I’ve been participating in blogathons for three years. For most of those events, a variety of content was welcome, highlighting the broad nature of a chosen theme. The Against the Crowd Blogathon is a different type of event for me, as editorial style articles are preferred. I discovered this blogathon on the blog, Realweegiemidget Reviews, as Gill included it in a list of upcoming events. When I looked at past entries, I knew I could bring something new to the table. This blogathon asks their participants to share two movies; a movie you love that everyone hates and a movie everyone loves that you hate. For my entry, I chose to talk about two films I have reviewed before. While I will bring up points I brought up in my reviews, the purpose of this post is to explain why I like or don’t like a movie. This article is not meant to be disrespectful or mean-spirited. Everything I say will be solely based on my opinion.
Remember on Seinfeld, when Elaine was the odd one out for not liking The English Patient? Well, the way she feels about that movie is the way I feel about Twentieth Century. Receiving a “fresh” critic score of 86% and a 7.4 out of 10 on IMDB, this film is considered beloved among cinephiles. Even legendary critic Leonard Maltin likes Twentieth Century. In his 1989 edition of TV Movies & Video Guide, Leonard not only gave the movie four out of four stars, but also called it a “super screwball comedy”. But the genre classification of this particular title is one of the reasons why I found this movie so bad, it was appalling.
When I reviewed Twentieth Century last November, I pointed out how the movie was labeled a “romantic comedy”. As someone who has watched my fair share of Hallmark Channel productions, I know the typical components of the “rom-com” genre. With the 1934 title, it doesn’t feel like a “rom-com”. That is because it is missing one key ingredient: likable characters. All of the characters are horrible to varying degrees. But the worst one is Oscar. He is so selfish, from “firing” his friends on multiple occasions to trying to break up an established relationship. Oscar is also abusive toward his girlfriend, Lilly. Throughout their relationship, Oscar is possessive and controlling. He goes so far as to physically hurt Lilly, even using his mortality as a manipulation tactic to keep her with him. To me, none of that screams “romantic” or “funny”. It is actually downright despicable. By placing Twentieth Century in the “rom-com” genre, the awfulness of the characters and their situations are completely undermined.
Isn’t it ironic how, for this blogathon, I chose two movies that feature a predominant abusive relationship? While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I love Queen of the Damned, I do enjoy it for what it is. In fact, I wrote two editorials relatedto the film, with one of them becoming my most popular editorial I’ve ever written. That article is about how unhealthyLestat and Akasha’s relationship is. Unlike Twentieth Century, the characters surrounding this relationship realize how terrible it is. Akasha, who I explained in my editorial as the reason for the relationship’s problematic nature, also facesaccountability for her behaviors and choices.
In my review of The Karate Kid Part II, I talked about how the sequel didn’t feel like a carbon copy of the first film. Despite having only seen the Interview with the Vampire trailer, I can tell Queen of the Damned’s creative team tried to give their project its own identity. As I said in my review, the 2002 project focuses on the new-school/modern gothic style. It alsopresents Lestat as a more likable protagonist. I did like how voice-overs from both Jesse and Lestat could be heard throughout the story. Like I said in my review, they provided depth to the script. To me, this movie is better than its soundtrack, an opinion that I’m sure is very unpopular. I also like Lestat and Jesse’s relationship.
When Heidi, from Along the Brandywine, started her Valentine’s Day Period Drama Blog Party, she also published an official tag! As I’ve already posted my entry for the event, a review of the Hallmark Hall of Fame picture, The Love Letter, I thought it’d be nice to answer the tag questions. As I said in that review, period dramas are not regularly covered on 18 Cinema Lane. However, I did try to answer each question as best as I could. If you’ve visited my blog before, you’d know this isn’t my first blogathon tag. Last year, when I joined the Legends of Western Cinema Week, I published my answers relating to the western genre. This time around, I’m answering questions about this blogathon’s theme: period dramas!
3. A favorite couple that wouldn’t be included in answer #1 (cause I’m figuring those are already top favorites ;)) and/or a favorite secondary character romance?
I really like both couples from Anchors Aweigh! Even though the movie is a musical, there are romantic elements that work well in the overall story. Without giving much away, it shows how subverting expectations can be a good thing.
4. What do you consider foundational qualities for a healthy romance?
Consent and communication. Two years ago, I wrote an editorial about how Lestat and Akasha’s relationship in Queen of the Damned was not healthy. Their lack or consent and communication serve as two reasons why. I’ll leave a link to the article if you want to read it:
I’d say Nicholas’ uncle, Ralph, from Nicholas Nickleby. Like my answer for question number three, I won’t give the story away. But I will say that Ralph is one of the reasons why Nicholas and his family experience hardship in that movie.
6. A favorite proposal scene?
I’m not sure if this would count, but I liked Nicholas and Madeline’s conversation, from Nicholas Nickleby, where they reflect on their pasts. It has a good message of strength that came across as genuine. Nicholas and Madeline also look like they truly care about one another.
7. Favorite period drama characters based on a real life couple?
I haven’t seen this movie in years, but I’ll choose The Young Victoria. From what I remember, I liked Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s relationship. Similar to Nicholas and Madeline’s relationship in Nicholas Nickleby,Victoria and Albert looked like they truly loved each other. In a film about royals in the 19th century, I found that part of the story refreshing!
8. Any classic b/w period dramas you like? and 9. Most mature romance in a period drama? (mature as in age and/or characters who are consciously and wisely ripened by life experience, etc.)
For this answer, I combined questions eight and nine. This is because I think The Enchanted Cottage fits both of them. Not only is this movie presented in black and white, but there is maturity within the protagonists’ relationship. Because Robert Young’s character, Oliver Bradford, is a World War II veteran, there are discussions of trauma and self-worth. Inner beauty and self-perception are also explored between Oliver and Laura, portrayed by Dorothy McGuire.
10. Most excruciatingly long, slow burn romance in a period drama?
The first one that comes to mind is Elizabeth and Jack’s relationship from When Calls the Heart. For five seasons, fans were waiting for these two characters to get married. While they eventually tied the knot, Jack was sent away on a Mountie mission, only for him to die at the end of the fifth season. This means that the fans barely got to see Elizabeth and Jack as a married couple.
11. A story that has multiple film adaptations where you love more than one of them?
After thinking about a double feature I wrote, I’ll pick The Secret Garden. Out of the three adaptations I’ve seen, I like the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation and the 1993 film. If you’re interested, I’ve posted the links to the aforementioned double feature and its conclusion.
12. A book you think needs to be made into a film (or a new adaptation)?
Last year, in my Movie Blogger’s Christmas Wish-List, I talked about how I’d like to see To Stand On My Own: The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson and Zlata’s Diary receive film adaptations. Instead of repeating myself, I’m sharing the link to that list, so you can read why I feel this way.
My review of The Sea of Grass became the 450th post I have ever published! As I’ve always done, I was going to acknowledge this latest accomplishment in some way. Observant followers and visitors of my blog would notice I haven’t produced as much Halloween content as I did last year. To fix this, I have chosen to participate in the Hallotober Tag! Created by Ofaglasgowgirl, I first discovered this tag when I saw it on Irina’s blog, I drink and watch anime. Finding the Hallotober tag was pleasant timing, as I haven’t posted a tag in a month. Before I officially begin, I must list the rules of the tag, which are:
Thank the person who tagged you and link to their post
Thank you Irina! If you want to check out their thoughts on anime, here’s a link to their blog: https://drunkenanimeblog.com/
Put the rules at the beginning or after introduction
Answer the 13 questions
Tag 13 people to do the tag
Here are the 13 people I’m tagging:
— Lady Kelleth from Lady Kelleth
— IMA from The Cinema Post
— Nisha from The Local Ticket
— Sarah from Room For A Review
— Diane from In Dianes Kitchen
— Lucy from Fun With Orzo
— Kingsley from Divine-Royalty
— Myles from Enticing Desserts
— Eggsandwich04 from KS Blogs
— Simran from The Preserver of Life
— Pale Writer from Pale Writer
— Dbmoviesblog from dbmoviesblog
— J-Dub from Dubsism
If you haven’t been tagged, you can also participate!
Delete Question 13, add a new number one question of your own
You are free to use the tag image somewhere in the post
Which location from a movie or tv show would you choose as your preferred Halloween spot?
Since I love Phantom of the Megaplex, I’d want to spend my Halloween at the Megaplex theater from that film. Exploring the cinema would be so much fun!
2. What’s your favorite thing about October?
Definitely Halloween! As the days and months go on, it feels like the entire month of October is a build-up to the holiday! This makes Halloween the grand finale!
3. Are you a big celebrator of Halloween?
Absolutely! I’ve loved Halloween my whole life, so it’s a holiday that means a lot to me. Therefore, I try to celebrate anyway I can.
