MovieChat Forums > Vampire Circus (1972) Discussion > Anne Rice Inspirations

Anne Rice Inspirations

posted 20 years ago by sickle-1
8 replies | jump to latest

Hello

I recently watched this film on dvd that I got with a hammer horror boxset.

Having read all of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles, and watching this movie again, i noticed how the vampires were all very beautiful and wore renaissance style clothing. They reminded me alot of her vampires and how both this movie and book were made around 1972, it seems like a bit of coincidence.

Also another thought towards her inspiration is 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.
Both Dorian and Lestat share similar features and qualities, from the boyish blonde hair and blue eyes, to having a tendency for becoming enamoured with people rather quickly. They are also in my opinion both rather snobish.

What are your thoughts?

[–] orlandoisapie 20 years ago

Well, I can't give much of a reply to this since I havent seen Vampire Circus or The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I am in love with the Vampire Chronicles.

It DOES seem sort of like a big coincidence, but about the renaissance style clothing, almost all of Anne Rice's characters were from that time period so they all wear that sort of clothing and the movie Vampire Circus is set in the 19th century, which is that sort of time period as well, so that makes sense.

"I need your light. I need it desperately, but you don't need the darkness." ~ The Mad Violinist

[–] BijouBob8mm 20 years ago

Has Anne Rice ever really discussed her inspirations/motivations? I know Hammer deliberately took an aesthetic approach to their horror films, explaining that "beauty is one of the great cards evil holds." Basically, if evil wasn't attractive, it wouldn't be tempting. However, the more contemporary crop of vampires seem to have a sensitive side to them not usually found in Hammer's hedonistic vampires. (The exception being Yutte Stensgaard's Countess in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, who ends up being sympathetic at the end when she attempts to save the life of her lover.)

[–] exploding_mushrooms 18 years ago

Yeah it is indeed similar, but I dont think was directly inspired by this movie, because i remember reading somewhere that she initially wrote (Interview with the vampire) as a short story long before 1972.

[–] ContinentalOp 16 years ago

"almost all of Anne Rice's characters were from that time period so they all wear that sort of clothing and the movie Vampire Circus is set in the 19th century, which is that sort of time period as well, so that makes sense."

Not quite, the 19th century is far from the renaissance really, infact it is modern rather than early modern. Actually I don't quite remember anyone in this movie wearing renaissance clothing at all.

I don't mean to attack you or make you feel bad but I am just saying that there is nothing renaissance (1300s - 1500s more or less) about the clothing...plus isn't Lestat from the Georgian era (18th or 19th centuries)? I mean, I am likely wrong as I am not a massive fan of Anne Rice or that knowledeable about her.

"Jai Guru Deva, Om"

[–] ContinentalOp 16 years ago

"(The exception being Yutte Stensgaard's Countess in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, who ends up being sympathetic at the end when she attempts to save the life of her lover.)"

That is a very good point! Also the same character, Mircalla/Carmilla (played by Ingrid Pitt) is sympathic in 'The Vampire Lovers' also. I guess that Karnstein series was different from most Hammer vampire films in many ways.

"Jai Guru Deva, Om"

[–] TalosIV 16 years ago

Only four years late in replying, but who's counting?

One of Rice's inspirations, was the loss of her daughter from leukemia in 1972.

End of the world? So what.

[–] dea-syria 14 years ago

I thinks its immediately obvious that this film was a huge influence on Rice, and also on Gilliam's Imaginarioum of Dr. Parnassus.

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

The clothes that the vampires wear in Polanski´s Dance of the Vampires were from the early 18th century. Which is closer to the renaisance (which is the period between 16th C to the 17th. It was called that because of all the treasures and nice material such as velvet due to the merchandicing trips of Euro explorers, so that the rich could dress really nice among other things. before that, it was long period we nowadays calls the middle Ages.