<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Mark Waters. Starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, Gabriel Byrne, Sarah Hyland, Joely Richardson, Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle, Claire Foy, Olga Kurylenko

It’s actually quite fun in a campy, trashy sort of way.

Expectations

Zilch. I read it was a mashup between Harry Potter and Twilight. Vampires going to school. With all these new ‘young adult’ films – many based on books including this one – trying so hard to get 5 sequels to their name we’re all kinda used to crap. Surprisingly, Vampire Academy is a cheesy, fun stab at the teenage vampire genre.

Bite me

Rose Hathaway played by Zoey Deutch is the human protector for Moroi Princess Lissa Dragomir (if you haven’t guessed from her surname that she’s a vampire, you’re obviously not going to like the film at all). The two ran away from their school for vampires for some mysterious reason but are soon recaptured by the Royal Guard and brought back.

Rose has to continue her training under the watchful and beefed up presence of Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky) and Lissa must decide on whether to be all goody goody or turn into the college bitch and overthrow the reigning Miss Popularity. But they must also fend off the more evil vampires called the Strogoi and a shadowy plot to end Lissa’s life or rather, take it.

There’s also an undercurrent of teen sexuality running through the film with Rose letting Lissa ‘bite’ her to satiate her thirst and then the girls get busy with the boys at school. Much more fun than the boring Bella ‘chastity belt’ Swan and dull Edward Cullen from the Twilight Saga.

Minority Verdict

The film doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s lots of teenage bickering, bitch fighting and angst in between the actual plot. Zoey Deutch is exceedingly fun and likeable with several witty lines pulled off with aplomb. It’s like a B-movie that’s fun to watch because you know they know it’s a sort of satire or parody. There’s even a Twilight reference in there.