4. What’s your favorite horror movie?
While I don’t watch a lot of horror movies, I will list some Halloween-esque movies I have enjoyed watching:
The Crow
Queen of the Damned
Phantom of the Megaplex
Bedlam
Return to Oz
Escape to Witch Mountain and Return from Witch Mountain
Strangers on a Train
The Bad Seed (the 2019 or the 1956 version)
Cry Wolf
Any mystery series from Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
The Perry Mason movie series
House of the Long Shadows
Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Vampyr
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
Nosferatu
Gaslight
5. Would you rather a cozy night in watching horrors or a big night out in a costume?
I have never attended a Halloween party before, so I would choose a big night out in a costume.
6. Which has been your most favorite costume to date?
Out of all the Halloween costumes I can remember, one of my favorites is when I dressed up as Bellatrix from the Harry Potter series. I actually wore that costume twice; for Halloween and for a midnight screening of Harry Potterand the Deathly Hallows Part 2!
7. Bobbing for apples or pin the hat on the witch?
Since pinning the hat on the witch seems like the more sanitary option, I’ll pick the second activity.
8. How do you celebrate Halloween?
Usually, I just stay home and watch a movie. However, I have handed out candy to trick-or-treaters before.
9. What’s your least favorite horror?
I am not a fan of slasher horror films. This is because I find the use of blood in horror stories to be more gory than scary.
10. Do you have a favorite trick or treating memory?
One year, my neighbor transformed their front porch into a haunted house! I enjoyed seeing all the creative ways that space was used, especially since it was a location I had become so familiar with outside of the Halloween season. Since those neighbors moved away several years ago, Halloween in my neighborhood just hasn’t been the same.
11. What’s your favorite thing about Halloween?
Speaking of creativity, I love the creativity when it comes to the story-telling aspect of the holiday. A great example can be found in a recent episode of Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship. When the bakers enter the haunted house’s nursery, they are required to create a 3-D doll cake. As each baker presents their edible creation, they come up with their own unique back-story to go with their cake.
12. Scary costume or Silly costume?
I’ll take it one step further and pick a creative costume.
13. What’s your favorite Halloween candy?
I haven’t received this in my treat-or-treating career, but I love Sky Bars! Each of the filling flavors is delicious and pairs nicely with chocolate!
Now that the Christmas/holiday shopping season has begun, it feels like the perfect time to bring back a tradition that I started last year. Returning to 18 Cinema Lane is my Movie Blogger’s Christmas Wish-List, where I share the movie related things I’d like to receive as gifts! Just like the first one, there will be four categories that each item will be listed under. If you need more of an explanation, you can check out my first Movie Blogger’s Christmas Wish-List at the featured link. Also, like last year, each item is something that I think could be realistic. Before I start this list, I just want to say that the only image in this post that is not one of my screenshots is the Three Wise Men themed wish list image.
In last year’s Christmas Wish-List, I shared that I would like to see Stuart Townsend and Marguerite Moreau star in a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie together. While I still want this, I’d also like to see other actors and actresses from the Queen of the Damned film appear in a Hallmark Hall of Fame project. If you read my review of Swept from the Sea, you would remember that I enjoyed Vincent Perez’s performance in that film! Even though I’ve only seen two of his movies, I believe that Vincent would be able to use his acting talents to bring a Hallmark Hall of Fame story to life. I also wouldn’t be opposed to seeing these actors or actresses working behind the camera, such as directing or producing the film. According to his IMDB filmography, Matthew Newton, who portrayed Armand in Queen of the Damned, has written, directed, and produced a few films. Maybe, one day, he could help create a Hallmark project. Like I said in last year’s Christmas Wish-List, I’m not sure if there’s anything preventing these actors or actresses from appearing in a Hallmark film or if they’ve ever gotten along well enough where they would want to work together again. But if Hallmark wants to coordinate a mini Queen of the Damned reunion, I would be on board for that decision!
On Wikipedia, when I was deciding which film to choose for a blog follower dedication review, I came across a movie titled The Wife of Monte Cristo. Monte Cristo and Haydee are one of my favorite couples from pop culture. However, in different adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo, Haydee is either not featured in the film or she appears in the film for a brief period of time. Haydee and Monte’s relationship is also barely talked about. What makes me want to see this film is how it not only focuses on Monte and Haydee’s relationship, but also allows Haydee to become a more prominent character. Currently, the film is not airing on Turner Classic Movies. But I would love to review it for Pure Entertainment Preservation Society’s Clean Movie Month!
In the movie, Easter Under Wraps, the protagonist, Erin, brings the most adorable suitcase on her trip to Washington. While I’m not shopping for luggage anytime soon, I would love to own a suitcase that looks like Erin’s! Based on the photo, it appears to be perfect for a weekend trip. I also really like its color. I don’t know what the suitcase’s inner material looks like, but I would want it to have my blog’s logo printed on it.
Something You Need to See
I’ve said on 18 Cinema Lane before that I would really like to see the movie, Words on Bathroom Walls. But, as of late November to early December 2019, it seems that this film still does not have a distributor. If you are not aware, a distributor is a studio that releases a film. Because Words on Bathroom Walls doesn’t have a distributor yet, it means the film hasn’t been given a premiere date. I hope that this movie finds a distributor sooner rather than later so people can finally see it!
Even though When Calls the Heart is a television show, there are still movies that bridge the seasons together. So, this Wish-List request counts for this section. Ever since the show’s season five finale, I have noticed that Tom Thornton has received very little acknowledgement. It’s gotten to the point where it seems like Elizabeth is ignoring Jack’s side of the family. I realize that the issue lies in the screenwriting. Because the screenwriters don’t make an effort to include Tom in the story, they don’t bother to recognize his existence in that world. As a fan of both Tom Thornton and When Calls the Heart, all I ask is for the screenwriters to make more references to Jack’s brother. If Max Lloyd-Jones cannot make an appearance on the show, that’s understandable. But the most important thing is for Tom’s importance to get recognized more often.
This Wish-List request is similar to the previous one. In my spoiler-zone review of Avengers: Endgame, I talked about how Bucky was, to a certain extent, treated like an afterthought in that film. Ever since then, not only do I feel like Bucky is still being seen as an afterthought, but it seems like the fans of the character are being treated like an afterthought as well. In this case, the problem lies with Disney and Marvel, as they have made very few efforts to acknowledge these fans and get them excited for The Falcon & the Winter Soldier. It also doesn’t help that they are doing this to a co-lead character of an upcoming TV show. For this request, the only thing I ask is for Disney and Marvel to stop treating Bucky and his fans like afterthoughts. No matter what you’re a fan of, no person should ever feel this way. Besides, fans are the ones who can make or break the popularity of a piece of entertainment.
A movie related piece of clothing or accessory I’d want to wear
For this category, I have two choices. The first is Rachel’s pill-box hat from The Trouble with Angels! In my review of the movie, I featured three pictures of this hat. It is the coolest pill-box hat that I’ve ever come across and I’d love to own one that looks like it. The second is Paula’s choker necklace from Gaslight! I also featured a picture of it in my review of the film and this piece of jewelry is just adorable. Because Gaslight was filmed in black-and-white, it’s difficult to determine what color the necklace was meant to be. But, if I owned a necklace like this, I would like to be able to interchange the ribbon to coordinate with any outfit.
A book I’ve read that I’d like to see adapted into a film
When it comes to books I’ve read in 2019, most of them were either already turned into adaptations or I felt they didn’t need to become adaptations. However, there was one book where the more I read it, the more I could see it as a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series. This book is Murder on Ice by Alina Adams! When it comes to mystery series on Hallmark’s second network, there have not been any collection of films revolving around athletics. In Hallmark’s library of films, there are only three movies I’m aware of that prominently feature figure skating. If the Figure Skating Mystery books were adapted into a movie series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, it would fill those two voids that I just mentioned. I even pictured which actors and actresses could portray some of the characters. Despite the fact that Hallmark’s second network is saturated with mystery series at the moment, I think that an adaptation of Murder on Ice could bring something new to the table.
What are your thoughts on this year’s Christmas Wish-List? Are there any movie-related things you’d like to receive as a gift? Let me know in the comment section!
This is a question that I asked when I saw Queen of the Damned for the first-time last year. I was curious how this particular character was able to afford his lavish lifestyle while balancing his endeavors as a rock-star. The more I thought about my question, the more I thought about the wealth of the other characters from this movie. How did they acquire their wealth? What is their net worth? Since I haven’t seen a post like this on WordPress before, I decided to write an editorial where I attempt to figure out these characters’ net worth. I’m not a historical or financial expert, so my information will be based on guesses and assumptions. I haven’t read any of the source material that Queen of the Damned is based on, so I turned to Vampire Chronicles Wiki only to determine birth dates and the years when these characters became vampires. However, I didn’t rely too much on this site because the film and the source material share more differences than similarities. To determine net worth, I looked at items from the auction website, Sotheby’s, that correlated with these significant years of the characters. All of the items’ prices will be included with its United States Dollar value. Because we don’t know the year when the film takes place, we will assume it takes place around Halloween of 2002, especially since Marius was seen reading a magazine where the back cover says “All Hallow’s Eve”. I also turned to Jen, from the blog, Bookworm, because she has read the books and seen the movie. This means that she would know these characters better than me. Here’s the link to Jen’s blog if you want to check it out!
