Director: Mary Harron
Year: 2011
Country: Canada/USA/Ireland
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Going back to their boarding school for a new semester, a young girl finds that her best friend has fallen under the spell of a seductive newcomer and begins acting strangely under her spell while a rash of murders on campus point out the vampiric truth behind the new student.
Review:
This was a pretty disappointing and eventually not that worthwhile vampire effort that has very little going for it. The main factor going against it is the whole drama approach in both tone and content as the film's so slow to get anything going it's barely able to showcase anything because it's got the wrong pace to do that with. The initial idea of the mysterious student going around trying to worm her way through the group at the college while the one begins investigating what’s going on with the strange newcomer offers a fine starting point to things but is so undone by a dearth of action here reliant more on trying to figure out why her friends are acting strange than doing anything about it. The contemplative atmosphere and sense of reflection are taken up with the kind of generally lifeless scenes involving her friends acting weird so they don’t notice the obvious or going to class which doesn’t do much either.
That also highlights the other issue here in the fact that when it does go for the horror elements it’s usually quite muted and uninvolved. While the romance and seduction of the student are nice, it's got the wrong victim as the lead is more damaged than the friend and is therefore more susceptible to charms and advances. This is an awkward setup as it is so the storyline to present these elements is based on the concept that what’s going on is scary or threatening with her interactions along the way seeing her interact with them at their slumber party or the gradual health declines of each of the friend group. However, it doesn't show anything despite being set at an all-girl boarding school as the romance takes place off-camera or behind closed doors. The rash of murders is never seen committed or raised anything for the students, and the whole subplot comes off as sloppy. These manage to provide the big issues here that hold it back.
It does have a few good moments. The main element to like here is the fact that this is one of the cleverest ways to play out a book adaptation without hitting it on the head saying that doing so is pretty clever. Offering up the conceit that the book openly exists and goes through a loose recreation of the very plot within the book she’s studying in her classes, this manages to effectively feature the same series of storyline beats while not being a true remake as well as setting up the necessary doubt of everything by saying she’s being delusional. It’s a fairly intriguing way of going about things as the group is slowly whittled down in mysterious circumstances around campus furthering this plotline rather well, and as there's some great imagery in the finale before their final battle including a bloodbath in a library and the nighttime confrontation in the courtyard. Overall, though, this one is just not that worthwhile.
Overview: **/5
Unique but ultimately not that worthwhile a lesbian vampire adaptation, it’s got some pretty big issues holding it back that overwhelm and overshadow the few solid positives featured. Those who don’t mind the flaws with this one or are curious about it should give it a shot while most others out there turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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