''Vampire Academy'' is a 2014

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

comedy horror film Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

based on the first book of the novels series of the same name by

Richelle Mead Richelle Mead (born November 12, 1976) is an American fantasy author. She is known for the ''Georgina Kincaid'' series, ''Vampire Academy'', ''Bloodlines'' and the '' Dark Swan'' series. Education and career Richelle Mead was born in Michigan, an ...

. It was directed by

Mark Waters Mark Stephen Waters (born June 30, 1964) is an American filmmaker who directed the comedy films ''Freaky Friday'', ''Mean Girls'', ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'', '' Mr. Popper's Penguins'', and ''Vampire Academy''. Filmography Film Producer ...

, with a script written by Daniel Waters. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

led by

Zoey Deutch Zoey Francis Chaya Thompson Deutch ( ; born November 10, 1994) is an American actress. She is daughter of director Howard Deutch and actress-director Lea Thompson. She gained recognition for her roles in the film '' Everybody Wants Some!!'', the ...

as Rose Hathaway, a

Dhampir In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...

, and

Lucy Fry Lucy Elizabeth Fry (born 13 March 1992) is an Australian actress. She is known for portraying Zoey in ''Lightning Point'', Lyla in '' Mako: Island of Secrets'', and Lissa Dragomir in the film ''Vampire Academy''. Fry was also cast in Hulu's eig ...

as Lissa Dragomir, her

Moroi A moroi (sometimes moroii in modern fiction; pl. ''moroi'') is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică (pl. ''moroaice''). In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grave ...

best friend, and follows their return to the St Vladimir's Academy boarding school, after being on the run for one year. Preger Entertainment announced the film's development in 2010, with

Don Murphy Don Murphy (born April 1967) is an American film producer who produced ''Natural Born Killers'', ''Real Steel'', '' Splice'' and many other films, including ''Transformers'' and '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''. Personal background B ...

as producer. In 2012, the Waters brothers joined the project with Mark serving as director and Daniel as screenwriter. Casting began in February 2013 with Deutch, Fry, and

Danila Kozlovsky Danila Valeryevich Kozlovsky (russian: link=no, Данила Валерьевич Козловский; born 3 May 1985) is a Russian actor and director. Biography Early life and career Danila Kozlovsky was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet ...

announced to play their respective roles.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

took place at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

in England between May and July 2013. ''Vampire Academy'' was released theatrically in the United States on February 7, 2014 by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America prior ...

. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the plot, screenplay and tone and regarded it as inferior to the source material. It was a commercial failure, grossing only $15.4 million worldwide against a $30 million budget, making it a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

. Due to the film's poor box-office performance, its theatrical release in the United Kingdom was postponed and the film was later released as a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on July 14, 2014 by

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

. Following the film's failure, Preger Entertainment launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the production for a sequel based on the second novel, ''

Frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...

'', with Piers Ashworth hired to write a script. However, the campaign failed to reach its goal. A reboot television series premiered in 2022 on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