This post is not only created for the Gothic Horror Blogathon, it also corelates with ‘31 Spooks of October’ and my recent achievement of publishing 125 movie reviews! Before we begin, I just want to let you know that this is probably the longest editorial I’ve ever written. Also, all of the pictures that are featured in this editorial are screenshots that I took with my cellphone.
Here is photo evidence that the concert took place around Halloween. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Khayman
In the Queen of the Damned film, Khayman is one of members of the Ancients group. According to Vampire Chronicles Wiki, Khayman was Akasha’s chief steward. But this detail was not brought up in the film, so we will assume that this was his occupation before he became a vampire. The reason for Khayman’s negative feelings toward Akasha is unknown in the movie, but it seems like she made a decision that did not sit well with Khayman. On Sothebys, I found three items that shared the date of or around 4,000 B.C.; the approximate date when Khayman was born and became a vampire. The first item, An Anatolian Figure, was sold in 2001 for $6,600. For the sake of this discussion, we will assume that if Khayman owned this item, the aforementioned price will be the worth of the item. Another item that sold in 2001 was a set of Three Stone Mace-heads. This set had a final price tag of $2,700, so this will the worth of the set for this conversation. The last item, an Egyptian Hardstone Jar, has an approximate worth somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000, so we’ll just say that it’s worth $12,000. If we add these prices up, it totals to $21,300. Remember when I mentioned that Khayman was Akasha’s chief steward? Well, let’s say that throughout his career, he received a third of her finances, which would be approximately $11,944. When we include that number with the prices of the previously stated items, Khayman’s net worth totals to the amount of $33,244.
Before starting this project, I had assumed that Akasha would be one of the film’s more wealthier vampires. But Jen, from Bookworm, brought up an excellent point that changed my perspective on Akasha’s net worth. Jen told me that Akasha wouldn’t have any money due to Marius taking care of her while she was in her semi-comatose, statuesque state. In the film, Akasha was seen in this state and stayed that way for the majority of the story. For this editorial, however, we’re going to assume that she was able to keep at least three possessions before she turned into a statue. The first possession would be an Egyptian Cosmetic Case, which sold for $1,693 in 2002. One year earlier, in 2001, a Stone Figure from the 6th Millennium sold for $19,150. An Egyptian Porphyritic Diorite Vase, which has a date of around the time when Akasha became a vampire, is worth $10,000 to $15,000. For this project, we will guess that this vase is worth $15,000. Adding up those numbers together, the total worth of these items would be $35,843. This means that this number represents Akasha’s total net worth.
For the first vampire ever created, this financial amount seems low. But, in the movie, Akasha spent more time in a semi-comatose, statuesque state than she did ruling over Egypt. Because she broke out of this state in 2002 after thousands of years, she probably wouldn’t be able to access the money she had as easily as the other vampires. In fact, she probably squatted the California house that she took Lestat to after taking him from his concert. Jen, from Bookworm, brought up another good point that puts Akasha’s financial situation into an interesting perspective. Even though, in the film, she doesn’t have any known family or children in existence, we would assume that she had a will. But if she did have a will, it wouldn’t be effective when she eventually died at the end of the film. Akasha traveled to Death Valley, California to take Lestat from his concert and she later died in Maharet’s house in the Sonoma area. As Jen told me, there’s a good chance that Akasha did not have any sort of legal U.S. citizenship, so any legal documents relating to finances would likely not be accounted for.
Not much is known about this particular character. Even in the movie, the only information that’s shared about him is that he’s an Ancient. But, according to Vampire Chronicles Wiki, Mael was born and became a vampire in 10 A.D. By taking a look at three items from this time period, we can guess his potential net worth. Two of these items are manuscripts. One of them is a Collection of Large Papyrus Documents, which has a worth of about $4,908 to $8,180. For this discussion, this collection will be worth $8,180. The other one, a Collection of Egyptian Papyrus Manuscripts, is worth $31,034 to $46,551. We’ll just say that if Mael owned this collection, it would have a worth of $46,551. The last item is a Roman Black-ware Miniature Amphora. For the sake of this project, let’s just say that this one item is worth $1,200. When these numbers are added up, Mael’s total net worth would be $55,931.
On the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website, it says that David was born in the 20th Century. Since his age is never mentioned in the movie, we are going to guess that David is 43 years old during the course of the film. The reason for choosing this age is because that’s how old Paul McGann, the actor who portrayed David, was in the year when the movie was released. As we can see in the film, David has a prominent position in a detective agency known as Talamasca. In fact, the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website clarifies his position is a “superior general”. Because salary was never brought up in the film, we’re going to assume that it would mirror the typical salary of an investigator. Since David’s standing in the Talamasca is pretty respectable, the assumption is that his salary is on the higher end of the spectrum. According to the website, SalaryList, this would be $189,592. Over his 43 years, David would probably have collected family heirlooms. For this project, we will highlight three items that could belong to him. The first item would be a Set of Danish Silver Dinner Plates. This collection is worth $12,000 to $18,000, so we’ll just say that the worth on the plates is $18,000. The next item is a Heriz Carpet, which has the exact same worth as the aforementioned dinner plates. Again, we’ll assume that this particular item is also worth $18,000. The final item is a Library Table, which has a worth of $20,000 to $30,000. Let’s make a guess that if David inherited this item, it would be worth $30,000. All of this means that David’s net worth is likely $255,592.
The Queen of the Damned movie reveals very little about Pandora. Even the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website doesn’t clearly state when she was born or when she became a vampire. After doing the necessary math based on what was written on the previously mentioned website, I assume that Pandora was born in 10 B.C. and that she became a vampire in 21 A.D. Though not mentioned in the film, the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website shares that her father was a Roman Senator, who happened to be wealthy. We’re going to assume that, after Pandora’s father died, she inherited $1,000,000. We’re also going to assume that she was able to hold on to some possessions she might have had before she became a vampire. One of these items would likely be a Conch Pearl Necklace. According to an article from Sotheby’s, “the Romans prized pearls as the ultimate status symbol”, so Pandora having pearls in her collection of heirlooms would make sense. This particular necklace has a worth of $305,784 to $407,712, so we’ll say that it’s worth the latter for this project. Speaking of jewelry, the next item would be a set of Lazuli, Beads, and Pendants from the 1st Millennium, when Pandora was born. This collection’s worth is between $3,000 and $5,000, so we’ll guess that it’s worth $5,000. The final item would be a Roman Marble Fragment, which has a worth of $19,288 to $32,147. In this discussion, we’ll just say that this item is worth $32,147. When we add these values, Pandora’s net worth ends up being $1,444,859.
As Pandora indicated in a deleted scene for the Queen of the Damned film, Armand was taken under Marius’ wing and became his vampire son. Because of this, there’s a chance that he would receive at least half of Marius’ net worth, which would be $3,959,059. Before becoming a member of Marius’ vampire family, Armand was born in 1480. After Armand was taken in by Marius, he became a vampire in 1497. Because we know very little about Armand’s biological family, we will guess that Armand was able to keep at least one item from them. This item, for the sake of this project, will be a Northern European Brass Pot. The brass pot is worth $2,000 to $3,000, so we’ll say that it’s worth $3,000.
In the film adaptation of Queen of the Damned’s predecessor, Interview with the Vampire, Armand owned the building where Theatre des Vampires, a group of performers who are also vampires, hosted shows. Armand was also the leader of this group. To determine the revenue that the theater possibly generated, I searched for theaters that had a similar date and location to Armand’s. The one I chose for this editorial is Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique, which, ironically, faced a similar fate to Armand’s theater. Before we talk about that, let’s go back to the discussion of revenue. In the 1800s, when Armand’s part of the story takes place, the cost of a theater ticket was around 30 cents. If there were 1,250 seats in Armand’s theater, the same number of seats that Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique had at one point, that means that the total sale of tickets for one show would be $375. If Armand’s theater hosted 36 shows throughout a single year, the total revenue would be $13,500. In the Interview with the Vampire film, Armand’s theater burns down and Armand becomes the only survivor of that situation. He even references this event in the aforementioned deleted scene. Because insurance has been around since the 2nd to 3rd millennia B.C. and because accident insurance existed in the 19th century, we’ll assume that Armand received an insurance settlement of $1,000,000. After all this is said, Armand’s net worth is revealed to be $4,975,559.
