So you want me to tell you the story of my life.
Like I said, that's what I do. I interview people.
I'm a collector of lives.
FM radio, KFRC.
You'll need a lot of tape for my story.
No problem. I got a bag full of tape.
You followed me here, didn't you?
Yeah, I suppose I did.
You seemed very interesting.
This is where you live?
No.
It's just a room.
What do you say we get started?
What do you do?
I'm a vampire.
I haven't heard that before.
You mean this literally, I take it?
Absolutely.
I was waiting for you in that alley.
Watching you watching me.
And then you began to speak.
What a lucky break for me.
Perhaps lucky for both of us.
You said you were...
...waiting for me.
What were you going to do? Kill me, drink my blood?
Yes.
But you needn't be concerned now.
You really believe this, don't you, that you're a vampire?
We can't begin this way.
Let me turn on the light.
- I thought vampires didn't like light. - We love it.
I only wanted to prepare you.
Christ!
Don't be frightened.
I want this opportunity.
How the hell did you do that?
The same as you do.
A series of simple gestures.
Only I moved too fast for you to see.
I'm flesh and blood...
...but not human.
I haven't been human for 200 years.
Please...
How can I put you at ease?
Shall we begin like "David Copperfield"?
"I am born...
"...I grew up."
Or shall we begin when I was born to darkness, as I call it.
That's where we should start, don't you think?
You're not lying, are you?
Why should I lie?
1791 was the year it happened.
I was 24.
Younger than you are now.
But times were different then. I was a man at that age.
The master of a large plantation, just south of New Orleans.
I had lost my wife in childbirth.
She and the infant had been buried less than half a year.
I would've been happy to join them.
I couldn't bear the pain of their loss.
I longed to be released from it.
I wanted to lose it all:
my wealth...
... my estate...
... my sanity.
How many aces are in a deck?
Are you calling me a cheat?
No, I'm calling you a piece of stinking offal!
You lack the courage of your convictions. Do it!
Most of all, I longed for death.
I know that now.
I invited it.
A release from the pain of living.
My invitation was open to anyone.
To the whore at my side.
To the pimp that followed.
But it was a vampire that accepted.
Give me your money or you die!
Do you still want death?
Or have you tasted it enough?
Enough.
He left me there, on the banks of the Mississippi...
... somewhere between life and death.
Who are you? What're you doing in my house?
I've come to answer your prayers.
Life has no meaning anymore... does it?
The wine has no taste.
The food sickens you.
There seems no reason for any of it... does there?
What if I could give it back to you?
Pluck out the pain...
...and give you another life?
One you could never imagine.
And it would be... for all time.
And sickness...
...and death...
...could never touch you again.
Don't be afraid.
I'm going to give you the choice...
...I...
...never had.
That morning, I was not yet a vampire...
... and I saw my last sunrise.
I remember it completely...
... and yet I can't recall any sunrise before it.
I watched the whole magnificence of the dawn for the last time...
... as if it were the first.
And then I said farewell to sunlight...
... and set out to become...
... what I became.
Have you said your good-byes to the light?
I've drained you...
...to the point of death.
If I leave you here...
...you'll die.
Or...
...you can be young always, my friend...
...as we are now.
But you must tell me...
...will you come...
...or no?
Yes.
Your body's dying.
Pay no attention.
It happens to us all.
Now look...
...with your vampire eyes.
What did you see?
No words can describe it.
Might as well ask Heaven what it sees.
No human can know.
The statue seemed to move, but didn't.
The world had changed, yet stayed the same.
I was a newborn vampire, weeping at the beauty of the night.
Perhaps you'd like another cigarette?
I would. It's not bothering you, is it?
I don't assume it would. It's not like you'll die from cancer.
I don't think so.
- What about crucifixes? - Crucifixes?
Can you look at them?
Actually, I'm quite fond of looking at crucifixes.
And the stake through the heart?
Nonsense.
And coffins?
Coffins.
Coffins, unfortunately, are a necessity.
Don't worry.
Soon...
...you'll be sleeping as soundly as you've ever slept.
And when you awake...
...I'll be waiting for you...
...and so will all the world.
Blood, I was to find, was a necessity as well.
I awoke the next evening with a hunger I had never felt.
Once you taste this...
...you'll never go to another tavern again.
You think so?
But what if I'd rather taste your lips?
My lips are even sweeter still.
My friend...
...should taste those lips.
Is his...
...kiss...
...as deep...
...as yours?
Deeper, ma chérie.
I will not take her life.
I've done it for you.
She's dead...
