Interview with the Vampire (1994)

"Interview with the Vampire" is the well known film adaptation of the novel written by Anne Rice. The film was directed by Neil Jordan (who also directed  "In the Company of Wolves") and stars Tom Cruise and a young Brad Pitt as the vampires that the story revolves around. The casting of Cruise as the vampire Lestat brought attention to the film before it's release, with a good deal of commotion coming from Anne Rice herself. Although after viewing the film, Rice was sold and satisfied with Cruise's performance. The movie itself is beautiful to watch and is full of time period sets of New Orleans and and Paris. I have never read the book so I am unable to make any comparisons between the two works.

"Interview" is about the retelling of the life and after-life of the vampire Louis to a reporter in a hotel room one night. Louis describes how his mortal life fell apart in 1791, Louisiana when his wife and child died, and how he lost all will to live and wanted to die. His wish for death was answered by the vampire Lestat, who at the last moment offered Louis the choice for eternal life, the "choice that I was never given" as Lestat is fond of saying. Lestat joins Louis at his plantation and begins introducing Louis to the lifestyle of a vampire. Louis finds that he's stronger, his senses are clearer, and that he has to live off of blood. He refuses to feast off of people, deciding to stick to small animals as much as he can. Louis is disappointed but knows that his young friend will eventually come around. When Louis finally breaks, he takes a small child whose family has died of a plague. Lestat is delighted and turns the child into a vampire as a kind of gift to Louis. Now the little Claudia joins the two and they form a small, odd little family. But Claudia is devious and convinces Louis to help her kill Lestat. The two turn on their "creator" and then travel the world to find others like them. What they find isn't exactly what they were hoping for....

Se7en (1995)

"Se7en", also known as just "Seven", is David Fincher's second full length movie that he directed after creating a name for himself as a music video director. He almost passed up the chance to direct "Se7en" after having such a horrible experience working on "Alien 3". "Se7en" is about a serial killer who kills people whose lives best represent one of the seven deadly sins. Unlike most serial killers, he doesn't kill because of some ill seeded sexual drive or the need to control others, but instead he kills to prove that the world is full of sin and that it influences everyone, like it or not. The killer is very precise and patient, taking over a year to implement his plan so everything lined up just right. The only aspect that I find difficult to understand is how he was going to complete the seventh and final sin before Brad Pitt's character, Detective Mills, moved to the unnamed City and became an unknowing player in the killer's game.

The movie is one of the best filmed features that I've ever seen, taking full advantage of the dark, wet City and turning it into a character itself. It's big and ugly and real. Coupled with the intense soundtrack, pairing certain points in the film with a particular song or classical piece, made the film complete.


Detective Somerset is about to retire and move away from the City, a run down, crime riddled metrolpolis. During his last few days, he is partnered with the brash young Detective Mills who just transferred to the City. They are soon dispatched to investigate the crime scene of an obese man that was found in his kitchen, killed by a blunt blow to the stomach after being forced fed for hours while a gun was pressed firmly against his head. This turns out to be just the first in a series of cruel and violent killings that claim people from all walks of life within the city, including a high profile lawyer and a famous local model. Somerset is the the first to notice that the killings are related to the different seven deadly sins from the bible, so with that knowledge they begin their search for the killer before he can complete all seven murders.

World War Z (2013)

While “World War Z” is a great action/adventure movie, the horror elements are under used and under appreciated by the film makers. This might be due to the fact that they wanted to make a movie with a PG-13 rating and as we all know, zombies can become pretty gruesome really quick. The movie does feel like a horror film during the third act, the part of the movie that was re-written who knows how many times.

There were a couple of moments that really impressed about this film, one of which is their presentation of quickly the foundation of civilization can crumble. Watching the chaos unfold was chilling and reminded me of the similar scenes from “Cloverfield”.  Another nice attention to detail was when Brad Pitt’s character shoots one of the infected and gets some of its blood in his mouth. He runs to the ledge of the apartment building, ready to jump in case he “turns”. But after counting down to 11, he realizes that he’s ok. But there is one detail that I don’t like at all; there is a moment when Brad Pitt cuts off the hand of a soldier who was just bit, and then she doesn’t turn. Not cool! If you get bit you turn, this is not negotiable!

Gerry (Brad Pitt) is coerced into helping the UN discover the source and cure to a worldwide zombie epidemic. He runs around a lot, flies in a few planes here and there, and discovers a useful technique to use against the zombies. 

Favorite moment - the scene on the plane with the stow away zombie was pretty fun, intense, and horror-like.