When he makes his debut in the Queen of the Damned film, Marius tells Lestat that he’s “a noble by nature”. Since we don’t exactly know what he meant by this statement, we’ll just assume that he was a literal noble before he became a vampire. If this were the case, it would make sense. One of the benefits of being a noble is having access to at least one estate. Through Lestat’s journalistic flashbacks, we see that Marius has a very large home on a private island. This estate would likely be valuable. In fact, I looked toward another structure that was built around the time when Marius became a vampire; 10 A.D., in order to determine the house’s worth. This structure is ‘Pyramid of the Sun’ from Mexico. One of the materials that was used to build this pyramid was limestone, so we’re going to assume that this material was also used to build Marius’s island home. In an article from History Channel, limestone was used to cover the pyramid’s walls. Also, according to Sotheby’s, a Limestone Head is worth somewhere between $6,706 to $10,730. Because one side of the pyramid is 733.2 feet, we’re going to multiply this number with the higher end of the price spectrum of the Limestone Head, which equals $7,867,236. This is the value that we will put on Marius’s island home for the sake of this discussion.
Marius’s house is not the only thing he owns that would be worth a lot of money. One of these items is likely be a pair of Egyptian Glass Eye Inlays, which is worth $7,715 to $10,287. For this project, we will say that this pair is worth the latter amount. Throughout the movie, we see Marius as an artist, creating a few paintings at various moments. Because of his status as an Ancient, let’s just guess that Marius is the Michelangelo of the vampire world. One work of Michelangelo’s, “Profile of a Man” has a worth of $1,504 to $2,257. Let’s say that Marius sold ten paintings for $1,504 each. This means that he collected a total of $15,040. Remember when I talked about Akasha’s net worth? Well, when she and Lestat got “married”, that marriage was not made legitimate. This is because their marriage was based on “he said, she said”. In one of Lestat’s flashbacks, Marius explains that he keeps Akasha and her husband in their statuesque states in his house. After she died, it would make sense for Marius to receive Akasha’s net worth. So, overall, Marius’s net worth rounds out to $7,918,119.
Another wealthy Ancient is Jesse’s aunt, Maharet. On the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website, she lived around the time of Akasha, becoming a vampire in 4,000 B.C. I found three items that share this date that we’re going to guess Maharet would own. The first item is a Porphyritic Diorite Vase that is similar to Akasha’s. Because I already talked about this vase’s worth, we’re going to restate that it’s worth $15,000. The next item is a Stone Figure, which is worth $15,000 to $25,000. For this article, we are going to say that it’s worth $25,000. The last item is a Basalt House Figure, which is worth six to nine thousand dollars. But because this item sold in 2001 for $19,150, let’s say that this is the worth of this figure.
The Queen of the Damned film never reveals how Maharet acquired her wealth. But the Vampire Chronicles Wiki website shares that she “could communicate with spirits”. I’m guessing that this is the equivalent to a “medium”. So let’s say, before she became a vampire, Maharet ran a business where she used her talents to help others. We’re going to assume that the price of these “communication sessions” cost a total of $10. If she conducted four of these sessions throughout a month, she would make $40. Now if she ran this business for a year, she would make $480. If she ran her business for 2,000 years, her total revenue would be $960,000. In the movie, the climax takes place at Marahet’s house, which is located in California. On realtor.com, there’s a listing for a house in a location and with a style similar to the one in the film. It’s listed at $6,700,000. If this was the worth of Maharet’s house, it would be included in her net worth of $7,719,150.
Shortly after meeting Marius for the first time, Lestat tells him that he’s the “lord of a great man”. Like what Marius said about being a “noble”, we’ll just assume that Lestat was being literal about being a lord. On the website, Prestige Property Group, I found two houses that look like a property that Lestat’s family could have owned. One of them has a price tag of $984,500 and the other one has a price tag of $2,267,100. For my editorial, we will guess that Lestat’s family home would be worth $3,251,600. Toward the beginning of the film, we see that Lestat has a run-down house in New Orleans, where his soon-to-be band mates are seen practicing. I found a listing for a house on realtor.com that could resemble the house in the film. In this listing, the New Orleans house is listed for $4,995,000. For the sake of this project, we will assume that this price is the worth of Lestat’s house. We’ll also assume that Lestat held on to three personal possessions from before he became a vampire. The first of these items is a Louis XV Giltwood Mirror, which is worth $3,000 to $5,000. We will say that this mirror has a worth of $5,000. A Louis XVI Tapestry is the next item, with an approximate worth of twelve to eighteen thousand dollars. In this discussion, we’ll just assume that the tapestry is worth $18,000. With a worth of $12,000 to $18,000, a George I Cabinet on Chest is the last item. Like I said about the tapestry, we’ll say that the worth of the cabinet is also $18,000. Because, in the film, Marius turned Lestat into a vampire, he could receive half of Marius’ net worth of $3,959,059.
One of the biggest factors of the Queen of the Damned film is Lestat being a rock star. This definitely plays into Lestat’s total net worth, even though he is a member of a five-person group. In the film, the band’s concert took place in Death Valley, California. The layout was different from that of a typical stadium, which sets separate prices based to where the seats are located. Also, this was the only concert that band was hosting, because Lestat didn’t want to repeat his performance. This means that tickets for this concert might have been very valuable. In an article from Princeton University, it was reported that “in 2001, the average concert ticket price was about $40, with the average high-end cost close to $60”. But because of what I just said about the aforementioned concert, we’re going to make a guess that the range of prices for this concert’s tickets were $50 and $100. Now, let’s say that 1,000 people attended the concert. Half of them bought the $50 tickets, while the other half purchased the $100. When we multiply the first half, we get a total of $25,000. The total of the other half would be $50,000. While the overall revenue would end up being $75,000, it’s important to figure out what Lestat’s piece of the pie would be. Not only do we see at least one music video from this band, we also see several pieces of advertising about the concert. Let’s say that some of the concert revenue went towards paying the music video’s filming team and covering the cost of marketing, which we’ll keep at 10% each. Divide this number with $75,000, this payment would be $7,500 each. This leaves the $60,000 to split between five people, which now means that Lestat would walk away with $12,000. If you think this is a low number, consider that Lestat’s band also made at least one CD. Based on an article from Electronic Musician, which reported in early 2002 that CD prices could be lowered to $9.99, we’ll assume that in the Queen of the Damned film, a typical CD costs $10. We’re also going to assume that a million copies of this CD were sold. When those numbers are multiplied, we get a total of $10,000,000. But remember, there’s five members in this band, so Lestat would end up receiving $2,000,000. After all of this information is accounted for, Lestat’s total net worth is likely $14,258,659.
The Vampire Chronicles Wiki website says that in the Queen of the Damned movie, Jesse was “in her early twenties”. So, for the sake of this discussion, we’ll guess that Jesse was 25 years old. This was the age of Marguerite Moreau, the actress who portrays Jesse, in 2002, so this is why I have chosen this age for this project. As we can see in the movie, Jesse works for the same Talamasca that David is the superior general of. But, since her position is that of an “apprentice”, her salary would be on the lower end of the spectrum. Going back to the website, SalaryList, it would likely be $39,370. Remember, Jesse is Maharet’s niece, so it’s possible that she would receive half of her aunt’s net worth. This number would be $3,859,575. Receiving this money would have allowed her to live in London, travel to California, and attend Lestat’s concert. Speaking of Lestat, he was the one that turned her into a vampire toward the end of the movie. This means that she could have access to half of Lestat’s net worth, which is $5,149,800. While the exact state of Lestat and Jesse’s relationship is unknown, it is assumed that they decided to pursue a romantic relationship at the end of the film. Jen, from Bookworm, told me that vampires do not marry, but it’s possible that Lestat and Jesse would have come up with a financial agreement if their relationship grew stronger. Overall, the grand total of Jesse’s net worth is going to be $9,048,745.
This editorial was written before Valentine’s Day.
Ah, Valentine’s Day. A day when the general theme of love is celebrated. The colors of red and pink are a signature staple whenever February 14th comes around. Hearts are the official shape of the holiday, sometimes filled with candy. This special day is usually known as a happy occasion, a time we can set aside to show the people around us how much we truly care about them. Movie fans sometimes take part in Valentine’s Day festivities by talking about their favorite cinematic couples, sharing their opinions on why they think these relationships are romantic and using a selection of movie quotes and scenes to prove their point. However, we movie fans know that not every cinematic relationship is a healthy one. Some of them are down-right toxic. In this editorial, I will be talking about a cinematic relationship that I, personally, feel is very problematic. By looking at the title, you might already know which on-screen couple I will be talking about. Last October, when I reviewed Queen of the Damned, I mentioned that, to me, Lestat and Akasha’s relationship was one of the most problematic relationships I’ve ever seen in a movie. However, I was only able to briefly explain why I feel this way. Because of my involvement in the Ultimate 2000s blogathon, I now have a chance to explain, in detail, why this particular cinematic relationship is not a healthy one. Before I begin this editorial, I would just like to say that I am only creating this post out of pure honesty and based on my opinion. I am in no way creating this post to be mean-spirited or be negative toward anyone’s cinematic preferences/opinions. In this editorial, I will specifically be referencing the characters and story from the Queen of the Damned film. I will be bringing up specific scenes and quotes in order to prove my point. Now, let’s talk about why Lestat and Akasha’s relationship is problematic by looking at five key areas: lack of consent, lack of communication, a power imbalance, intentional harm toward a significant other, and a not-so-loving significant other.
