‘They suck at school’
Vampire Academy – aka Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters – is a 2014 American action horror film based on the 2007 best-selling novel of the same name by Richelle Mead, directed by Mark Waters and scripted by Daniel Waters. It stars Zoey Deutch, Danila Kozlovsky, Lucy Fry, Gabriel Byrne (Stigmata; Gothic; The Keep), and Rory Fleck-Byrne (The Quiet Ones).
The film was a failure critically and financially, grossing only $15.4 million worldwide against a $30 million budget.
Plot:
Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal vampires, the Strigoi…
Reviews:
“The always-professional Gabriel Byrne phones it in, and if you’ve seen 95% of the movies he’s been in, you already know exactly what part his character plays. To be fair, both Cameron Monaghan and Dominic Sherwood manage to shine in their supporting roles, which only highlights how below par everyone else’s performance is. Suggestion to the screenwriters: you may not want to put down Twilight and sparkling vampires when your script already sounds like bad fan fiction itself.” Movie Crypt
“If you’re semi-paying attention, you’ll figure out who the villains are not too long into the movie, and then it’s a long, slow slog to the finish line, because Vampire Academy offers nothing in the way of suspense, interesting characters or even a compelling argument for its existence.” Don Kaye, Den of Geek!
“One idea, mixed with lame jokes, and stretched beyond coherence. Vampire Academy doesn’t need a review. It needs a stake in the heart.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“It’s so concerned with its juvenile dramatics that any potential horror content only shows up in dribs and drabs, like a bit involving shirtless guys making blood graffiti that seems like it’s been spliced in from one of David DeCoteau’s Brotherhood flicks, and the late coming appearance of wolflike CGI beasts called psi-hounds…” Ken Michaels, Fangoria
“While not all the enrolled pretty male and female creatures swanning about this fussily old-fashioned Hogwarts-like institution shun the sun, apparently they are afraid of other kinds of exposure since Vampire Academy had no prior screenings for reviewers before opening on Friday. Wise move, since there is no UV protection high enough to extend to critical scorching.” Susan Wloszczyna, RogerEbert.com
“Perhaps the fault is in the source material and the filmmakers did the best with what they had, but it doesn’t even feel like anyone behind the camera really cared. For as awful as they are, Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry are at least trying to give the movie some life, but the whole thing is a boring and bland waste of time that is as empty and vacuous as the general conceit of being Twilight meets Harry Potter.” Luke Owen, Flickering Myth
“Visually, the film is nothing special, but it’s at least reasonably professional. Mark Waters and his cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts (Underworld) shot everything in a plain, yet also clean and comfortable fashion, so there’s no framing of the young women to objectify them, and the film tends to rely on quick-cutting rather than pseudo-realistic camerawork (in other words, no shaky cam) during the action sequences.” Sandy Schaefer, Screen Rant
Cast and characters:
- Zoey Deutch as Rosemarie “Rose” Hathaway
- Lucy Fry as Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir
- Danila Kozlovsky as Dimitri Belikov
- Gabriel Byrne as Victor Dashkov
- Dominic Sherwood as Christian Ozera
- Olga Kurylenko as Headmistress Ellen Kirova
- Sarah Hyland as Natalie Dashkov
- Cameron Monaghan as Mason Ashford
- Sami Gayle as Mia Rinaldi
- Ashley Charles as Jesse Zeklos
- Claire Foy as Sonya Karp
- Joely Richardson as Queen Tatiana Ivashkov
- Dominique Tipper as Guardian Gabriela
- Edward Holcroft as Aaron Drozdov
- Bronté Norman-Terrell as Camilla Conta
- Chris Mason as Ray / Ralf Sarcozy
- Nick Gillard as Kenneth
- Rory Fleck-Byrne as Andre Dragomir
- Alexander Abadzis as Mr. Dragomir
- Elizabeth Conboy as Rhea Dragomir
Filming locations:
Brent Cross Shopping Centre, Hendon, London, England, UK
Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, England, UK
The Charterhouse, Charterhouse Square, London, England, UK
Louise Blouin Foundation, London, England, UK
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
University College London (UCL), Malet Place, Bloomsbury, London, England, UK
