Queen of the Damned Review

Queen of the Damned is a 2002 vampire film directed by Michael Rymer, loosely based on the third novel of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, The Queen of the Damned (1988), although the film contains many plot elements from the novel's predecessor The Vampire Lestat. A stand-alone sequel to Interview with the Vampire (1994), the film stars Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah in her final film role, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Pérez and Lena Olin. Townsend and Matthew Newton replaced Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas in the roles Lestat and Armand respectively.

The film is dedicated to Aaliyah who died in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, after she shot all her scenes prior to the tragedy. Released on February 22, 2002, in North America and on April 4, 2002, in Australia, it received generally negative reviews from critics but was a moderate box office success.