One of the most important components to any romantic relationship is consent. Asking someone’s permission and making sure that both members of a relationship are comfortable before putting themselves and each other in any situation is usually seen as a sign of how much the other person cares for the one they love. Unfortunately, Lestat and Akasha’s relationship is lacking in this department. In my Queen of the Damned review, I mentioned that Akasha is the one who controlled the relationship, using the analogy of Akasha driving a car and Lestat being stuck in the passenger seat. This is not only true, but it’s also important to keep this truth in mind when discussing these five key areas of Lestat and Akasha’s problematic relationship. The first instance of Akasha not asking for Lestat’s consent happens at his concert. During a performance at his concert, a group of vampires climb up on stage and try to hurt Lestat. Marius tries to fight off these vampires in order to protect Lestat, but eventually he and Lestat are surrounded by even more vampires. While Akasha shows up, in the middle of the concert, and defeats these vampires, she ends up taking advantage of the situation. Akasha crashes through the stage (as if the concert were her own, making a showstopping entrance in the process), takes Lestat against his will, and leaves. We, the audience, never see her ask Lestat if he wants to go anywhere with her or if he even wants to leave his concert. In fact, we never see Akasha make an effort to contact Lestat and make plans with him ahead of time. While Akasha took away Lestat’s chance to choose whether or not he wanted to leave, this is not the last time Akasha refused to ask for his consent.
After Akasha and Lestat leave his concert, they arrive at her house. During their conversation, Akasha briefly mentions her deceased husband. When Lestat asks Akasha about her late husband’s whereabouts, she tells him, “He’s no more. Now you are my consort”. Here, Akasha is not only forcing Lestat to be her new husband, but also forcing Lestat into a marriage that he has very little interest in being a part of. Once again, Akasha chose not to ask Lestat if he was ok with being in a relationship with her or if he wanted to be married to her at all. She refuses to give him a choice or a chance to voice his concerns. After this conversation, Lestat and Akasha have an intimate moment with each other in a tub filled with water and red rose petals. We, the audience, don’t see Akasha asking Lestat if he’s comfortable with the situation or if he even wants to be in the situation. During this scene, it appears, at times, that Lestat is comfortable sharing this intimate moment with Akasha. However, there are a few times when Lestat appears as if he’s slipping out of consciousness. While body language can be helpful in figuring out what someone wants or needs, body language only tells a part of the story. It seems as if Akasha only relied on a select portion of Lestat’s body language in order to receive the message she wanted to hear. Whenever Lestat appears to be slipping out of consciousness, Akasha never addresses Lestat’s reaction or asks him if anything is wrong. She just acts like nothing out of the ordinary is happening.
If you focus on Lestat’s eye in the picture (highlighted by the blue arrow), it appears that it is very close to closing. His eye also shows that Lestat is not focusing on the situation that he is a part of. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Lack of Communication
A necessary component that is interwoven with consent is communication. In a romantic relationship, words are needed to share feelings, address concerns, and build/strengthen a bond. As I mentioned before, Akasha is the one controlling her relationship with Lestat. Therefore, she is controlling their conversation. During their first conversation at her house, Akasha is talking at Lestat and not to him, leaving very little room for Lestat to contribute to their conversation. In fact, half of this conversation is about Akasha. For example, when she tells Lestat about things she has observed about him, she says “You live your life in the open, like I did”. After she tells Lestat that he is now her husband, Akasha tells him “That’s why I kept you safe. Alive”. It seems like Akasha always finds a way to insert herself into the conversation. She doesn’t want to bother with Lestat’s perspective on anything. It is clear that Akasha is not interested in participating in an equally balanced conversation between her and Lestat.
It’s also important to observe how Akasha talks about Lestat. She mostly refers to him as “my love” or “my king”. However, she only addresses Lestat by his name on less than three occasions. Based on this observation, it appears that Akasha wants to highlight her connection to Lestat, almost as if she holds a sort of ownership over him. During the film’s climax, when Lestat is drinking some of her blood, Akasha tells the other vampires in her presence “You see how he obeys me”. In that sentence alone, Akasha not only refuses to address Lestat by his name, but it also seems like Akasha does not see Lestat as an equal sigfinicant other to her, but instead something she feels she can control.
In a healthy relationship, both members should be equal to one another. Any type of power should be shared amongst each other and a balanced amount of control should be given to each member of that relationship. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Lestat and Akasha’s relationship. Because Akasha is a queen and one of the first vampires ever created, according to Queen of the Damned, Akasha feels she has the right to do, say, act, and treat others whatever and however she wants. This is why Akasha is the one controlling her relationship with Lestat, because she feels she is the most important and powerful vampire in that particular cinematic world. In the morning, after Akasha takes Lestat to her house, she tells him “This is but a taste of what we shall share, my love. My king. Behold our kingdom”. However, Akasha purposefully leaves him out of the process of building their “kingdom”. Lestat wakes up all alone and, later, finds several dead mortals at the pool and on the beach. He has no idea where Akasha is until she shows up minutes later. During this conversation, Lestat appears to be unhappy with what Akasha is telling him, even looking disgusted when Akasha talks about the dead mortals on her property. In their relationship, Lestat and Akasha never make any decisions together, don’t discuss any matters of importance, or comtemplate Lestat’s new “title”. It honestly feels as if Lestat and Akasha aren’t on the same page, let alone the same book.
Because of Akasha’s title and her amount of control in their relationship, it appears to be negatively affecting Lestat as a person. Earlier in the film, Lestat is interacting with two female fans. When one of the fans tries to physically take adventage of him, Lestat pushes her hands away and tells her “Don’t do that”. Since there was no power imbalance present in this interaction, Lestat appeared comfortable addressing this fan’s error in not asking for his consent. In his relationship with Akasha, Lestat says very little to her. In the two conversations they had at her house, Lestat only asks short questions. At Marahet’s house, during the film’s climax, Lestat mostly stays silent, more often than not speaking when someone is addressing him. During their intimate moment in the rose petal filled tub, Lestat doesn’t say a word to Akasha, even when she bites his chest. Based on his reaction, it seems like Lestat was negatively affected by her actions. But he doesn’t speak up about these actions to Akasha. It’s hard to tell if he is remaining quiet out of fear or to play along with Akasha’s plan in order to defeat her. Throughout their relationship, the audience doesn’t receive any voice-overs from Lestat like in previous scenes within this film.
In this photo, Lestat is clearly not pleased with what Akasha has said and done regarding the dead mortals on her property. Unfortunately, Akasha doesn’t seem to want to address Lestat’s feelings about the situation. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Intentional Harm toward a Significant Other
When we think of a typical, healthy relationship, we think of significant others who treat each other with kindness and respect. Images of loving actions, such as hugging and snuggling on the couch, sometimes come to mind. In Lestat and Akasha’s relationship, we never see them perform loving actions toward each other, such as hugging. Even though they have an intimate moment on two separate occasions, both of them involving a lot of kissing, that is the closest thing to a loving action we see throughout their relationship. During Lestat and Akasha’s intimate moment in the rose petal filled tub, Akasha decides to bite Lestat’s chest. This causes him to flinch in pain and have a bloody wound on his chest. Akasha, however, does not seem to care that she has physically hurt her “husband”. Instead, she continues to kiss Lestat as if nothing ever happened. Lestat also never mentions this incident to Akasha or anyone else. The next day, at Maharet’s house, Lestat drinks some of Akasha’s blood. When Akasha is trying to make Lestat stop, she physically pushes him to the point of, practically, throwing him. This causes Lestat to fall on cement stairs. Fortunately, Lestat does not appear to receive any injuries from this incident. As for Lestat, the only thing closest to a harmful action toward Akasha happens on two occasions; a) When Lestat is drinking her blood, but in this situation, he is pretending not to stop in order to provide a distraction so the other vampires can have a chance to defeat Akasha and b) When Lestat drinks Akasha’s blood again, but this time, to protect himself and the others at Maharet’s house from Akasha’s dangerous and villainous ways.
