Competitors didn't seem to take the mixed WWF championship seriously

Vampires return in a quest for world domination and pop nu metal stardom!

Nigel Bell

Queen of the Damned was destined for the dumper until the untimely death of pop star Aaliyah during shooting.

The publicity ensured enough people would know and talk about the film to warrant a general release.

And while it might be distasteful to say so, if you are a fan of the vampire/horror genre Queen of the Damned is worth seeing.

The Plot
The legendary Vampire Lestat (Townsend), tired of immortal life, has been asleep for decades.

He awakens to the sounds of a thrash nu-metal band and decides life, as he knows it, is worth living again.

Honest, I've never heard of Ozzy Osbourne

Fed up of always hiding in the shadows Lestat decides to become a rock star.

His band (a kind of Limp Bizkit) becomes huge even though they refuse to play live gigs.

At a press conference he announces a one-off performance and challenges all other vampires to be there (or be square!)

By daring to come out he upsets the majority of large fanged folk.

Christopher Lee never had to wear clothes like these

Throw into the melting pot a vampire enthusiast who can't work out why she keeps having dreams about the blood sucking creatures, Queen Akasha (Aaliyah) who is literally the mother of all vampires and several climaxes and you have an interesting take on the old tale.

The Verdict
This film is interesting in the very fact that it turns the vampire story on its head. Here's a blood sucker who doesn't mind the whole world knowing what he does for a living.

The crazy thing is the population seems quite willing to accept his need for an unusual pint just as long as he keeps making music and videos.

Hereby hangs a continuity problem. Traditionally vampires can't been seen in mirrors or photographs yet in Queen of the Damned we see Lestat happily parading himself in music videos and reflecting in water.

Hurry up and take the pictures, I can't hold this pose forever

That said there are several nice touches, including humour.

"How did you manage to slip through the 50's dressed in red velvet," says Lestat to his mentor Marius.

"I slept," comes the reply.

"You didn't miss much."

"Elvis?"

"Elvis."

As for Aaliyah, fans have to wait an hour before she actually appears. Her whole screen time probably amounts to no more than ten minutes but she has quite an impact, building a body count to rival Stallone in his Rambo days. She comes across as a far scarier version of the Ursula Andress character in the She films.

Good fun, decent effects, just don't think too deeply.