Plot

Rose Hathaway, a seventeen-year-old

guardian-in-training, and her best friend, Moroi Princess Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, are living discreetly, having escaped from the St. Vladimir's Academy boarding school one year prior. Dhampirs are vampire-human hybrids who are trained to protect the Moroi, mortal vampires with a normal lifespan and death who tend to have magical powers and belong to royal bloodlines. They are soon found and forced to return to St. Vladimir's Academy where they encounter the Strigoi, the undead vampires of legend, which Moroi become if they completely drain their victims of blood, or are turned. Lissa is ostracised by her peers as Rose starts to form an attraction to her Russian Dhampir mentor and fellow Guardian, Dimitri Belikov. Mysterious messages threatening Lissa start to appear, written on the wall in blood and an exploding memorial to her family in the school church. They suspect that it is the work of classmate Mia Rinaldi, who once dated Lissa's now-deceased brother Andre that engaged in non-committal relationships and focused her hatred towards Lissa as the only surviving member of the Dragomir line. Manipulating two other students using sex, she persuaded them to help her spread rumors about Rose. A Moroi named Christian Ozera, who is viewed poorly by his peers because his parents became Strigoi, tries to romance Lissa but Rose manages to keep him away by lying to both Lissa and Christian. Christian and Lissa begin to bond, but Rose tries to sabotage their relationship. Later, Rose investigate the disappearance of Sonya Karp, a teacher who helped her and Lissa escape, and finds video footage of Karp mentally unstable from using Spirit Magic. She also discovers that Lissa has the same rare power that the founder of their school St. Vladimir had, that of Spirit, a power which enables the caster to heal ailments, and saves the dying; however, using Spirit drains the user's life energy gradually with each use. Rose demands Ellen Kirova, the headmistress, to show her classified information on Karp and reveals that Karp became Strigoi and escaped before her disappearance. At the same time, dead animals begin to appear wherever Lissa goes. At the Equinox Dance, Rose discovers Mia is not responsible for all the dead animals. Soon, Lissa is kidnapped and Rose, Dimitri, and Christian rush to save her. The Moroi responsible for Lissa's kidnapping and the threats against her is Victor Dashkov, a previous candidate for the throne, who has contracted Sandovsky's Syndrome, a chronic disease. He wants to use Lissa to cure himself, knowing that the cure would cost Lissa's life as continued healing would eventually take its toll on her. Once captured and placed in the secure cells beneath the school, Victor explains to Rose that the reason she bonded to Lissa is that she was "shadow-kissed", having been brought back to life by Lissa's magic. While they are talking, Victor's daughter Natalie, who befriended both Lissa and Rose and was a very insecure student at the school, is enacting the tools of his escape having turned Strigoi by draining her crush to death. Dimitri comes and kills Natalie and detains Victor. During a speech by vampire Queen Tatiana Ivashkov, Lissa steps in and gives a speech of her own, announcing that Spirit is her type of magic, and that it is thanks to Rose that she can master it. Rose then goes outside to meet Dimitri and ask about his feelings for her. He states that he can't love her because if there was any danger between Rose and Lissa, he would save her instead of Lissa. Rose gives Dimitri a kiss on the cheek and walks back to the academy. In a mountain cave close to the academy, Karp leads a horde of Strigoi.

Cast

as Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, a seventeen-year-old

, Lissa's best friend, and a novice Guardian ** Macey Chipping as young Rose *

as Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, an eighteen-year-old

princess *

as Dimitri Belikov, a Russian Dhampir, and Rose's love interest *

Dominic Sherwood Dominic Anthony Sherwood (born 6 February 1990) is an English actor and model, best known for his roles as Christian Ozera in the teen vampire film ''Vampire Academy'' (2014), Jace Wayland on the Freeform fantasy series ''Shadowhunters'' (2016- ...

as Christian Ozera, a social outcast Moroi due to his parents willingly becoming

Strigoi Strigoi in Romanian mythology are troubled spirits that are said to have risen from the grave. They are attributed with the abilities to transform into an animal, become invisible, and to gain vitality from the blood of their victims. Bram Stoke ...

, and Lissa's love interest *

Cameron Monaghan Cameron Riley Monaghan (born ) is an American actor and model. He is known for his role as Ian Gallagher on the Showtime comedy-drama series '' Shameless'' and as twins Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska, who serve as origins for the Joker, on th ...

as Mason Ashford, a Dhampir who is one of Rose's close friends, and also a novice Guardian like her *

Sami Gayle Sami Gayle is an American actress. She co-stars as Nicky Reagan in the CBS series '' Blue Bloods''. Early life Gayle was born and raised in Weston, Florida.Mia Rinaldi, a non-royal Moroi whose element is water *

Sarah Hyland Sarah Jane Hyland (born November 24, 1990) is an American actress and singer. Born in Manhattan, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School before having small roles in the films '' Private Parts'' (1997), '' Annie'' (1999) and ''Blin ...

as Natalie Dashkov, a very awkward royal Moroi, and a good friend of Lissa and Rose *

Claire Foy Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series ''The Crown'' (2016–2017) for which she won a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

as Sonya Karp, a Moroi teacher who turned herself into a Strigoi * Ashley Charles as Jesse Zeklos, a royal Moroi who specializes in fire *

Edward Holcroft Edward Patrick Holcroft (born 23 June 1987) is an English film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles in the ''Kingsman (franchise), Kingsman'' film franchise and in the television series ''Wolf Hall (miniseries), Wolf Hall'' ...

as Aaron Drozdov, Lissa's ex-boyfriend who started dating Mia * Chris Mason as Ray Sarcozy, a Moroi specializes in fire and Jesse's friend * Ben Peel as Spiridon, one of Victor's guardians *

Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003–10) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2010). She has also appeared ...

as Queen Tatiana Ivashkov, the ruler of the Moroi and Dhampirs *

Olga Kurylenko Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko ( uk, Ольга Костянтинівна Куриленко; born 14 November 1979) is a Ukrainian and French actress and model. She started her acting career in 2005, and first found success as an actress for ...

