This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

A sensuous, contemporary reinvention of Anne Rice’s revolutionary gothic novel, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and Claudia’s (Bailey Bass) epic story of love, blood, and the perils of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Chafing at the limitations of life as a black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis finds it impossible to resist the rakish Lestat De Lioncourt’s offer of the ultimate escape: joining him as his vampire companion. But Louis’s intoxicating new powers come with a violent price, and the introduction of Lestat’s newest fledgling, the child vampire Claudia, soon sets them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement.

For in-depth thoughts on Interview with the Vampire: The Complete First Season, please see my colleague Tristian Evans’s review from its original release here.

Video Quality

Interview with the Vampire: The Complete First Season arrives on Blu-Ray with a sumptuous AVC encoded 1080p transfer in its original aspect ratio. There are thankfully no egregious instances of aliasing or compression artifacts observable here. The color palette runs a touch cool with plenty of visually darker moments throughout the season, but there are some brighter sequences that make an impression. There are some wonderful instances of beautiful colors popping off the screen, especially in the costumes and production design.

Black levels are appropriately deep and give way to a nice amount of detail in shadows. The highlights do not fall victim to any blooming in this presentation. The skin tones also appear very natural across the entire cast. The levels of detail this presentation is able to eek out is quite striking, as all of the subtle details in the production design are easily identifiable. The Blu-Ray is quite stunning as it brings a meticulously crafted series to life in a gorgeous manner.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with an incredibly robust DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that creates a truly immersive world. Dialogue always comes through clearly without being overshadowed by the inviting score or any sound effects. More kinetic moments are given the appropriate weight in the mix, but this is not a particularly action-driven narrative. Ambient sounds are also precisely situated in the rear channels. Special consideration should be paid to the series music from Daniel Hart. His work perfectly sets the tone for the story, and it creates a nicely enveloping sound that draws you further into the story. The audio presentation here is terrific on all levels. There are optional English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles provided.

Special Features

2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel: A 40-minute panel hosted by Damian Holbrook featuring Executive Producer Mark Johnson; Executive Producer/Writer Rolin Jones; actors Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Bailey Bass and Eric Bogosian; and Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop. There are discussions about the narrative, the themes of the story, what they wanted to accomplish with this adaptation, comparisons to the source material, the dynamics between the characters and more.

Final Thoughts

Interview with the Vampire is a really sexy and captivating spin on this fairly well-known source material. While the movie holds a special place in the hearts of many, there are many benefits to telling this story in an episodic form, most notably because you get a deeper insight into the characters. There are additional deviations from the novel which mostly allow this to be a more complex and rewarding outing. The ensemble is pitch perfect, and the pacing throughout this debut season keeps it engaging throughout. RLJE Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation and a welcome supplemental feature. If you like a good, scintillating vampire narrative, this will definitely hit the spot. Recommended

Interview with the Vampire: The Complete First Season will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 26, 2023.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: RLJE Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.