the late 90's, Fic writers lived in fear of Anne's team of bulldog lawyers with their cease and desist letters and threats of suing. Especially because she DID actually sue several people, including fans who had created their own fan sites dedicated to her books (I still flinch and startle when I come across a DeviantArt or Tumbler page dedicated to the Vampire Chronicles). Mind you, Anne wasn't the only author like this at the time, just the most well known for it. This was during the period where the Rule # 1 dominated fandom (You didn't talk about fandom. Period.). Any sort of fan-based creative endeavor dedicated to her books was ripped down or tucked into a dark seedy corner of the interwebs on password protected private sites, deeply buried in AngelFire and Geocities' servers where their creaters prayed she'd never find them. Fic writers/artists had less legal safety nets than we do now and our rights to write what we pleased came and went with the original creators' whims. An author could be fine with fanfiction one day, then turn around after finding a fic they didn't like and demand ALL fan-based works cease immediately. The fandom culture that members exist in now didn't exist then. You can thank creators/authors like Joss Whedon and JK Rowling who actively encouraged and even cultivated fan-based creative arts, for the existence fandom culture. If you've ever read a fic and seen a *Disclaimer* at the start of the story, these are a hold over from that period. It was our paltry attempt to defend ourselves and our works by declaring that we weren't claiming the original work as our own, but simply paying homage to the original's brilliance.... So PLEASE don't sue us! They didn't actually offer any legal defense, but it was always considered a necessary adage just in case. These days you'll usually only find disclaimers attached to older stories, fics written by older writers who add them by habit, or younger writers who add them because the older writers did. These days Anne seems to have finally learned that avoiding fandom only hurts you as an author in today's fandom culture as she stated in 2012 that she was going to "live and let live" when it comes to fan fiction, acknowledging that some people use fanfiction as a spring board for improving their own writing and doesn't hamper the original author. I'm still paranoid that she may change her mind again, all the same.

That intro is so Lestat.

My favorite book of the entire Vampire Chronicles series! As tragic and chaotic as his "life" is, Lestat has a way of finding joy in his existence. Even Nikolas says that he has a light about him, where in Nickolas there is only dark. Of course events in later books really, really put that to the test, but even when Lestat gets a chance to be human again, he chooses his vampire life. I also prefer how his relationship with Louis is depicted in this book compared to Interview. Lestat cared about him far more than Louis ever realized. It still pisses me off that Louis was erased completely for the QOTD movie.

last time i was this early, he was still called The Dom

I preferred 'The Vampire Lestat' to 'Interview with the Vampire, too!

The whole series deserves a mini series adaptation.

You should do the tv show adaptation now, since the book is completely different from how they did the movie version, 30 years ago. And I can finally say, the show did it better as an adaptation and making it close to how the book is dealt with. Since it is a two part show, it is close to how the book is written.

My mom likes the Queen of the Damned movie (and most certainly has not read the books) so I'm interested in seeing how it differs from the books

I think this is a really clever way of doing a soft reboot.

I have to say this before I watch the video. They made a musical about Lestat following this book and the first one. I saw it on Broadway in high school. Please try and find a recording of it. It is terrible. I'm not even saying review it. Just for your own fun. Though I wouldn't mind a mini episode of rambling about how bad it was.

Got a new gif outta this

"Leroy Jenkinsing his way through the world..." well THAT took me back some! LOL

This film ruined the books, as I'm sure you going to agree. I mean, the only thing they have in common is the fact that he becomes a rockstar. I hope you will give this an in name only award. Oh yeah, if you want to keep the idea of atheism as a good thing then I would definitely recommend not reading some of the future books. No spoilers here!

That cold open left me in tears of laughter!!

I like how, this thing has several hundred upvotes thus far and not a single dislike. I know that's gonna change eventually, but still, nice to see for a change, and certainly this is a reviewer who deserves that >w>

When you're an aristocratic, great and terrible immortal but _Bela Lugosi's Dead. Undead, undead, undead, undead._

All I knew about Anne Rice before your videos was that later in life, she became a “born-again Christian“ and became SUPER homophobic to the point of being double extra rabid about the infamous lawsuits to people who dared write her characters as homosexual. I had no idea that 1980s Rice wrote her characters canonically gay. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain, indeed.

That shirt has to be a quote from something, and it's driving me insane that I don't know where.

Is Dom doing all the Vampire Chronicles? Because now I really want a review of The Vampire Armand

So Interview with the Vampire actually became a book in the actual story? That's meta as fuck.

