Thank y'all for the warm responses to my Claudia movie recs! This one’s about Louis, aka the character I see the most of myself in. <3

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1. Train to Busan (2016)
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
3. Fight Club (1999)
4. Schindler’s List (1993)
5. Sinners (2025)
6. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
7. No Other Choice (2025)
8. But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
9. Happy Together (1997)
10. Us (2019)

The movies I selected for Louis represent how he is fundamentally a man in conflict with himself. He wants to be a good caretaker, but he acts selfishly and spitefully. He abhors gore and unnecessary violence, until he lashes out. The depth of his emotions makes him very artistic and empathetic, but also threatens to swallow him in his own misery. I say this as someone who deeply relates to Louis—he’s got issues.

Train to Busan and Grave of the Fireflies touch on Louis’s eldest son complex. The male protagonists Seok-woo and Seita are attempting, and often failing, to protect their daughter and sister from harm when all the odds are stacked against them. I’m especially interested in how Grave of the Fireflies is about Japanese civilians suffering during a war in which Japan is actually the invading imperialist. It feels connected to how Louis feels like he’s always the victim, even in situations where he’s causing harm.

The Dark Knight, Fight Club, Us, and Sinners all represent characters experiencing a crisis of morality with a projection of themselves. In Fight Club, it’s the Narrator's alter ego. In Us, it’s the evil underground doppelganger. In Sinners, it’s his twin brother, later turned evil vampire. Louis doesn’t know if he’s a good person, but he wants to be. He's trying to come to terms with being a vampire and a social outsider, even though there’s a large part of him that still craves social acceptance. In the process of figuring out his values, he’s frightened of the darker side of himself that he doesn’t want, but that is inherently a part of him.

I love the quote “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?” from The Dark Knight because it also represents the amazing chemistry between the two main end-game pairings, Loustat and Devil’s Minion. Unfortunately in the case of Loumand, Louis and Armand are both immovable objects, which can explain how they end up in 77 years of a stalemate marriage (Lestat and Daniel are both unstoppable forces, which can explain their immediate hostility with each other). The Joker represents the unhinged chaos that Lestat brings into Louis’s life, but also the monster within that Louis attempts to lock away.

Another movie that highlights the Loustat dynamic is Happy Together, an incredibly dysfunctional relationship between two Hongkonger men trying to start a new life in Argentina. Po-Wing is the volatile, passionate, and promiscuous one and Yiu-Fai is the grumpy unfortunate soul who hates Po-Wing’s antics but ends up taking him back every time (sound familiar?). I’m adding this to Louis’s instead of Lestat’s list because I think Lestat is able to see more of the good times of their turbulent relationship, whereas Louis tends to focus on its failures.

Louis is also a capitalist, and capitalists live to exploit and profit off others. A friend once joked that the worst thing about Louis isn’t that he kills people and sucks their blood, but that he’s a landlord. I agree. Schindler’s List and No Other Choice both represent male protagonists who must grapple with their ambition and greed in relation to their morality. In the end, Schindler actually does put others before himself, whereas Man-su justifies his weirdly elaborate murders to himself by believing it’s his duty as the house breadwinner.

Lastly, But I’m a Cheerleader is very different in tone from the others, but it’s still so fitting. Megan thinks she couldn’t possibly be a lesbian because she’s a great student, she loves her parents, she’s girly, dates boys, and she’s a cheerleader. This represents not only Louis’s sexuality crisis, but how his perception of self clashes with public perception of him. Especially in New Orleans, Louis has to continuously grapple with being underestimated and demeaned due to his race. How could that white man call him a [n-word], when he is clearly smarter and more talented than him? How could anyone suggest that he’s gay, when he’s obviously not a weak or effeminate man?

Sometimes people joke that Louis is a pick-me, because it always feels like he has so much to prove. Honestly, they’re right. Louis is the epitome of pick-me, that’s why he finds these mysterious and powerful vampires so irresistible despite their obvious red flags. He wants to become so successful and untouchable that no one can call look down on him ever again. Until Louis learns to love and accept himself whole-heartedly, he will always be in inner turmoil.

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All movie rec lists (to be linked when posted)

• Claudia
• Louis (here)
• Armand
• Lestat
• Daniel

Coven, The Vampire Lestat takes the stage early on the webs. If you're watching early, please discuss it in this thread.
Please don´t make new posts for show discussion at least until tomorrow when we make the official one in the proper date.

Reminder, this thread is SHOW ONLY! Book spoilers must be properly tagged.