If you look inside the blue circle in the picture, Akasha’s act of biting Lestat’s chest caused him to be wounded. Even though it’s a little difficult to see, you can still tell that Lestat’s wound looks like it needs some sort of medical care. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
As you can see in the photo, those stairs look like they are made of rough cement. Though Lestat didn’t receive any injuries from falling on these stairs, he could have gotten painful scrapes and bruises. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
A not-so-loving significant other
For any romantic relationship, there needs to be a significant amount of love between those two people. A true love where both individuals love that person for who they are as well each other’s characters is an important ingredient. In Lestat and Akasha’s relationship, however, it never feels like they truly love each other. Because Lestat was forced into the relationship by Akasha, it doesn’t seem like he is invested in the relationship. Meanwhile, Akasha claims to love Lestat, but her reasons for loving him make one wonder if her intentions are self-centered. Earlier in Queen in the Damned, Akasha visits a vampire bar. When she arrives, she sees Lestat on television. When a patron at the bar asks if she likes Lestat, Akasha replies by saying “He reminds me of someone”. Days later, when Akasha forcibly takes Lestat to her house, she tells Lestat “Now you are my consort. That’s why I kept you safe. Alive”. As Lestat asks her if she really did save him at his concert, Akasha asks him “You thought it was all you” and then says “The ego of a king as well”. Based on what Akasha has said, it seems like she loves Lestat because he reminds her of her deceased husband. Though she never directly tells Lestat or anybody this, it is left to be assumed by the audience.
During their relationship, Akasha doesn’t really make an effort to get to know Lestat. In fact, she assumes she knows enough about him in order for their relationship to work. In their first conversation at her house, she tells him “all your wishes are come true”. When Lestat asks Akasha to specify what wishes she’s referring to, she tells him “For a companion. To share eternity”. Prior to this interaction, Lestat never mentioned anything about wanting or needing a companion. In fact, when Marius visits Lestat in Los Angeles, he tells Marius “I only have myself. You taught me that”. Also, during Akasha and Lestat’s first conversation at her house, she tells him “You’re bold, like your music” and “I know you, Lestat. I know that you crave to have the world at your feet”. Two things happen because of Akasha’s assumptions. The first thing is Akasha is basing her knowledge of Lestat on the image he’s presented as a musical performer. She’s only listened to a few of his songs, seen him on television once, and interrupted his concert. The musical side of Lestat is only a small part of him, so Akasha does not have as much information about him as she thinks she does. The second thing is Akasha assumes she knows what Lestat wants. Throughout the film, Lestat has said that he wants to walk in the light and not hide in the shadows. But, because Akasha does not take the time to ask Lestat what he wants, she gives him a royal title that he did not want or ask for. In Lestat’s case, he knows enough about Akasha to know what kind of a person she is. All of his knowledge of her comes from Marius, after Lestat stumbled across Akasha’s statue-esque being in Marius’ house. While in Los Angeles, Marius shares with Lestat that not only has his music woken Akasha up, but that she also killed her husband and took his blood and powers.
As I’ve said before, Akasha is the one controlling this relationship. This causes her to feel like she can do and say whatever her vampire heart desires. Despite the fact that she is the film’s villain, she doesn’t seem to have any trace of kindness or empathy toward others. At Maharet’s house, during the film’s climax, Akasha asks Lestat if he loves her. When Lestat says “Yes”, Akasha says “Then prove it” and orders him to kill Jesse, a woman that Lestat not only knows quite well, but also would rather be in a romantic relationship with. If two people love each other, they do not need to prove anything to the other person. Their actions and choices should speak for themselves. By Akasha forcing Lestat to prove his “love” for her by hurting someone else shows that Akasha doesn’t really think that highly of Lestat or anybody that he personally knows. If their relationship was healthy, Lestat’s love for his significant other would be enough proof that he cares about that person. It seems no matter what Lestat does or says, it will never be good enough for Akasha.
If you look at Lestat’s eye (highlighted by the blue arrow), you can see that he looks sad about being forced to hurt Jesse. It also seems like he is sad about the way he is treated by Akasha. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
While Lestat and Akasha’s relationship is very problematic, it fortunately does not last long. Lestat and the other vampires at Maheret’s house are able to successfully defeat Akasha. This allows Lestat to escape this toxic relationship and enter a healthy, romantic relationship with Jesse. When I’ve read reviews for Queen of the Damned, no one had brought up Lestat and Akasha’s horrible, but short-lived relationship. It also doesn’t help that this film’s marketing campaign paints their relationship in a very different light. On the film’s poster, Lestat and Akasha are the only two people featured in the image. In the trailer, not only are Lestat and Akasha the only two characters who are prominently featured, but the movie’s footage and the voice-overs are set up in a way that makes it seem like Lestat chose to be in a relationship with Akasha and had contemplated turning to the dark side. As my editorial and the film itself shows, this is far from the truth. Even though movie fans would, probably, rather talk about the cinematic relationships worth rooting for, it’s important to take the time to talk about the not-so-healthy relationships in film. When observing these choices and behaviors, we movie fans and people in general can learn how not to treat others as well as leading a better example in our own real-life relationships, whether or not they’re romantic. It will not only make for a better Valentine’s Day, but also for better and many years to come.
Now that Halloween is over and the Christmas decorations are starting to get set up, it’s time for me to look back on this double feature to see what I’ve learned and whether my goal was accomplished. If you remember from my double feature’s introduction, my goal was to answer the following question:
When one watches a film purely as a film, not as an adaptation, can that film contain its own merit and entertainment value?
As I reflect on The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire and Queen of the Damned, I can honestly say that I did get my question answered. Even though I have never read any of the source material associated with these films, I ended up liking both movies. What I noticed is these films received a score in the 7 out of 10 range: The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire got a 7.6 and Queen of the Damned got a 7. This is really interesting because I hadn’t expected to score these films within the same range. While both films did have their flaws, they did have a good amount of merit while also being entertaining. I was really impressed by the creativity I saw in both films. It was so memorable that it stayed in my memory long after I saw these movies. Now that the mystery behind this question is solved (see what I did there? I think Sherlock Holmes would be proud), I’ll wrap up this post with one final thought and a lesson learned from each film.
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
Lesson learned: What I can take away from this film is the many different elements that can be featured in a Christmas movie. I know this double feature is Halloween themed, but The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire, surprisingly, took place during Christmas-time. I learned that Christmas, especially when depicted in a Hallmark movie, can look and feel different to the voice of that particular story.
One final thought: As glad as I am that Hallmark puts a good amount of emphasis on their Christmas movies, I would really like to see both networks make more creatively interesting choices and think outside-the-box more when it comes to their movies. When I heard the synopsis for Hallmark’s 2018 Christmas movies, most of them sounded the same to me. There were very few movies within this year’s line-up that seemed creative or unique from the others.
Queen of the Damned
Lesson learned: What’s so great about the movie blogging community is being given the opportunity to help people find movies that may bring them joy or movies that they may want to avoid. However, when I watched Queen of the Damned, I realized that it’s important to give yourself a chance to form your own opinions when it comes to movies. If it hadn’t have been for the positive responses I heard about this film, I probably wouldn’t have seen this movie. But I’m glad I did because now I can have an honest opinion about it.
One final thought: In my review for Queen of the Damned, I mentioned that I thought the acting was really good. This is especially the case for Stuart Townsend’s and Marguerite Moreau’s performances. Because of this movie, I would like to see Stuart and Marguerite star in a Hallmark Hall of Fame (HHoF) movie together. I don’t know if there’s anything preventing them from working on a Hallmark project or if they’ve gotten along well enough where they would want to work together again, but I would be interested in seeing if they have what it takes, talent-wise, to help carry a project like a HHoF movie. Since the Hallmark Hall of Fame branch moved to the Hallmark Channel in 2014, the network has made a conscious effort to try to cast at least one actor who’s a HHoF alumni and one actor who’s never appeared in a HHoF movie into their films (a good example of this is The Beach House). Since Marguerite starred in The Locket, a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie from 2002, and since Stuart, as far as I know, has never appeared in a Hallmark affiliated project, this would be a good balance for Hallmark; of recruiting new talent and welcoming back familiar faces.
Queen of the Damned poster created by Warner Bros. Pictures. Image found at https://www.warnerbros.com/queen-damned
In your introduction for this double feature, you mentioned that both Queen of the Damned and The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire were released in 2002. Can you think of anything from around that time period that could have influenced the creation of this film?
I think there are three things that influenced the creation of Queen of the Damned. The first is the character of Malcolm from Jurassic Park. As I mentioned in my Jurassic Park review, Malcolm is a rock-star-esque mathematician. However, Malcolm appeared to be a likable character. In Queen of the Damned, Lestat was a rock-star-esque vampire. Despite these characteristics, Lestat, for the most part, comes across as a likable character. The second thing is the 1998 film, Blade. I’ve never seen this movie, but I know that it’s a darker and more violent comic book film that, to a certain extent, discusses the subject of vampires. Because this film was successful enough to receive a sequel (that was, ironically, released exactly a month after Queen of the Damned), I’m speculating that Blade inspired the creative team behind Queen of the Damned to make their movie darker and more violent than their predecessor, Interview with the Vampire. The third and final thing is, interestingly, Interview with the Vampire. I’ve never seen this film either, but based on this film’s trailer, it appears to be a gothic film in the old-school sense. Queen of the Damned focuses on the new-school/modern gothic style, which is very different from the first film. Most movie series try to do something different with each new film, so I think this film’s approach was rather creative.