I always found Lestat only having a ten year gap over Louis very odd and misplaced. It seems like a harder thing to retcon but I feel as if it should have been. Lestat pretty much completed Vampire life in 10 years and spent the next two centuries being a dick. Think they should have turned the 10 years into 100

When I was in the peak of my meth addiction my car radio would only work with tapes and the only tapes I had was the vampire Lestat I used be able to quote the whole novel word for word

Bless you. This totally made my night. If I ever get too stressed about current world events, I can just think to myself, "If Lestat can survive the 1800s...I'll make it through 2020"

A: I think I want to read this book now (I was rather put off Rice by "the witching hour", but this sounds insane in a good way) B: This reminded me of the confusing complaints I ran across regarding (blink-and-you'll-miss-it) homoeroticism in the recent Netflix 'Dracula'. I remember thinking: "Uh, guys? Are you not aware this has been a thing with vampires basically forever?" Sure, a lot of people haven't read 'Carmilla' or this book, but the "Interview with the vampire" movie came out ages ago and is still pretty well known.

Can't wait for the rest. That movie was a defining moment of my adolescence. The sexy, SEXY vampires, the bathtub scene and that soundtrack is perfection!

one of my greatest sources of pride and shame is that I actually saw Lestat: The Musical live.

I was actually interested to know more about these books. I'm also happy to see a non romance book.

you have no idea how bad I needed more Dom right now AND he did vampires again HELL YAS!!

So Rice prohibited fanfiction of her work just so she could make it herself, huh An author making fanfics of their own work seems paradoxical and yet here we are

I'm going to be honest I also didn't like that Lestat was turned into merciful character, it bugged me as my favorite parts with him were his sadism, cruelty and child like nature. I also never realized how manipulative Armand was probably because I found him obnoxious and whiny right from his first few chapters in interview.

I haven't read either the books but "The Vampire Lestat" really sounds like a bad fan fiction of the original.

Already a thrall of the Maiden of the Eventide.

Your cat looks a lot like my cat Merlin, who's also a floofy butthead.

I still prefer "Interview" and its sepia toned atmosphere. The tortured retconning and laughable imagery of a tuxedo clad rockstar Lestat seriously damage this novel.

Sleeping as a way to avoid all your problems is very relatable

I didn't really like Interview With the Vampire, I thought it was too depressing and dark, but I gave The Vampire Lestat a chance and I LOVED IT. It's one if my favorite books. Lestat's and Louis' reunion made me cry, ngl

It's funny that this comes so soon after FilmJoy's Deep Dive on Queen of the Damned.

You need to do a Lost in Adaptation for Practical Magic... holy crap. Of course not even close to the trash fire that is the Queen of the Damned movie, but it is actually pretty bad.

Wait... There is another Eventide? I thought I was the last. Aaaaand subbed.

I really hoped they were going to do The Vampire Lestat as it's own thing, rather than jumping over the core stuff and fast tracking to Queen of the Damned. Queen of the Damned really should have been its own thing after the build of the Vamp Lestat... seeing Lestat as a mortal, his mom, the wolfpack... even though when you're reading the books you get the sense that while Louis most likely did see things differently from how they were because of his perspective, experience, and lens into that world... Lestat was clearly also a bit of an untrustworthy narrator, but hit on core aspects of truth that helped you understand why he was the way he was. It's 100% how he went from being a "foil" in interview to being the main character in most of the books moving forward. Queen of the Damned though wasn't my favorite of the books- though it had my favorite moments... Marius: You are the damnedest creature! You make me think of the old story about Alexander The Great. He wept when there where no more worlds to conquer. Will you weep when there are no more rules to break? Lestat: Ah, but there are always rules to break. Also Lestat kidnapping Louis to go harass David is honestly my favorite "scene" in all the books. It completely encapsulated such different personalities and the dynamic between Lestat and Louis is freakin' awesome. It also laid the ground work for the friendship he ends up building with David moving forward, which then makes what happens at the end of Tale of the Body Thief even more fucked up. Reading Queen of the Damned though- I always felt it would be a better movie, if the movie did the "show, don't tell" thing, I found much of it tedious because of the "tell, don't show". I feel like it was 50 pages, in different parts of the book, explaining why cannibalizing the dead was a beautiful thing. I get it, I understand, stop beating a dead horse with it. The big ass family tree that I think it took a few pages to really describe (probably not that many), could be shown with 1 camera dolly shot during characters talking about the family line. The shit Lestat went through when she went to all more 3rd world countries to kill 99 in 100 men, going from being high with power and then starting to realize how fucked up shit was. Him pleading with her at the end of the book that there are bombs, planes... that she wouldn't be able to do it in larger countries, people would find a way to end it- or something like that, it's been about 20 years or so since I've read it last. I wanted Tale of the Body Thief to be made, but you needed the background of TVL and a better telling of QotD- lots of people didn't like TotBT but it's honestly my fave of them all. Knock Lestat on his ass, make him helpless, force him to reassess crap, make him fear for his life again in a way where he is powerless and his survival is in the hands of a nun who's a nurse because he's too sick to do anything. People didn't like to see him beaten down, I thought it was great. People hated that at the end he was back to where he was- kinda- but it was in the course of being so powerless and starting to decide to not be the way he was, that made him redoubling down when he got his power back, and forcing shit on others because he could, make sense. Sometimes (not always of course), you take a person beaten down and give them ultimate (or massive) power over someone else, they can abuse that power. I didn't think the Lestat/David thing should have been smoothed over so quickly- But Lestat ending up with reporter boy at the end of the last movie instead of Armand made me realize the ripple affect it would have. Them skipping Lestat's childhood/human days? Ditto, and it's a shame. I think if they did a better job- or maybe did a TV show with talented writers who understood the books- where each season is a book ala the way Game of Thrones started out- it would have been hugely successful. Esp since those books vampires are such an interesting mix of alluring/sexy/sexual and terrifying as fuck.

