Vampire Academy is yet another case of an intriguing plot receiving the poorest of treatments.

Teen franchises continue to battle it out for top-spot. First up this year is Vampire Academy… and yes it can not be a fantasy franchise without references to Harry Potter (there are literally elements that are taken straight out of Chamber Of Secrets) as the film uses such clever ploys of blood written messages. It also does not help that the whole setting of the film feels like a cheap rip-off of Harry Potter.

Umm, Why am i reliving a scene in Harry Potter?

There’s also some cheesy Twilight mentions along the way, which unfortunately make the film a try-hard as it tries to separate itself from comparisons of the sparkling-vampire series.

Enough cross-references, Vampire Academy in itself revolves around two girls who end up sharing a literal bond via blood (hence the working title Blood Sisters) who have escaped a mystery institute, not for long though as the academy comes back to bite. Vampire Academy really doesn’t know what it wants to be, with the story being particularly disjointed and confusing to follow. Even the very existence of the academy is unclear, along with the characters being poorly introduced making audiences feel no connection whatsoever to the characters.

Story-wise, the film had the usual teen fantasy flare, except the shadow storyline which had me intrigued. But even with that, the whole execution was distracting and instead focused on the same stories were used to seeing. I wanted to know more about the mentioned shadow-kiss, of crossing to the other side and coming back which would of gave the film some much-needed uniqueness.

One of the biggest downfalls of this film though, is the casting. The characters don’t match with there counterparts, especially Lucy Fry (Lissa Dragomir) who at times becomes quite painful to watch with her over-the-top acting. The films saviour is Zoey Deutch (Rose Hathaway) as she pulls off the badass rebellion quite well. The rest of the cast seem like beginners, and relatively unfamiliar faces that need to take up some acting classes in order to polish what they’ve got.

Zoey Deutch is the films saviour as Rose Hathaway.

Also what is with all the confusing accents? It became quite difficult establishing what on earth some of the characters were doing at the academy, especially the unclearness of who and where people came from to attend such an academy.

This film had potential and it kicked itself in the gut with its cheap attempt of trying to be witty and different to others of the genre. It again falls under the corny pure teen-girl fantasy film (and this is coming from a guy that can watch pretty much anything). Maybe a reboot could possibly save this disaster, or a possible revamp if a sequel goes ahead.

Overall Rating:

5.5/10





Watch the trailer for the film below:





[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ5_CLXo93A?feature=player_detailpage]