Queen of the Damned

REVIEW
In this sequel to Interview with the Vampire, Lestat is awakened from his decades-long slumber by some lame Goth music, and decides to become an international rock superstar (though how he achieves this, considering the truly boring tunes he warbles, is unexplained). This rankles the rest of the vampire population, because Lestat has effectively "outed" them. Some intriguing ideas and lush sets and costumes can't make up for the overall tone of amateurishness here: this seems more like a quickie straight-to-video knockoff than a high-profile sequel. Flashy but wholly empty direction, choppy storytelling (probably owing to the fact this film is based on not one, but two Anne Rice novels), and an OK-at-best performance by Townsend (who took over from Tom Cruise) as Lestat are further debits. The late Aaliyah is rather good (and surprisingly well cast) as the Queen, but her fans should beware: despite the film's title and her top-billing, she only has about fifteen minutes of screen time.