Queen of the Damned

"Queen of the Damned" is a whole lot better than it has a right to be. Which isn't to say it's a particularly good movie.

But with everything that was going against this gothic horror movie — which includes a ludicrous premise and a series of production woes that climaxed with the death of one of the film's stars — you could have expected it to be an easy contender for Year's Worst consideration.

Instead, it's just mediocre, which is something of a surprise. And for the first third, it's a sleek, even sexy piece of style-over-substance filmmaking. But once the title character finally appears, the movie devolves into an over-the-top spectacle of gore and nonsensical plot and character development.

Still, there are at least a few who will prefer it to the ponderous 1994 big-screen version of "Interview With the Vampire," which was also adapted from part of author Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles."

Replacing that film's star, Tom Cruise, in the lead role of vampire count Lestat is Irish actor Stuart Townshend (whose leonine hair and deathly pale makeup has him looking eerily like a less mannish Helena Bonham Carter).

Lestat has recently been roused from a centurylong slumber by the sounds of decadent rock music, and he's not happy about it. Denied the pleasure of a human existence, Lestat wants to bring the world down with him, so he decides to use music as his tool.

His doom-and-gloom heavy tunes quickly make him a star, but it also makes enemies of his undead brethren, who are aghast at the fact that he's revealing their secrets. It also awakens the title character, Akasha (late R&B musician Aaliyah Dana Haughton), an ancient embodiment of evil who wants Lestat to be her new consort as she ushers in a new era of terror.

Adding a necessary air of malevolence to the film is an effective score that contains several ear-catching songs (co-written by composer Richard Gibbs and musician Jonathan Davis of heavy-rock act Korn). And Aussie director Michael Rymer shows off some impressive stylistic touches — including an all-too-brief music video for one of Lestat's songs, done in the expressionistic style of the original "Nosferatu."

However, the script isn't up to the level of the direction, nor are the uneven performances by the cast members, who seem bound and determined to duplicate Bela Lugosi's now-cliched vampire accent (and they sound pretty darn silly doing it).

"Queen of the Damned" is rated R for violence (graphic vampire attacks), graphic gore, simulated sex, glimpses of nude artwork, scattered use of profanity, vulgarity (lewd dancing and use of some crude slang terms) and brief drug use (cocaine). Running time: 101 minutes.

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