if only the visuals and production quality of this season looked half as good as any of these monumental films (they aren’t niche btw. idk why you assume people haven’t seen them). the vampire lestat being campy is not the problem. the problem is the execution.
I love this show to bits but critics and audiences would not have given season 1 an ounce of grace if we had to wait till ep 3 for it to “get great”. Ep 1 had to be SPECTACULAR. They had no room to be mediocre because it was a black character leading an already beloved story.