2. Were you able to follow along with the story and understand what was going on in the film despite not having read the source material?
For the most part, yes. I did some research about this film before I saw it, so I was aware of certain aspects of the film that some casual movie-viewers might not understand. For instance, in the film’s climax, there are various characters that are introduced. One of these characters is Pandora. If I didn’t know that she is a character from a spin-off book series that Anne Rice wrote, I would have no idea who Pandora was in this film.
3. Were your pre-movie questions answered?
Well, two out of my three pre-movie questions were answered. The only question that wasn’t answered was how Lestat survived being burned in the previous film. Honestly, I wasn’t as bothered by this as I thought I would be. Because this movie focused more on Lestat’s present and origin story, re-capping the first film would have felt like Queen of the Damned had too much content.
As for the two questions that did get answered, the reason why Lestat appeared like he was trying to pursue a romantic relationship with Akasha is because, in the movie, Akasha kidnapped Lestat and forced him to in be in relationship with her. Speaking of Akasha, she did reveal that the reason why she loved Lestat was because he reminded her of her deceased husband. As for Jesse, it appeared, in the movie, like she truly loved Lestat. Because she’s a vampire scholar, Jesse wasn’t as fazed by the vampire aspects of Lestat’s world. Also, because her aunt is a vampire, it seemed like Jesse truly appreciated the subject of vampires and the world surrounding them.
4. Were you right or wrong in your pre-movie prediction?
I guess I was kind of right in my pre-movie prediction {shrugs with a confused look on my face}. While Lestat was forced into a relationship with Akasha and Jesse wasn’t aware of this until the climax of the film, there is a moment during the film’s climax where Lestat pretends to drink more of Akasha’s blood then he should have. This allowed the other vampires present in that scene to defeat Akasha.
5. In this double feature’s introduction, when you talked about your reason for choosing to review Queen of the Damned, you said that the movie clips featured in the MsMojo video, ‘Top 10 Movies Based on Books That Need a Do-Over’, appeared bonkers to you. Was this movie bonkers or do you think these movie clips were taken out of context?
I definitely think these movie clips were taken out of context. To me, Queen of the Damned was not as bonkers as the clips within this video made it seem. The only thing I found bonkers in this movie was Lestat and Akasha’s “relationship” because of how problematic it was.
6. In a post from The Blog Complainer titled “How To Make A Good Movie Sequel”, there were several steps listed as if the article were a how-to for making sequels that are good. When a sequel successfully followed these steps, it means they passed the “Good Movie Sequel School for Dummies”. Because Queen of the Damned is a sequel, do you think it passed this school?
Well, yes and no. On the one hand, Queen of the Damned is based on two books from The Vampire Chronicles series. On the other hand, some stories were explored more than others because of this choice. Also, there were no references to Interview with the Vampire besides Lestat being a protagonist in the sequel. Lestat also had different characteristics than he did in the first movie, such as being less self-centered. However, the creative team behind this movie tried to do something different from the first movie. Lestat’s backstory was further explored and there were new characters that were introduced. If Queen of the Damned were enrolled in the “Good Movie Sequel School for Dummies”, it would probably receive a grade of somewhere between a B to C+.
7. Did you acquire any new thoughts and/or questions while watching this film?
Yes, lots! Because this post is already long, I will only list a few of these questions and thoughts.
What is Lestat’s net worth?
Why is there a small amount of security at Lestat’s concert? Since his band was aware of Lestat encouraging other vampires to show up at his concert to try and hurt him, wouldn’t they want to have more security at the concert?
Why would Jesse and Lestat return Lestat’s journal to David? It’s Lestat’s journal, so why wouldn’t he want to keep it?
How did Akasha know about Marius and Lestat’s conversation about Lestat needing a companion? Shortly after she kidnaps Lestat, Akasha tells him that she wants to grant his wish of a companion. However, Akasha was not a part of that conversation nor did anyone tell her about that conversation.
As I’ve already mentioned, I think that Lestat and Akasha’s “relationship” was problematic. The reason why I put the word relationship in quotations is because Lestat and Akasha were not together for a long period of time and their relationship didn’t develop over a significant amount of time. The way I would describe this “relationship” is with an analogy: the “relationship” is a car and Akasha is driving it. All Lestat is able to do sit in the passenger seat and take orders from Akasha. Honestly, I think this “relationship” is one of the most problematic relationships I’ve ever seen in a movie.
I really liked the sets and scenery in this film! For the most part, it made the environments in the movie feel inviting and appealing. I also thought the acting was really good! Everyone portrayed their characters so well and all of the performances were memorable. Something that I didn’t like in this film was most of the music. While I liked the violin music and the music that played during Akasha’s demise, I was not a fan of the goth rock music. When Lestat sang at his concert, he sounded unnecessarily angry. I would rather hear him play the violin than sing.
8. In Queen of the Damned, did anything stand out to you, whether for better or worse?
I liked the techniques in story-telling that were used in Queen of the Damned. There were several times when voice-overs from Jesse and Lestat were included to show the film’s story from their specific point-of-view. I think these voice-overs added depth to the story that we wouldn’t have gotten if they weren’t there. Most movies have one main plot and a few subplots. Queen of the Damned was told through several subplots that were all connected to Lestat in some way. I thought this was a very interesting approach to cinematic storytelling that I haven’t really seen before.
To me, the biggest flaw of Queen of the Damned is the run-time. This movie combines elements from two novels into one movie. However, the movie itself is one hour and forty-one minutes. Since the creative team knew they were going to incorporate so many story elements into their film, I think this movie either should have been a two-part over-arcing story (like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) or the run-time should have been longer. Because of this, some plots were explored more than others. For example, Lestat’s relationship with Akasha and Jesse seemed to move at a very quick pace, not giving these relationships enough time to develop and grow. I believe that any of my aforementioned solutions could have solved this issue.
9. According to the BMeTric charts in the Queen of the Damned Preview from Bad Movie Twins, it appears that interest in this film is rising. Why do you think that is?
Well, I think there’s two reasons for that. The first is negative reviews that the film has received. After hearing these reviews and seeing the 17% it has on Rotten Tomatoes, some people might choose to watch this movie out of curiosity, like I did. The second reason is Aaliyah’s involvement in the film. Some people might choose to watch this film as a way to respect her memory. Others may choose to watch this film because they want to learn more about who she was as a person and entertainer.
10. After watching Queen of the Damned, what is the one thing you can take away from this movie viewing experience?
While I think Queen of the Damned could have been a stronger film, I don’t think it’s as bad as some people have made it out to be. To me, this film is decent and I do think it has its merits. After watching this film, I started to notice a very sad pattern. I’ve only seen six vampire movies in my life, including Queen of the Damned. Out of those six, most of them feature at least one problematic relationship that is meant to be romantic. I can’t say if this is a norm in vampires movies or if this is just a pattern in the vampire movies I’ve seen. However, I was happy to see Lestat and Jesse pursue a romantic relationship with each other because, to me, they seemed like they truly loved and cared about each other. Their relationship also appeared to be a healthy one, where Lestat and Jesse loved one another for who they were and appreciated each other’s worlds.
On October 12th, when I published my review of Without a Trace, receiving 35 followers was not the only achievement that I accomplished. That review became my 100th post on 18 Cinema Lane! Because this post came just weeks before Halloween, I decided to celebrate this accomplishment by coordinating a double feature in honor of the holiday! If you read my post about my Top 5 Dream Double Features at the Cinema, you might already know which two movies I would choose to review around this time of year. But, I’m still going to share with you what movies I picked, why I picked them, and I’ll elaborate on how I’ll set up both reviews.
It all started when I came across the MsMojo video, ‘Top 10 Movies Based on Books That Need a Do-Over’. During this video, the announcer talked about the film, Queen of the Damned, with clips from the movie being shown while the announcer explained the film’s placement on the list. When I first watched this segment of the video, all I could do was ask myself, “What the heck did I just watch”? because of the video’s assortment of movie clips appearing bonkers to me. Since curiosity got the best of me, I researched this movie to see if it was truly as bad as the announcer made it seem in the video. While on the internet, I looked up about 20 bad/worst/disappointing movies and/or sequels lists to see where Queen of the Damned placed. To my surprise, Queen of the Damned only appeared on four of these 20 lists. Out of those four, Queen of the Damned never placed in any of the top spots. For example, on a list of the Top 10 Most Disappointing Movies of All Time, Queen of the Damned was listed at number 38. I even looked at a list of Golden Raspberry/Razzie nominees and I discovered that Queen of the Damned was never nominated. With my curiosity still present, I looked through the comment section of the MsMojo video and at blogs on WordPress to see what other movie viewers thought about the film. Although it appeared that few people were talking about Queen of the Damned, most of the responses that I came across were genuinely positive. Even though there were also negative responses about the movie, most of them that I found were about Queen of the Damned not being a good book-to-film adaptation. All of these positive responses inspired me to ask the following question:
When one watches a film purely as a film, not as an adaptation, can that film contain its own merit and entertainment value?
