Even the Hallucinations Are Horny on ‘Interview With the Vampire’

Stating that vampires are horny is like announcing that water is wet. Whether on HBO or The CW, these supernatural beings have long been getting down with each other and their human paramours. True Blood walked, so this version of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire could run. Now, the AMC series has raced into first place with its depiction of lust that cannot be stopped by death.

Hell, even the hallucinations on Interview With the Vampire offer a masterclass in desire.

AMC’s overtly gory and gay adaptation of the 1976 Anne Rice novel immediately made its intentions clear in its first episode. The series sidestepped the homoerotic ambiguity of the 1994 movie during then-human Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) first sexual encounter with French vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). Their naked bodies are interlocked several feet off the ground, as if hunger and passion are fueling this flight. In the present day, Louis told journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) of the intense “feelings of intimacy it awoke within me” that have since been hard to shake.

Despite Lestat being out of the picture at this point in the series (at least for now), that unbreakable connection still produces a heady mix of unshakable thirst and longing.

It seemed like Louis couldn’t let his ex go, as he started emotionally charged interactions with a version of Lestat who was a figment of his imagination. Nicknamed “Dreamstat,” these conversations mirror their volatile dynamic in New Orleans. Hallucinations swing wildly from shame to rage, with a dollop of “missing you” hours in between.

To get to this point, Louis and Claudia (Delainey Hayles, played by Bailey Bass in Season 1) successfully plotted to kill their maker in the Season 1 finale. Or rather, they did everything but set fire to his drained corpse. Louis couldn’t follow through with permanently ending Lestat’s life, and now he is haunted by visions of his great love. We don’t know if Lestat has survived his trip to the New Orleans dump, but I think it is safe to say that Louis bidding farewell to Dreamstat in an achingly romantic park bench setting isn’t how this messy love story ends.

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So far, the second season of the AMC series hasn’t gone to the naked extremes of the first, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been any less hot and heavy. After all, in flashbacks set in post-WWII Paris, there is a coven that doubles as a stage company, and no one is hornier than immortal theater kids. Introducing the Théâtre des Vampires troupe ups the stakes, yet the most potent moments occur between Louis and thin air.

A hallucination so powerful you can feel its breath

No, Louis is not the first TV character to get it on with a memory. But whereas the Grey’s Anatomy ghost sex plot is a punchline known by people who haven’t even seen that arc (*raises hand*), Interview With the Vampire’s exploration of the death of a relationship is perfectly aligned with the already established operatic flourishes. It is entirely plausible that Louis has spent his time in Europe embroiled in a heated secret tête-á-tête with an imagined version of his toxic soulmate. And all while being courted by a new lover, the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman). How very Parisian! Move over, Challengers. There is a new throuple in town.

Even vampires get derailed by conversations about a couple’s romantic status, which is complicated further by a chatty psyche masquerading as Lestat. However, the physical presence of Dreamstat increases the tension of an unorthodox ménage à trois. “I could feel the movement of air with his movements, his breath on the back of my neck,” says Louis. “If I were to reach out and touch his hand, I wouldn’t say it was his hand, but it was not not his hand.”

Truly great horny TV revels in yearning and the power of touch—including near-touch—and understands it isn’t simply the exchange of fluids that cranks up the temperature. Regardless of the delirious scenario or physical interaction, Reid and Anderson’s chemistry is undeniable. It doesn’t matter that this isn’t actually Lestat, as the first season laid the irresistible groundwork for the electric hallucinatory exchanges.

In the most recent episode, talking about how hot the room gets whenever the secret of Lestat’s demise is mentioned (“Oh, I’m the secret,” teases Dreamstat) is one part of this raunchy equation. The other is an evocative description of feeling Lestat’s breath on the back of his neck that sets pulses racing. Contributing to this intensity is when Dreamstat is shot in a tight close-up because he won’t quit being in Louis’ personal space.

Either way, Lestat continues to linger in the past and present. A couple of weeks ago, Daniel could barely contain his laughter when he found out that both Louis and his long-term partner Armand fucked Lestat one hundred years apart. The vampire dating pool is limited, and Armand tries to downplay their overlapping tastes, mentioning the multiple members of this repertory company he has hooked up with over the years.

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Armand and Louis don’t lack charged energy, but heat emanates whenever Lestat is on screen, even when he isn’t real. Shout-out to Claudia, though, for her smut-filled description of being around Louis and Armand in the early days of flirtation. Complete with hand clap sounds, Claudia describes what two vamps full of lust feel like: “Now I know what two blood-fat cocks slapping hands feel like, so thank you for that.” Lestat would be proud of the daughter who killed him for this vulgar observation.

Every version of Lestat offers something enticing

One thing connecting Louis and Armand’s encounters with those of Lestat and Dreamstat is the feeling of his presence. Armand describes his first experience with the theatrically inclined vampire before the turn of the 19th century in this way. Lestat is unapologetically Lestat in how he struts across the stage, eye-banging the enrapt audience and defiantly living his (undead) life. Oozing sex appeal is Lestat’s signature, and Reid taps into this vibrant spectrum—no matter which version of this character he is playing.

This feeling-you-across-the-room vibe has nothing on Louis’ consuming back-and-forth with the imagined version of his ex. Dreamstat wears recognizable outfits, such as the green tie and white carnation pairing from the pilot, but with an entirely different hairstyle conjured by Louis—apparently, he likes a blowout. Dreamstat serenades Louis while he is on a date with Armand in chic bars frequented by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre with choice lyrics like “You little whore” and “You fumble each other impotent lovers.” The early days of any new romance are hard enough without having intrusive thoughts manifesting as your toxic former lover. Again, it is Louis who is self-sabotaging. Last week, the truth (that Armand already knew) about his role in killing Lestat spilled out in this artsy Parisian spot.

Considering the mental gymnastics Louis has been employing in his failed attempt to keep this hidden, it is no surprise that he heads to the nearest cruising park to release the pent-up tension. Of course, his ex shows up to offer taunts. Louis reacts like any sane vampire and jumps Dreamstat’s bones. It is reminiscent of the many arguments that turned into lusty encounters in Season 1, except this time, the person Louis hooks up with isn’t in the air. When a ravenous lip-biting kiss turns to bashing Dreamstat’s brains in, Louis snaps out of it and sees the very real human whose head is a bloody and limp mess. Even in this skewed reality, Interview With the Vampire doesn’t shy away from the toxic elements of the Louis and Lestat relationship.

At one point, Daniel semi-seriously asks about Louis’ mental health: “Are you schizophrenic, Louis?” Perhaps it is the vampire version of phantom limb syndrome: The very idea of Louis being able to feel Lestat’s breath on his neck could launch a thousand fanfics.

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By the end of the fourth episode, Louis has turned his situationship into an official companionship with Armand; he finally seems ready to say goodbye to his ex. Instead of the bloody showdown like the past one with Lestat, it is a tender conversation. Before this idealized breakup, Dreamstat calls Louis “mon cher,” then they sit on a park bench in the rain. The suit Dreamstat wears is significant, as it has Louis’ initials inscribed on the backside of the jacket ticket pocket, a gesture that differs from Lestat’s preferred grandiose gifts. The hallucination fades as Dreamstat explains, “So your name would always cradle… [my heart].”

Interview With the Vampire gamely sinks its fangs into the pleasure and pain of intimacy with an insatiable hunger that transcends even physical presence, and nothing gets the blood pumping quite like that.

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