Books at the Box Office: Vampire Academy

We all have a book series that we enjoyed, if not loved, as teens that was absolutely butchered by a movie adaptation. For many, that is Vampire Academy,and oh god, was the movie bad. But, it’s an interesting movie if you liked the series…very interesting.

First, the book.

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

There are SIX books in the series, and a spin-off, and I remember enjoying these books in that post-Twilight phase, along with the Melissa de la Cruz vampire books, The Blue Blood series. Pre-PLL, it was the age-old debate of, Is Dmitri too old for her? And now, I laugh at the debate. And also this insane weird movie.

Let’s talk about the movie:

2014 was a weird time, wasn’t it?

Anyway, in this adaptation, Rose and Lissa are played by Zoey Deutch (Before I Fall) and Lucy Fry (11/22/63 on Hulu) and doesn’t feature a lot of other big names, but Sarah Hyland is in it for a hot second, and Claire Foy.  It has a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes and just frankly isn’t a great adaptation of the series.It doesn’t capture it’s feelings, if I say so myself, but it’s a fascinating take on a vampire movie in an era of vampire movies galore.