[Editorial] Exploring Sexuality Through Horror: The Sensuality Of Interview With The Vampire

Throughout the discovery of my sexuality, desires and wants, there was always one particular image that was forever a source of interest to me, and although it didn’t encapsulate what I was actually attracted to, it had a big impact on what I found erotic. That particular scene always stood the test of time and never quite left my thoughts, it was something that always peaked my fascination. 

Recently I started paying more and more attention to films that had provoked something carnal in me during my younger years, and Neil Jordan’s 1994 horror fantasy film, Interview With The Vampire, was the one film that stood out above all else purely because it had that specific scene in there, and also so much more in terms of metaphors for desire and sexuality. 

Vampires have long been thought of as a symbol of sensuality; they are creatures of the night that seduce and lure their victims into the shadows with false promises of intimacy laced with eroticism. And although their victims become prey without ecstacy, for the predator of the night there is an exceptional climax, one that makes their eyes wild with hunger and their undead souls flourish with electricity. When their need for blood is quenched, the vampire’s response represents something akin to the feeling of having an intense orgasm. Nothing and nobody in the world matters aside from the coursing feeling of strength and euphoria that would normally pulse through a human’s veins, yet pulses through the taste buds of the vampire. As someone who always had always been drawn towards the dark and macabre, the idea of vampirism was one that has piqued my interest and gave way to many fantasies. 

Vampires have a desire for flesh, blood and life. That desire becomes so strong and powerful that it is not just pure desire, it is more animalistic, they crave it, they have an appetite for it and their hunger can never be satisfied until they have it. When I first started exploring my sexual desires, I realised there was always this constant aching for whomever was the centre of my affection. The thought of clawing at their skin and biting at their flesh with my teeth was so provocative, yet at the same time I remember questioning whether this overwhelming want to taste them was completely normal or something strange. When you’re a teenage girl, your hormones feel like erratic fireworks that can explode at any time and cause your body to want aspects that you don’t even fully understand yet. Which is exactly how I felt through my teenage years, yet watching vampires on screen gave me an outlet to view my sexuality as something that I didn’t need to be ashamed of, and something instead that I could fully embrace into. 

Interview With The Vampire isn’t necessarily the sexiest film ever made, however there are scenes within it that encompass the freedom and versatility of sexuality. What came across most obviously throughout the film was that the boundaries of gender were completely off the table. Vampires are fluid when it comes to choosing who to consume, and often sexual acts feel completely the same way. I wouldn’t consider myself as bisexual or anything like that, but I also don’t believe that when it comes to sexuality that it’s as easy as cornering yourself into finding one particular type of person attractive. I have been with women and I have been with men, and found ways to enjoy both. During my teenage years I was very open to exploring my sexuality, even if that was with women. Even when it came to watching pornography, I didn’t see that anything needed to be off bounds if it was arousing and I still feel the same way now. In Interview With The Vampire there are these complex relationships between characters which cross between being completely open and also having a hold over one another. The power dynamics throughout really interested me, and reminded me that our lust for other people is something in which we have no control over and should be able to explore. 

Yet even with all that said, I’ve always found when it comes to sexuality that we have internal battles with what we believe we should be sexually interested and what we actually have a hunger for. Louis constantly battles between his need for blood, which could be seen as a representation of our battle against internal desires. In one scene he opts to slaughter two dogs and drink their blood instead of taking the life of an innocent woman. Louis rages at Lestat that he has condemned him to Hell by forcing him into having this unsatisfiable hunger for human blood. In many ways it seems understandable that Louis fights his need for blood and has resentment towards Lestat, however, there should be no shame in his need for what truly satisfies his life. With this in mind, Lestat becomes a symbol of our innermost wants and needs. He is the voice that tells us to embrace our sexual fantasies and allow them to become reality without feeling any guilt or shame. 

The moment in the whole film that stands out to me though and becomes a point of reflection when I thought about sexuality was when Lestat bites the breast of one of his victim’s and begins to drink her blood from that source. During the intimate moment the woman (played by Indra Ove and cast as ‘New Orleans Whore’ which I absolutely won’t be referring to) is in a state of ecstasy and elation, she is lost within this moment with Lestat and his touch on her takes away all of the pain that her body is feeling. Yet once he pulls away from her and breaks that moment of intimacy, she is overcome with shock at the horror of seeing her blood and dress drenched in blood. Especially as a woman, there is often a lot of pain entwined with pleasure when it comes to sex. The body can be put under huge constraints when it comes to having sex with someone, but during that lustful moment all the pain and discomfort disperses and your mind is only focused on the pleasure that you’re feeling. It was this scene that really resonated with me and has stayed with me ever since. There was something so powerful about seeing this intimate moment. Since then I have constantly thought about the woman’s breast covered in blood with her screaming in sheer terror. Perhaps I’m also a bit of a pervert for blood, but what I really took away was that one cannot deny the pleasure found in pain when in the moment of ecstasy. 

The other aspect that I found really alluring within Interview With The Vampire was that the vampires’ attraction to their point of desire is always more about the soul and essence of life more than anything else. As someone that finds intellect one of the most attractive qualities of a person, there was something so profound in this concept. Rather than sexuality being about just the body and looks, it’s more about the mind and having an intense connection with someone regardless of how they look. The people I have found the most inviting in my life have always had this eccentricity about them that draws me in, and I’ve always been attracted to what someone has to say. That spark of connection with someone goes above and beyond the looks of a person’s body, and vampires have the same draw.

Sexuality is a personal exploration and one that can come from any source material. Interview With The Vampire was a film I watched during my teens when I first began to explore my own desires and wants in the world. There was so much sensuality and understanding within this film, that even watching it over 13 years later I find a connection within the film to my thoughts on sexuality. With hearts pounding, racing and beating, the flow of blood increasing lust and an animalistic need to have the flesh of another human, everything about the portrayal of vampires is an expression of how sexual desire feels. Interview With The Vampire is a film that taught me that love, desire and our needs are complicated and tangled in existential crises but that sexuality is open, fluid and there to be discovered through any means that give us pleasure.

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