as Ellen Kirova, the headmistress at St. Vladimir's Academy *

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...

as Victor Dashkov, a royal Moroi, Natalie's father and a close friend of Lissa's father Additionally,

Dominique Tipper Dominique Jade Tipper (born 24 June 1988) is a British actress, dancer and singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence in her role as Naomi Nagata, the engineer in the SyFy/ Amazon Prime Video science fiction television series '' The Expanse''. ...

appears as Gabriela, a Dhampir Guardian, while

Nick Gillard Nick Gillard is an English stuntman and stunt coordinator. He is best known as the lead lightsaber fight and stunt coordinator of the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy films (1999–2005). Biography Gillard was born in Brighton, England. At the ...

portrays Kenneth, a Moroi who works for Victor. Bronté Norman-Terrell appears as Camilla Conta, and Harry Bradshaw as Bruno, two students at St. Vladimir's Academy. Ramon Tikaram portrays Mr. Meisner, a teacher at the academy. Lissa's family is portrayed by

Rory Fleck-Byrne Rory Fleck Byrne (born 1988) is an Irish actor and composer, known for ''Vampire Academy'', ''Harlots'', '' The Foreigner'' and '' This Is Going to Hurt''. Early life Rory Fleck Byrne was born in England but moved to Ireland when he was nine y ...

as Andre, Alexander Abadzis as Eric, and Elizabeth Conboy as Rhea Dragomir

makes a non-speaking

cameo appearances A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as a teacher, passing by Rose and Lissa.

Production

Development

In June 2010, Preger Entertainment optioned the film rights to the ''Vampire Academy'' series. On July 6, 2010, they announced that producer

had joined them to help bring the series to the big screen. On December 17, 2012, it was announced that Daniel Waters was writing the script and subsequently, it was announced that his brother,

, would direct.

Casting

Casting for the film was undertaken by

Marci Liroff Marci Liroff (born February 3, 1958) is a casting director, intimacy coordinator and acting coach based in Los Angeles, California, known for her work in film and television. Early career After attending the University of Denver, Liroff began ...

and Reg Poerscout-Edgerton. On February 1, 2013, it was announced that

, Australian actress

, and Russian actor

were cast as Rose Hathaway, Lissa Dragomir, and Dimitri Belikov, respectively. On April 29, 2013, it was announced that

had been cast as Headmistress Ellen Kirova. On May 10, additional cast members were announced to be

Sami Gayle Sami Gayle is an American actress. She co-stars as Nicky Reagan in the CBS series '' Blue Bloods''. Early life Gayle was born and raised in Weston, Florida.Claire Foy Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series ''The Crown'' (2016–2017) for which she won a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

, and Ashley Charles for the roles of Mason Ashford, Mia Rinaldi, Sonya Karp and Jesse Zeklos respectively. On May 18, it was announced that

would play Victor Dashkov, Lissa's uncle, while

would play Natalie Dashkov, Victor's daughter and fellow student at the academy.

played Queen Tatiana Ivashkov, leader of the Moroi Vampires and

played Christian Ozera, Lissa's love interest. Two days later, the producers posted a behind the scenes photograph revealing the names of a few more cast members.

Pre-production

The title was initially changed from ''Vampire Academy'' to ''Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters''. This was the name of the first book in many foreign languages and a different name for each film was wanted. The title was later changed back to simply ''Vampire Academy''. The project was officially greenlit on April 1, 2013. The producers announced on their official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page that principal photography would take place in the United Kingdom with additional photography planned in and around

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, and that director Mark Waters had started pre-production work in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The Academy exterior shots were filmed at Chaterhouse School in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Director Mark Waters said that "as soon as I saw that courtyard I had that exhilarating feeling of everything locking into place. This school was not just my mental image of St. Vladimir's...it was better." The school allowed the production to shoot at the location during the school holidays. Waters believed the location really defined the look of the film. To prepare for their roles as Dhampir novices and guardians, Deutch, Monaghan and Kozlovsky underwent rigorous training sessions and workouts.

Filming

commenced on May 28, 2013, in London, at

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. Filming officially ended on July 20.

Soundtrack

On January 14, 2014, the track listing of the official soundtrack was unveiled. The album itself was released on February 4, 2014, including tracks by artists such as

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

Iggy Azalea Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea (), is an Australian rapper. At the age of 16, Azalea moved from Australia to the United States in order to pursue a career in music. Azalea earned public recognitio ...

Sky Ferreira Sky Tonia Ferreira (born July 8, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, model, and actress. As a teenager, Ferreira began uploading videos on Myspace of herself singing songs she had written, which led to her discovery by producers Bloodsh ...

