Damned, Damned, Damned!

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

Based on what we learn from "Queen of the Damned," it seems that Dracula would have no problem melting into the punk or goth crowd of Hollywood Boulevard, Times Square or some seedy district of London. The star here, the vampire Lestat, visits our century and quickly transforms himself into a rock star with one of those musical bands that wear all black, apply lots of dark make-up, pierce assorted body parts and have a ready-made paleness suitable for the undead.

By the time Aaliyah makes her stunning appearance as Queen Akasha, the mother of all vampires who hails from ancient Egypt, Lestat and crew have clearly established the film as theirs, not hers—even though she plays the title role. With a sense of irony, frequent melodrama, unintentional humor, too much narration and souped up editing, the story and visuals proceed with a rock band pace and sensibility. This is vampire chic for the MTV set.

Based on Anne Rice's novel, much of the story unfolds in fits and starts, telling the tale of how Lestat came to be. We meet his "host," the ancient vampire Marius. We visit castles, private islands, mansions and Hollywood hideaways for the rich. If you don't know, you know now: vampires live large. They don't seem to need money or maybe, appropriately, vampires are all descendants and heirs of the super-rich.

Lestat meets Jesse, (Marguerite Moreau) a half-vampire and half-human and it is obvious that the two of them are supposed to do the vampire nasty at some point. "Queen of the Damned" stretches to an almost comedic extreme the experience of blood sucking, with the vampires reveling in it like it is the bomb weed or sex. Hearing Lestat, with his British accent, cry out for "more," recalls Austin Powers exhorting, "Oh Yeah Baby!"

The slumbering Akasha is awakened by Lestat's vampire rock music circling the globe. She aims to find Lestat, make him her king and once again rule the world. Lestat's outlandish openness, contrasted with the traditional secrecy preferred by vampires, scares and enrages vampires around the globe and they want to beat him down. But they will have to deal with Akasha first, who will blow up the spot—poof!—if you try to hurt her man (who really doesn't look the part). The stage is set for a showdown. The whole world is, quite suddenly, against the evil but beautiful ancient Egyptian vampire. The scene of her battle royal is one of the most disturbing scenes I have seen featuring a Black actress.

As with most adaptations of novels, there is an attempt here to tell too many stories in the short space allotted for a film. On the one hand, it is too bad that Aaliyah doesn't get more screen time. Killed in a plane accident in September, this is her final performance and it is a striking one. She using her limited appearances to establish presence, a mean, queenly swagger, a wicked glare, a flare for playing the villain and for eating bloody human hearts. On the other hand, from the moment she makes her video queen entry—all glowing like she's been eating her queen Wheaties—she sticks out like a chocolate chip in vanilla gelato among all these sunken-eyed creatures of the night.

Esther Iverem's film reviews also appear on the entertainment pages of BET.com

-- March 14, 2002

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