...as a doornail, my friend.
It's so easy, you almost feel sorry for them.
You'll get used to killing.
Just forget about that mortal coil.
You'll become accustomed to it, all too quickly.
Are you not hungry?
Au contraire, ma chérie.
He could eat the whole colony.
I will finish it.
Now leave us.
Can't you pretend, you fool?
Don't give the game away.
We're lucky to have such a home.
Pretend to drink, at least.
Such fine crystal shouldn't go to waste.
I know.
It gets cold so quickly.
We can live like this?
On animal blood?
I wouldn't call it living. Call it surviving.
Useful trick if you're on a ship for a month.
There's nothing in the world now that doesn't hold some...
Fascination.
Yes.
- I'm bored with this prattle. - We can live without killing.
It's possible.
Anything is possible.
But just try it for a week.
Come into New Orleans and let me show you some real sport.
Lestat killed two, sometimes three a night.
A fresh young girl...
... was his favorite for the first of the evening.
For seconds, he preferred a gilded, beautiful youth.
But the snob in him loved to hunt in society.
The blood of the aristocrat thrilled him best of all.
The trick is not to think about it.
You see that one?
Widow St. Clair.
She had that gorgeous young fop murder her husband.
How do you know?
Read her thoughts.
I can't.
The "dark gift" is different for each of us.
But one thing is true of everyone. We grow stronger as we go along.
Just take my word for it.
She blamed a slave for his murder.
Imagine what they did to him.
Evil-doers are easier, and they taste better.
Where are we going?
Nowhere.
Now, young man, you really amaze me!
I'm old enough to be your grandmother.
Oh, yes, that's the melody.
I remember it.
Murderer!
My little papillons!
My butterflies, he killed them!
You... whining coward of a vampire...
...who prowls killing rats and poodles! You could've finished us!
You've condemned me to Hell!
I don't know any Hell.
That's more like it!
Anger! Fury!
That's why I chose you!
But you can't kill me, Louis.
Feed...
...on what you will.
Rats, chickens...
...poodles.
I'll leave you to it...
...and watch you come around.
Remember:
Life without me...
...would be even more...
...unbearable.
Consider yourself lucky.
In Paris, a vampire must be clever for many reasons.
Paris?
Here all one needs is a pair of fangs.
You came from Paris?
As did the one who made me.
Tell me about him. You must've learned something from him.
I learned absolutely nothing.
I wasn't given a choice, remember?
You must know something about the meaning of it all.
Why? Why should I know these things?
Do you know them?
That noise...
...it's driving me mad!
We've been here for weeks with nothing but that noise!
They know about us.
They watch us dine on empty plates and drink from empty glasses.
Come...
...to New Orleans then.
The Paris Opera's in town. We can try some French...
...cuisine.
Forgive me if I have a lingering respect for life.
You'll soon run out of chickens, Louis.
Monsieur Louis?
You don't want any supper?
No, ma chérie.
We're worried about you, Master.
When is it that you go riding in the field?
And how long since you've been to the slave quarter?
Everywhere there is death.
Are you still our master at all?
That will be all, Yvette.
I will not go unless you listen to me.
You must send away this friend of yours.
The slaves are all frightened of him...
...and they are frightened of you.
I'm frightened of myself.
Hear me now!
This place is cursed!
Damned!
And, yes, your master is the Devil!
Get out while you can! You're all free!
Do you hear me?
Run!
Save yourselves!
Perfect! Perfect!
Just burn the place! Burn everything we own!
Have us living in a field, like cattle!
You thought you could have it all.
Shut up, Louis!
Come on!
Where are we?
Where do you think, my idiot friend?
We're in a nice, filthy cemetery.
Are you happy?
Is this fitting? Proper enough?
We belong in Hell.
What if there is no Hell?
Or they don't want us there? Ever think of that?
But there was a Hell.
And no matter where we moved to, I was in it.
We rented rooms on the waterfront of New Orleans.
Your skin is icy.
Your friend has no head for wine.
Don't worry.
I can warm that cold skin of yours better than she can.
Do you think so?
Why...
...you're warm now!
But the price is high.
Your pretty friend, I exhausted her.
Soft.
So soft.
I can see you lying on a bed of satin.
Such things you say.
Do you know what manner of bed?
Should we put out the light?
And then put out the light.
But once I've put out thy light...
...I cannot...
...give it vital breath again.
Its needs must wither.
For you, Louis.
You can pretend it's wine.
She's not dead!
You're in love with your mortal nature. You resist what can bring you peace.
You call this peace?
