Following on from the success of the TV adaptation of Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, Acorn International Media are releasing AMC's version of the author's Mayfair Witches series of books.
Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) is a neurosurgeon with a mysterious past, and the seemingly new and concerning ability to cause men she gets angry with to have strokes. When her adoptive mother dies, her investigations into her history take her from San Francisco to New Orleans and the powerful Mayfair family, who have been keeping her real mother Deirdre (Annabeth Gish) sedated because of the dangerous powers they believe she harbours in the form of a demon called Lasher (Jack Huston).
When Deirdre dies in spectacular fashion in a New Orleans elevator, Rowan becomes heir to the Mayfair fortune and all that goes with it, including the supernatural. Ciprien Grieve (Tongayi Chirisa) has been assigned by a secret organisation to protect Rowan from the demon's advances, but as she comes into her full power, there seems to be little he can do to alter Rowan's destiny.
The recent INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE was a rich, complex, well-acted, beautifully designed and engrossing piece of work. It's a shame to report, then, that in almost all respects MAYFAIR WITCHES is as flat as a pancake. One cannot level the blame at Daddario who is surprisingly one-note in this, because all the performances are similarly dull, suggesting a decision made higher up to play things this way. Lasher offers Rowan immense power with all the charisma of someone asking if she'd like to go to Tesco's with him, and Ciprien is so ineffectual then the forces of good are in real trouble if that's all they've got. The only real achievement of his character is to fall into bed with Rowan, but as the eroticism on display here is of the blandest 'keep your bra on' variety there's precious little energy there, either. I cannot comment on how faithful this adaptation is as I haven't read the source but I hope for Ms Rice's sake (and her readers) that it's rather more engrossing and has a less fumbled climax than this.
Acorn's Blu-ray includes all eight episodes of season one over two discs. There are no extras.
Anne Rice's MAYFAIR WITCHES is out on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 8th January 2024. It's already available on Digital
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