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Interview With The Vampire and Reginald the Vampire, two stories about newly turned and how they’re dealing with the new changes. Based on the first couple of episodes of both shows, Louise and Reginald have some similar powers, such as super speed and super strength. They also deal with bullying and bigotry.
Louise, in Interview with The Vampire, starts off with telling his history to a reporter. I should note, I have not read the book, by Anne Rice, but I do know the creators of this new series have modernized the story. Readers of the book may take issue with the changes, but I feel these were good changes to explore some real-world problems, which fantasy and sci-fi do all the time. Yes, Louise and Lestat are lovers in this series. When watching Interview with The Vampire, the movie, I had always wondered about their relationship. I think it is a good thing to explore.
Reginald the Vampire, is based on the book Fat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant. Again, I have not read the book, so my knowledge is based on the TV series. Reginald starts out as an overweight human. Maurice the vampire was hunting Reginald, but took pity on him and befriended him. Reginald ends up a snack to some rival vampires. Maurice offers to save him and Reginald accepts, and grows a set of fangs. After this he has the super strength and speed, but unlike others of his kind he is still overweight. And as a vampire this will never change. However, Reginald does have super intelligence and (spoiler) we find out later he can glamour other vampires.
Louise and Reginald face challenges with becoming new vampires. In Interview with The Vampire, Louise’s struggles are dark and soul rending as he tries to keep his human connections. As a viewer, you will feel sympathy and maybe empathy for Reginald, but it is not as dark a take. I feel Interview with The Vampire is more adult themed for adult issues. While Reginald the Vampire receives an adult rating, its approach when discussing topics like bullying and body image issues speak more to younger Geeks.
For Louise his issues lie with bigotry and racism. Louise is thought of as less by white people, yet he knows he has become something more than human. He could allow himself to control the humans, but the social norms have always controlled Louise. They continue to restrain him, to a point where he loses everything he’s held dear. Will Louise break free from his human chains? We’ll have to watch and see.
Reginald on the other hand does become something more than human and embraces the opportunity, but bullying over his looks continue even in the vampire community. He isn’t able to break free from his social norms, as of yet. Maybe in the weeks to come we will see Reginald gain confidence in himself and become the person he has always wanted to be.
However, we are Geeks. We love vampire stories, be it for the glittery romance, or the butt-kicking action and gore. This is for fun. We love these stories, because it gives us refuge from the monsters in the real world. The characters in both Interview with The Vampire and Reginald the Vampire have been created very well to suck us in. We will feel for them and cheer for them. You will not be disappointed, watching either show.
Interview with The Vampire airs Sundays 10/9c on AMC
Reginald the Vampire airs Wednesdays 10/9c on SyFy Network