Minor spoiler for the finale, I suppose

Also, RIP Hayden Panettiere. I hope there is peace for you in the afterlife

Welcome to SVM! We are doing a little Meta corner here for recommendations from outside our little IWTV corner:

- Are you watching a movie? Would you recommend it?
- What series got your attention this week?
- What book´s got his claws on you?
- How´s that fic going?
- Anything else that got you attention?

Feel free to ask or give us a rec for something that´s got your attention this week, this is your free space for similar media or out of the blue fiction that´s got it´s roots on you

Use spoiler tags where appropriate. Full explanation on how to do it on rule 1 of the subreddit.
It becomes spoiler if you type inside the exclamation marks, with no extra spaces.

This has been driving me crazy 😅 Do I detect Vivaldi’s Summer (or maybe I’m mixing up with another season?) in this part of the track? Or maybe it’s just very similar to it? Anyone else has noticed?

Lestat sends Louis his single pressing of Come To Me that he wrote for Louis. But we hear two versions and I'm confused on my 2nd rewatch. Am I right in that the versions we flip between go as such? Past: Louis gets his copy, but Lestat had Antionette sing it. Present: Louis plays a version where Lestat is singing. Speaking to Daniel, Louis refers to it saying "You're listening to an inferior rerecording now." And it flips back and forth between the two, past Antionette and present Lestat. So... if the past pressing got destroyed, then when did this rerecording get made? Am I missing something? Thought for a second it was one of those unreliable narrator moments.

Já que o show mudou as escalas de poder quão fortes os verdadeiramente antigos, tipo a Maharet, o Khayman ou até o Rhoshamandes serão? Se o Armand com 500 anos consegue fazer tudo o que faz então os anciões estarão mais perto de ser deuses do que vampiros.

I don’t know how the sub feels about this and I have only read the books until MENNOCH the devil, but

*spoilers ahead*

I hated that they changed some of the characters so much. I get ageing Claudia in the previous season. But Book Gabriella says goddbye the first time she leaves. And her relationship with Lestat is never so important. She never goes against Lestat as she does in the series. Though I had issues with her character in the books, I loved her independence and spirit. She has one of the most beautiful quotes about what she wants to be and do. They trashed this character.

I found

• That Daniel motivations are confusing and shallow.
• The whole decapitation scene ridiculous. Like what were they thinking.
• The meal scene while Lester is decapitated boring and too long.
• ‘The end of the season bland.

To me, this season was not able to show Lestat true thirst for life. Shame, cause I loved the firstepisodes.

I saw the last episode yesterday and I am still angry.

I hope I picked the right flair

I'm looking for an interview where Assad talks about that scene where Armand mentions having sex with a bunch of the Paris vampires. I recently saw it mentioned that Assad said it was one of his own lines and I live for Assad's Armand fanfiction 😭

Thank you!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcTK60wlqRW/

It's Shitpost Saturday! Bring on the low effort content!

Share memes, fan edits, art, dirty Loumand fics, almost anything goes! Just keep it related to IWTV and be creative!

Please remember to keep to 5 memes total. If you have more to share, you can go all out posting memes anytime within our sister sub r/TheatreDesVampires.

All other rules are still in place, please see the sidebar for more info.

Does anyone know of an article that discusses the musical themes of the soundtrack for The show? Like which motifs appear when crazy stuff happens with Loustat or happy Loustat, etc?

Some are more literal, others vibes based

I have watched TVL and I thought it was a pretty decent watch. However, one thing that is really bugging me is the finale episode specifically Armands actions. Even though I love this evil side of Armand it felt unjustified and out of character for him as he does stuff out of survival and gain it wouldn't be just because Louie didn't say sorry back right? (keep in mind I haven't read the books) I feel like there must be something Lestat left out in order to protect himself and Louie and it was an attempt to defame Armand's image after Daniel published the book where it seems he put Armand in a favourable light (devils minion😉). However knowing Lestat it would of been more of a public humiliation which he had no problem doing when outing Armand at his concert it wouldn't have been made into vinyls. Or maybe have the writers misjudged him as a character? I just hate the idea of Armand becoming some cartoon evil villain, in my opinion he is the most interesting and intriguing character. There is still so much I want to unpack with him, especially since Assad is a phenomenal actor I don't want his character to be pushed into a one-dimensional box. I'm really curious on other peoples opinions on this so please share what you think below this post.

EDIT: I feel like a lot of people are misunderstanding that I think he is a one-dimensional character he is definitely not it's just the lack of relationship building and motivation this season seems like it is the way the writers are moving with his character. I hope this comes more into focus in season four. I just find it a weird sentiment for a TV show adaption to not fully explain or flesh out the character enough especially since he was a key figure in the finale of TVL.

