The movie Interview with the Vampire is a horror movie. However, the movie was released on November 11, 1994, which was a post-Halloween release. I remember how Interview with the Vampire was shown on TV during Halloween. However, the movie was never released during Halloween. What really happened? What was the reason behind it? It seems counterintuitive for Interview with the Vampire to be screened on a November. But guess what? Bram Stroker's Dracula was given a NOVEMBER 13, 1992, release instead of a Halloween release.
At first, it feels like WTF. But one might notice how the film Interview with the Vampire was directed. Sure, there are kills, and the film was NEVER meant to be a family film. I remember giving it a shot, and Laure Marsac's short role as the Mortal Woman on Stage at the Theatre Des Vampires stole my innocence. The whole film was centered on the story of Louis as a man who has lived a lonely, desperate life as a vampire for centuries. Louis reveals the story of his life to Daniel Molloy — a journalist who was curious of Louis' life. It's the biography of a man who lived for centuries in sheer loneliness. It's all about existential grief — not jump scares.
Sure, the movie can be shown on TV during Halloween. However, the scares pale compared to the traditional Halloween scares such as Friday the 13th, Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, etc. Those movies rely on one thing — scaring and sheer levels of intentional discomfort with torture scenes, survival horror, etc. But Interview with the Vampire chose to focus on drama with strategic use of bloody scenes. Every blood scene usually moves the plot forward or is a consequence. That means the movie was a melancholy drama first — a horror movie second!
Every last bit of the film focused on Louis' emotional struggles. In the end, the movie doesn't want you to get scared. It wants you to empathize on Louis' centuries-old loneliness.
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