We're predators, whose all-seeing eyes give them detachment!
- The girl, Lestat! - Take her! End that hunger!
No!
Now, my child.
You're tired, you want to sleep!
It's a coffin!
A coffin! Let me out!
I'm not dead!
It's your coffin, enjoy it. Most of us never get to know what it feels like.
Why do you do this?
I like to do it. I enjoy it. Take your aesthete's taste to purer things.
Kill them swiftly if you will, but do it!
For do not doubt you are a killer, Louis!
- What's that? - It's a coffin.
So it is. You must be dead.
I'm not dead, am I?
You're not dead.
Not yet.
Finish this now!
You finish it!
Save me from him!
Save me!
You'll let me go?
I can't die like this!
I need a priest.
My friend is a priest. He'll hear your sins before you die.
Unless... I make her one of us.
No!
Then take her, Louis, end her suffering! End yours!
No!
Now...
...are you happy?
My God!
To think you...
...are all I have to learn from.
In the Old World...
...they called it the "dark gift."
And I gave it to you.
Don't go that way, Monsieur. It's the plague.
- Go back the way you came! - The way I came...
Mama.
Please help us.
Papa left us and didn't come back.
Please, wake Mama, Monsieur.
My philosopher. My martyr.
"Never take a human life."
This calls for a celebration.
There's still life in the old lady yet.
Come back!
You are what you are!
Merciful death.
How you love your precious guilt.
Her blood coursed in my veins...
... sweeter than life itself.
And, as it did, Lestat's words made sense to me.
I knew peace only when I killed.
When I heard her heart in that terrible rhythm, I knew what peace could be.
All I need to find you, Louis, is follow the corpses of rats.
Pain is terrible for you.
You feel it like no other creature, because you're a vampire.
You don't want it to go on.
No.
Then do what it is in your nature to do...
...and you will feel as you felt with that child in your arms.
Evil is a point of view.
God kills indiscriminately...
...and so shall we.
For no creatures under God are as we are. None so like Him...
...as ourselves.
I have a gift for you.
Come.
Please.
- She's here. - What are you saying?
You need...
...company...
...more congenial than mine.
Remember how you wanted her?
The taste of her?
I thought I'd killed her.
Don't worry.
Your conscience is clear.
Claudia.
Listen to me.
You're ill, my precious.
And I'm going to give you what you need to get well.
No.
You want her to die then?
That's it. Yes.
Stop!
Enough!
I want some more.
Of course you want more.
Gently, chérie.
They're so innocent.
They must not be made to suffer.
Good.
Yes.
All right, now.
Stop.
That's enough, chérie.
You must stop before the heart stops.
I want more.
I know.
But it's best in the beginning...
...lest the Death takes you down with it.
You've done very well. Look at you.
Not a drop spilt. Very good.
Where is Mama?
Mama's gone...
...to Heaven, chérie, like that sweet lady... right there.
They all go to Heaven.
All but us.
Do you want to frighten our daughter?
I'm not your daughter.
Oh, yes, you are.
You're my and Louis' daughter now.
You see, Louis was going to leave us.
He was going to go away.
But now he's not.
Now he's going to stay...
...and make you happy.
Louis.
You fiend.
One happy family.
He did it to make you stay with him?
Perhaps.
He knew me. He knew I would love her more than the waking world.
But there was more to it.
He lavished affection on her, there is no doubt about that.
Perhaps, in the end, he did it because he was lonely too.
- I need more light. - She needs more light.
- I'll go blind without another lamp. - She'll go blind.
Or let me fit this child during the day.
Well, I am afraid, Madame, that my days are sacrosanct.
A little child, she was.
But also a fierce killer...
... now capable of the ruthless pursuit of blood with all a child's demanding.
Let me kiss it better.
Now...
...who will we get to finish your dress? Be practical!
Remember, never in our home!
She slept in my coffin at first...
... curling her little fingers around my hair...
... till the day when she wanted her own coffin.
But still, whenever she awoke...
... she would crawl into mine.
They died fast in those days, before, she learned to play with them...
... to delay the moment till she had taken what she wanted.
Why are you crying, child?
Are you lost, my love?
Mama!
Hush, now, don't cry.
We'll find her.
Mind the thumb, girl. Mind the thumb. That little digit.
They're expensive, my dear.
Maybe too expensive for a young girl like you.
Claudia! What have we told you!
Never in the house.
Give me some room.
To me, she was a child.
But to Lestat, a pupil...
... an infant prodigy with a lust for killing like his own.
Together, they finished off whole families.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Now try something on a more somber note.