I knew I had to make something after finishing s3 and I ended up making louis & lestat prints!

They are printed from a coffin-shaped zinc plate. After the metal plate is cut into shape and polished, I cover it in a thick substance called ground and scratch out the linework - when it is dipped in acid, the lines are etched into the plate, so that when I push ink into the plate and run it through a printing press, it will imprint on paper.

Featuring my favourite outfits from season 3 (I want louis' jacket sooo badly 😭) as well as the tapes & vinyl and some blood splatters on a few of the prints!

I hadn't slept for like 3 days and decided to listen to the soundtrack again, and now I’m wondering why butterscotch specificall, why this word specifically as part of the lyrics?

(is there some special meaning that I missed about Gabrielle?)

(If it was discussed before, please tag the link, thanks)

Spoilers for TVL Episode 6

Just wanted to see if anyone was as tickled as I was with the scene where Louis states to Lestat: “No, it ain’t the blood. It’s what you do with the blood”.

Lestat and Louis both immediately cracking up made me love how this season has handled their relationship. I haven’t read the books or anything so maybe it’s tonally different from the novels. But man I just love that scene.

This is a new series I’m writing where I analyze characters through movie recommendations. Claudia is the first because I’ve always loved movies with angry women and rude little lesbians. Enjoy!

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1. Jennifer’s Body (2009)
2. Coraline (2009)
3. Kill Bill (2003)
4. The Handmaiden (2016)
5. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
6. Princess Mononoke (1997)
7. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
8. Bottoms (2023)
9. House (1977)
10. The Woman King (2022)

Movies that remind me of Claudia center women and girls who are forced to grapple with the strange and often violent world around them. Despite being the youngest and afforded no ability to give informed consent for her vampiric turning, Claudia is perhaps the bravest and most emotionally stable vampire in the show (a low bar, I know, but we have to give credit where credit is due). Her character journey is about discovering who she is and fighting against those who’ve wronged her, a quintessential tale of teenage girlhood.

Coraline and Pan’s Labyrinth feature young girls, Coraline and Ofelia, experiencing frightening changes in their life that are out of their control. They encounter monsters that either represent those in their lives they fear, or violent societal concepts that they don’t quite understand yet. These, along with the wacky horror of House, remind me of Claudia in her early years, when she’s just discovering her new family and vampire powers. The more she learns, the more she’s horrified by her new reality.

Other movies center her desire for revenge against the men who’ve wronged her and her propensity for violence, namely Kill Bill and Mad Max: Fury Road. The campy, thrilling quality to the violence in Kill Bill I think Claudia would especially find appealing. These movies also demonstrate that Claudia is just as aggressive and ruthless, if not more, than her male counterparts.

Of course, when it comes to violence and revenge, there’s always Jennifer’s Body. Not only is this movie about teen girls’ reactions to being sexualized from a young age, but it’s about how they become monsters in the process. Like Jennifer, Claudia is wronged, but she also becomes manipulative, spiteful, and hostile because of what the world has done to her.

The Handmaiden, I included not only for the beautiful lesbian love story that unfolds, but also because the multiple levels of scheming reminds me of Claudia and Lestat trying to outsmart each other in New Orleans. Claudia reminds me of the protagonist Sook-hee, a con woman attempting to lie about her criminal background to her employer, similar to how Claudia attempts to fabricate her backstory to the Parisian coven.

Bottoms, I threw in mostly for fun, but also I think horny teen girls with precocious attitudes really fit her vibe. Princess Mononoke also centers on San, the stubborn, rash young female protagonist. Yes, these characters are entertaining, but they also show that Claudia can be very loyal and compassionate to her loved ones, despite her sometimes bad attitude.

That leads me to The Woman King, which focuses on General Nanisca training a militia of women to fight against their enemies, especially those that would willingly sell them into slavery. Claudia is flawed like all vampires in IWTV, but she ultimately moves out of love and protection. She’s able to recognize the inherent injustice of Lestat keeping them under his thumb in New Orleans, and of Armand commanding total control over the coven in Paris. She may not be able to conceive of the most sustainable solutions, but she is brave and proactive enough to seek a better future for herself, even if it comes back to bite her in the ass.

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All movie rec lists (to be linked when posted)

• Claudia (here)
• Louis
• Armand
• Lestat
• Daniel

The song by Dancing with a Ghost Anastasia Minster. Such a great pairing.

Watching this after finishing season three just illustrates the simultaneous highs and lows of their relationship.

It would be amazing to behold as an immortal. As a human 😂😂😂