I don't know much about the books or the movies, but knowing the little plot where Claudia is so so angst about not aging up, I think it is not because they are stuck emotionally where they were turned. That wouldn't make sense as Claudia is a kid when she is turned but she does develop emotionally, coming to behave as an adult does. I think it's because they live forever. Like, duh, I know. But immortal life does not mean infinite development. It could mean that they get stuck in their bias - just because you have infinite time to study and get better as a person it doesn't mean you will. Maybe you will become worse as you wallow into your own problems and find justifications for your misdeeds. But, uh, that's just my take on it as a fan ot vampires. I don't even have a college degree on literature or anything. It's just that. So take it as you will, with a grain of salt, ten, or otherwise.

RIP Anne Rice

I thought Anne Rice and Ayn Rand were the same person, so when I saw this I was like: She founded objectivism and wrote about Bi-Vampires. I also use to get Oscar Wilde and Austin Powers confused.

This was my favorite of the Vampire Chronicles. I read The Vampire Lestat to pieces. Yes, the series does go off the rails a bit but it is all such a fun read that you don't care.

The soundtract to Queen of the Damed is still a banger.

I was literally, (no pun) JUST thinking about when we would get the sequels! Thank You!! (Edit: I just got my notification.. wt??)

you probably wont see my comment, but this is honestly my comfort youtube video i always come back to this when ever im upset

This blew my mind when I was 14. I'd just watched IWTV, loved it, and then my sister gave me a copy of this book. The Vampire Chronicles became my first online fandom in '98. You're right. You never really forget your first love.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU....... I am so glad to know I am NOT the only one who thinks the idea of being a vampire forever seems like absolute SHIT................ NO MATTER THE AGE OF TURNING>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..

idk whats up with your earing but its like blending in with your green screen in a rather distracting way

Good evening everyone! The things that I loved the most in the novel were when, on her death bed, Lestat's mother told him "You are not alive anymore" and when she gave him her consent to be turned into a vampire 🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️

I am still looking forward to whenever you feel comfortable enough to do your takes on The Good Omen TV series.

I have to point out that being honest does not make him a more reliable narrator. This is of course because one can be so delusional as to believe their own lies and deceptions.

That piano music reminded me of the Christmas carol, "what child is this?" I sang that carol for four years in school so I'm constantly singing to myself, "the babe, the son of Marry" all throughout the review. Weird how stuff like that comes back around, isn't it?

18:26 "Strange" doesn't even _begin_ to explain it.

We need more of these, Thank you for blessing us with an upload father

Read Lestat when I was 13. Huge influence at the time. I read up to Armand, but never liked Armand enough to read his story. Kept meaning to go back to them but I'm not really interested anymore. I have reread tale of the body thief a few times though. It's so weird for Lestat to be mortal again. My favorite line from Lestat is when he's marveling over ballpoint pen... So mundane, but for someone who's been asleep so long, it must seem pretty cool

I'm pretty sure Anne Rice accidentally wrote Gabrielle as trans.

Honestly, this kind of seems like Ann Rice became herself enamoured with the character she created and couldn't stick with his terrible morals, and retconned that part of her first novel to make him a much nicer person.