Claudia... A Vampire Long Gone, But Never Forgotten

"Locked together in hatred. But I can't hate you Louis. Louis my love, I was mortal till you gave me your immortal kiss. You became my mother, and my father, and so I'm yours forever. But now it's time to end it, Louis. Now it's time to leave him."

- A quote from: Kirsten Dunst (Claudia) in: Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

Claudia... A devilish little Vampire girl that has stolen the hearts and minds of Vampire Chronicle fans for decades!

Alright for most of you, I imagine you guys probably have no idea who this is, (Considering the series that she is a part of has not seen any new additions in either the movie or book form for more then a few years now...)

Well that's fine, a little bit about her back story is this... (There is a book specifically devoted to Claudia's back story that I haven't read, but she plays a largely relevant role in, 'Interview With The Vampire' (1976)... So I can tell you what I know about her through this, as well as from the movie...)

Anyway, back in the 19th century, when Louis & Lestat (two of the more important characters in this story,) are having a particularly hard time, Lestat ends up going out in search of a companion to make their duo in to a trio... In comes, Claudia (their little Vampire child...)

 Louis (Played by: Brad Pitt ), Lestat (Played by: Tom Cruise) & Claudia (Played by: Kirsten Dunst) in 1994's big screen adaption of the novel, 'Interview With Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles'!

But as time went on, the Vampire, 'Threesome', became a Vampire, 'Twosome'... And the way that Lestat was disposed of being something that the Vampire community generally frowns upon... Well that led to her end in the first novel...

I hope that I haven't given to much away, and I will admit that i'm not giving her back story as much justice as it deserves... But this character was cut short... The way that Anne Rice wrote her character, was extremely... dare I say it... profound?

Yeah I said it... And even though I know profound is kind of a stretch for a character in a book, especially for a, 'Vampire'... but this little girl vampire along with Louis, helped keep that story going extremely well through out the time that she was in the book... And the movie... So much so that I would say some of the best moments of each was when she was in it in some capacity!

This little one certainly steals the show in the first of the, 'Vampire Chronicles'!

As a matter of fact, I almost felt like after her time in either the book or the movie was over, that at that point would be a good time for both to begin to wind down... And I think that, that is at least part of why both were so good! I mean there was still some more good reading and good watching in the movie form, but in the end, both wound down after Claudia's end quite nicely!

Kirsten Dunst as: 'Claudia', along with Brad Pitt as: 'Louis' & 'Tom Cruise' as: Lestat, in a scene from: Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994):

Interview With The Vampire (1976) Anne Rice - Book Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Now here is another terrific writer of horror, Anne Rice!  I mean this woman is just a truly terrific writer that has painted a world of horrors, myth and wonder the likes of which I would honestly say that haven't been seen (with her brand of horror writing) since H.P. Lovecraft!

Now the first time I had actually heard of this amazing writer's work was actually not in the books that she had written, but in the fact that when I was just barely out of the single digits that I had gone to see the movie, Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), (which as it turns out was a pretty awesome movie that starred, Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible), Brad Pitt (World War Z) and a young Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) to name a few of the truly awesome actors and actresses from this movie!)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] This movie was truly amazing... But no where near as good as the book![/caption]

Well you know what? This movie was a truly amazing masterpiece of horrific drama, that hearkened back I feel to the concepts that Bram Stoker tried to instill when he wrote, Dracula (1897)! But in all truth, as good as this movie was, the book was even better! You see this book is based on a narrative as being told to a writer, by an actual Vampire  by the name of, 'Louis de Pointe du Lac', and how Louis takes the reader through his life, from when he was still alive and a wealthy but bitter and depressed man, through being changed in to a Vampire by, 'Lestat de Lioncourt', and the rest of his journey through out his immortality!

 This book is truly awesome, and as a matter of fact was so well written that I couldn't put it down... As a matter of fact, after reading this novel not long afterward I spent a couple of months collecting up the whole series... (which are all, also really cool, but we will get to those in later reviews...)

You might be wondering why these books are so good... Well simply speaking, I think the truest sign of a great author is their capacity to keep the reader engaged and interested through out the story... And not only does Anne Rice do that through out, 'Interview With The Vampire' but she keeps you enthralled! I mean you almost kind of follow the story as if Louis is really reciting his life to you!

[caption id="attachment_759" align="aligncenter" width="199"] A truly amazing book![/caption]

The only other thing that I would say about this novel is that this novel has a fair amount of strong sexual overtones, and if you find that to be offensive, then this may not be the series for you, but if you can either get passed it, or don't have a problem with it, then I think that you might find that this one is a pretty solid novel, and is a strong backing for a great series to follow!