(Rated R, 101 mins.)
Tagged “the mother of all vampires” comes a combined effort of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” focusing on the third installment. Recently real-life deceased (died tragically in a plane crash last year), young R & B singer Aaliyah, stars as the 6,000 year old vampire who is the most destructive and evil creature on this planet with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude. When vampire Lestat’s (Stuart Townsend) rock music awakens Queen Akasha (Aaliyah) from centuries of sleep, all hell breaks loose. It’s not coincidental that rock stars and vampires have much in common. Pale, scrawny, up all night, sleep all day; so it only seems appropriate that the MTV type editing and style would work in this most ambitious of vampire flicks. While an awkward mess, Aaliyah manages to play her role well, by simply looking good strutting around in her bronze body paint, golden, skimpy outfits and bloody-fanged smiles. Too bad she didn’t live to see it.