Time can pass quickly for mortals when they're happy.
With us, it was the same.
The years flew by like minutes. The city grew.
Sailboats gave way to steamships...
... disgorging an endless menu of magnificent strangers.
A new world had sprung up around us.
And we were all Americans now.
This filthy modern tide!
What I wouldn't give for a drop of old-fashioned Creole blood!
Yankees are not to your taste?
Their Democratic flavor doesn't suit my palate, Louis.
Now that is pure Creole.
Trust Claudia to have found her.
What?
Don't you want her?
I want to be her.
Can I?
Be like her one day?
More melancholy nonsense. You grow more like Louis daily!
Soon you'll be eating rats.
Rats? When did you eat rats, Louis?
It was a long, long time ago.
Before you were born.
And I don't recommend them.
Thirty years had passed, yet her body remained that of an eternal child.
Her eyes alone told the story of her age, staring from under her curls...
... with a questioning...
... that would one day need an answer.
Another doll.
I have dozens, you realize.
I thought you could use one more.
Why always on this night?
What do you mean?
You always give me a doll on the same night of the year.
I didn't realize.
Is this my birthday?
You dress me like a doll.
You make my hair like a doll.
Why?
Some of these, Claudia, are so old...
...tattered.
- You should throw them away. - I will, then!
What have you done?
What you told me to do!
- You leave a corpse here to rot? - I wanted her!
- I wanted to be her! - She's mad!
She pollutes the very house we live in!
Do you want me to be a doll forever?
Don't!
Why not? Can't I change...
...like everyone else?
Which one of you did it?
Which one of you made me the way I am?
What you are?
A vampire gone insane, that pollutes its own bed!
And if I cut my hair again?
It will grow back again.
But it wasn't always so!
I had a mother once. And Louis, he had a wife.
He was mortal, same as she.
And so was I!
You made us what we are!
Stop her.
Did you do it to me?
How did you do it?
And why should I tell you?
It's in my power.
Why yours alone?
Tell me how it was done!
Be glad...
...I made you what you are.
You'd be dead now if I hadn't.
Like that damned corpse! Now get rid of it!
You get rid of it.
Louis, why?
You've got to tell me.
You see the old woman?
That will never happen to you.
You will never grow old.
And you will never die.
And it means something else too, doesn't it?
I shall never, ever grow up.
I hate him.
Tell me how it came to be that I am this...
...thing.
For thirty years I'd avoided that place.
Yet I found my way back there...
... with hardly an upward glance.
You...
...fed on me?
Yes.
And he found me with you.
Then he cut his wrist and fed you from him...
...and you were a vampire then...
...and have been every night thereafter.
You both did it.
I took your life.
He gave you another one.
And here it is.
I hate you both.
I walked all night.
I walked as I walked years before...
... when my mind swam with guilt at the thought of killing.
I thought of all the things I'd done and couldn't undo.
And I longed for one second's peace.
Locked together in hatred.
But I can't hate you, Louis.
Louis, my love.
I was mortal till you...
...gave me your immortal kiss.
You became my mother and my father.
And so I'm yours forever.
But now it's time to end it, Louis.
Now it's time to leave him.
He will never let us go.
Really?
What is it now? You irritate me. Your very presence...
...irritates me!
Does it?
I found someone who'll be a vampire better than you both!
Is that supposed to frighten me?
You're spoiled, because you're an only child.
You need a brother.
Or I do.
I'm weary of you both.
I suppose we could people the world with vampires...
...the three of us.
Oh, not you...
...my little Claudia.
You're a liar.
But you upset my plans.
What plans?
I came to make peace with you.
Even though you're the father of lies...
...I want things to be as they were.
Stop pestering me then.
I must do more than that.
I've brought a present for you.
Then I hope it's...
...a beautiful woman...
...with endowments you'll never possess.
Why do you say such things?
You haven't fed enough.
I can tell by your color.
Come and see.
Don't be angry with me.
When I saw them, I knew they were for you.
Drunk...
...on brandywine. A thimbleful.
You certainly have...
...outdone yourself.
I promise I'll get rid of the bodies.
We forgive each other then?
Yes.
Absinthe?
You've given them absinthe?
No.
Laudanum.
Yes.
It killed them, unfortunately.
But it keeps the blood warm.
You let me drink...
...dead blood?
You let me...
...drink...
One lesson you taught me...
...never drink from the dead.
Put me in my coffin.
I'll put you in your coffin!
My God!
Lift me up!
Good night, sweet prince.
May flights of devils wing you to your rest.