This question is what I’ll be attempting to answer during this special double feature. Since this is a double feature, you’re probably wondering what movie will be paired with Queen of the Damned. I happened to find it while I was putting together my list of the Top 10 Worst Hallmark Movies of All Time. When I was creating that list back in June, I realized there were a lot of Hallmark movies that I have never seen. The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire was one of them. While learning more about this movie, I discovered this film and Queen of the Damned share some similarities between each other. Not only do both films discuss the subject the vampires to a certain extent, they were also released in 2002 and are both considered non-canonical representations of their literary source material. Now that I’ve gotten this lengthy, but necessary, explanation out of the way, I’ll now talk about how these double feature reviews will be set up. Instead of my usual format for writing movie reviews (Introduction, Things I liked about the film, What I didn’t like about the film, My overall impression, Overall score), I will answer a list of ten questions that I have created. These questions will help in my attempt of answering this question, as well as help me think about these films more critically. As I mentioned in my review of Christine, I don’t review rated R films often. However, because I feel that by talking about Queen of the Damned, I have an opportunity to add something new to this particular cinematic conversation, so this movie will be an exception.
Before I finish this post, I will list some pre-movie thoughts, questions, and predictions. Each movie will get its own section and I will reference everything I talked about before the movie in my reviews. My pre-movie thoughts, questions, and predictions are the following:
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
Pre-movie thought: My biggest hope is that in The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire, there’s at least one character who’s a legitimate vampire. When it comes to movie titles, there are times when a film’s title can act as a promise to a film’s audience. For instance, when Marvel decided to give Avengers: Infinity War that specific title, they promised their audience that the Avengers were going to show up in their film.
Pre-movie prediction: As Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to solve the mystery, they come across an actual vampire. Thinking that they’re the culprit, Holmes and Watson take the vampire in for questioning. While they question the vampire, they learn that the vampire is on the same mission as Sherlock and Watson: to figure out who is committing crimes in the neighborhood. Sherlock, Watson, and the vampire work together to solve the crime, while Sherlock and Watson gain more knowledge and appreciation for the vampire community.
Queen of the Damned
Pre-movie questions:
I’ve read that in the Interview with the Vampire film, Lestat gets burned alive by Louis. However, within the movie clips from the aforementioned MsMojo video and the Queen of the Damned trailer, it appears that Lestat not only survived this incident, but also doesn’t appear to have any physical evidence of ever having been burned. How exactly was this possible? I’m hoping that one of the characters in Queen of the Damned explains this possibility, even if it is a brief explanation.
2. One the biggest criticisms I’ve read about the Queen of the Damned film is that Lestat and Jesse choose to pursue a romantic relationship with each other, despite the fact that these characters never have any type of relationship in The Vampire Chronicles books. If Lestat and Jesse love each other enough to choose to pursue a romantic relationship with each other, then how come it appears, in the Queen of the Damned trailer, that Lestat is trying to pursue a romantic relationship with Akasha? This leads me to bring up my pre-movie prediction:
Pre-movie prediction: Lestat’s affection for Akasha is all an act. He is trying to distract Akasha so that the other vampires in that particular vampire world can create and execute a plan to defeat Akasha. This entire plan that I just mentioned was all Jesse’s idea. It would make sense because, from what I’ve heard, Jesse is a vampire expert, so she would know how to defeat a vampire.
Are Jesse and Akasha in love with Lestat or are they in love with the idea of being in a relationship with him? For instance, does Jesse see Lestat as a potential significant other or something to brag about?
Both of these reviews will appear on 18 Cinema Lane closer to Halloween, so stay tuned!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
If you want to check out the references I mentioned in this post you can type in “Top 10 Movies Based on Books That Need a Do-Over” into Youtube’s search bar and visit this link:
Two months ago, Talk Film Society asked the following question on Twitter:
“If you could program your own double feature at a movie theater, what would it be”?
For weeks, I’ve been wanting to answer this question. However, I was waiting for the right opportunity to do so. This month, I reached the milestone of publishing 25 movie reviews (my review of The Dark Knight was the 25th)! To celebrate, I figured this would be the right time to finally answer Talk Film Society’s question. In the days and weeks leading up to this post, I put a good amount of thought into the potential double features I would choose to organize. I didn’t want any of the pairings to be painfully obvious (for example, having two movies be grouped together just because they have one obvious idea or concept in common). The double features that I would host would not only entertain the audience, but also engage and encourage them to think about what they’re watching. Five double feature pairings will be discussed in this post because I want to go into depth about why I would make a particular pairing. Now that explanations are finished, let the list finally begin!
The Road to El Dorado & Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Different, but quite similar. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
1. The Road to El Dorado & Atlantis: The Lost Empire
For years, these films have been two of my favorite animated movies of all time! Also, in that time frame, Kida (from Atlantis: The Lost Empire) and Chel (from The Road to El Dorado) have become two of my favorite animated characters of all time! As time has gone on, I’ve noticed that Kida and Chel share some similarities between each other. I always wondered why these characters seemed so alike, especially since they were created by two different animators from two different animation companies. When I was thinking about what these characters have in common, I started to realize that their respective movies share similarities as well. These two movies being more alike than different is what this double feature would explore, whether these similarities were intentional or pure coincidence.
Matthew Rogers (a.k.a. The Wild Boy): The tragic literary character before there was Bucky Barnes. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
2. The Wild Boy: Episode 1 and 2 & Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Ok, so I know this double feature contains a tv show episode, but trust me, this pairing makes sense. I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier for the first time two years ago. At the scene where it is explained how Bucky became the Winter Soldier, my exact thought was “this is “The Wild Boy” all over again”. What I meant by that statement was Bucky’s backstory shared several similarities with Matthew Rogers’ backstory. Matthew Rogers is not only my favorite character from Little House on the Prairie, but he’s also the titular character in both parts of the episode “The Wild Boy”. The similarities between Bucky’s and Matthew’s backstories and journeys would be discussed in this double feature. Another point of discussion would be how providing an explanation for some characters’ behavior and actions can be beneficial in cinematic story-telling.
The Dog of Flanders: Not well remembered, but definitely not forgotten. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
3. The Dog of Flanders (1997) & Tales from Earthsea
Last year, I was introduced to Tales from Earthsea and it was one of the best movies I saw in 2017! When I saw the film, the animation style reminded me of the 1997 animated movie The Dog of Flanders. Since the late ‘90s, The Dog of Flanders has held a special place in the heart. What’s interesting is I have heard almost no one talk about the film. The Dog of Flanders seems to be so underrated, that it has never been placed on a list of underrated animated films. Tales from Earthsea also seems to be underrated, as few people have talked about this film. This double feature would take a look at the similarities between each film’s animation style, as well as celebrate both movies and help them receive the recognition they deserve.
Anastasia (1997): Familiar story, but creative execution. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
4. Candleshoe & Anastasia (1997)
Anastasia, from 1997, is not only one of my favorite animated films, it is my favorite 20th Century Fox film! While thinking about Talk Film Society’s question, I tried to figure out what would be the perfect movie to pair with this masterpiece. After some thoughtful consideration, I ultimately decided I would pair Anastasia with the Disney movie, Candleshoe. Both of these films share a similar plot, where a female protagonist teams up with a con-artist to pose as a wealthy individual’s long-lost relative. However, this is not the reason why I would pair Anastasia with Candleshoe for a double feature. Yes, the basic premise for both films sound similar to each other, but Anastasia and Candleshoe feel so different from one another because of the creative choices that were made. It’s inevitable that stories are bound to get repeated over time. The way that story is told, however, can determine if there is a new perspective that can be brought to the table. This concept is what the Anastasia and Candleshoe double feature would discuss.
5. The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire & Queen of the Damned
Ok, so I’ve never seen these movies, but I’m considering doing a double feature movie review of each film around Halloween-time. While The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire and Queen of the Damned discuss the topic of vampires to a certain extent, I paired these movies together not just because of that singular reason. Both films were released in 2002 and they are non-canonical representations of their respective literary source material. This particular double feature would attempt to answer the following question: Despite being unfaithful to their source material, can The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire and Queen of the Damned contain any amount of enjoyment and merit as a film, not an adaptation?
What are your thoughts on my list? What would your dream cinematic double feature be? Please tell me in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
If you want to check out Talk Film Society’s website or find Talk Film Society on social media, here’s the link: http://www.talkfilmsociety.com/
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