Natalia Kills Natalia Noemi "Teddy" Sinclair (née Cappuccini; born 15 August 1986), is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She has recorded music under various aliases, most famously as Natalia Kills and Verbalicious. She is currently the lead vocali ...

, and

Au Revoir Simone Au Revoir Simone is an American indie pop band from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The group is composed of Erika Forster (vocals/keyboard), Annie Hart (vocals/keyboard/bass) and Heather D'Angelo (vocals/drum machine/keyboard ...

. It also contains

Chvrches Chvrches (stylised CHVRCHΞS and pronounced "Churches") are a Scottish pop band from Glasgow, formed in September 2011. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and, unofficially since 2018, Jonny Scott. Mostly deriving f ...

' cover of

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

' 1979 song "

Bela Lugosi's Dead "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is a song by the English post-punk band Bauhaus. It was the band's first single, released on 6 August 1979 by record label Small Wonder. It is often considered the first gothic rock record. History "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was ...

", featured during the film's end credits.

Distribution

, the North American distributors for the film, held a competition where the winner would be able to visit the set in

and meet the cast. The official motion poster was also revealed on July 22, 2013 by

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

. On August 13, three official stills were released by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' and later in the day The Weinstein Company released a sneak peek of the teaser trailer. On August 14, The Weinstein Company released the full official teaser trailer on Yahoo! Movies. On September 12, The Weinstein Company started releasing stills and character profile photos on the film's Twitter account. Sherwood, Gayle, Fry and Deutch attended the

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

for the movie, where a new sizzle reel was previewed by those in attendance. On November 21, the official theatrical trailer was released by Yahoo! Movies. The film was originally set to be released on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

, but was moved up a week to February 7, 2014, in the United States. The UK had been set for a February 19 release by the film's British distributor

, but was pushed back to April 24. However, due to the film's poor box office incomes and critical response, the film was again postponed. The film was released

straight-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on July 14.

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

on May 20, 2014, in the United States, on July 3, 2014, in Australia, and on July 14, 2014, in the United Kingdom. Special features include an alternate opening, deleted scenes and a conversation with the author of the ''

Vampire Academy ''Vampire Academy'' is a series of six young adult paranormal romance novels by American author Richelle Mead. It tells the story of Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, a dhampir girl, who is training to be a guardian of her moroi best friend, Vasilisa " ...

'' book series,

Reception

Box office

The film underperformed and made $3,921,742 in its opening weekend, ranking number 7 in the US box office. The film later opened in a further 12 countries, but did not pass the $1 million mark, grossing just $619,381. As of February 16, 2014, the film had grossed $6,663,650, with many suggesting that poor box office returns will effectively end any plans for a sequel. After a month of theatrical release in the US, ''Vampire Academy'' grossed just $7,742,311 at the box office. The film was expected to be a big hit in both Australia and Russia, but only made $1.6 million in each country. As of April 10, 2014, the film had earned $7,791,979 domestically and $7,600,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $15,391,979, therefore failing to recoup its $30 million budget making the film a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

. Poor international box office takings led to the cancelation of the film's theatrical release in Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Critical reception

''Vampire Academy'' was not screened for critics, and received overwhelmingly negative reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 17% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The consensus site's states: "Though it may appeal to its built-in fanbase, ''Vampire Academy''s ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...

''-meets-''

Mean Girls ''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried (in her film debut), Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler and Fe ...

'' conceit borrows lazily from its predecessors and offers few laughs or thrills to complement its overstuffed backstory." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 30 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews" from critics. Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F. The film was mostly criticized for its script, action sequences, and CGI effects.

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' gave the film zero stars out of four and wrote, "One idea, mixed with lame jokes, and stretched beyond coherence. ''Vampire Academy'' doesn't need a review. It needs a stake in the heart." Dennis Harvey from ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' also gave the movie a negative review, stating it "Not only plays like the crassest possible mashup of ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' and ''Twilight'' elements, but seems designed to make those franchises look like eternal monuments of world culture by comparison."

Manohla Dargis Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Career Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said "

r. Waters R. or r. may refer to: * ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen * or , abbreviat ...

doesn't seem especially interested in the supernatural parts of ''Vampire Academy'', and he clearly didn't have the budget to make what little hocus pocus there is, magical." The performances received a mixed response, with Harvey and RogerEbert.com's Susan Wloszczyna negatively comparing Deutch's performance to that of

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...

as the titular character in ''

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

'', while

Jordan Hoffman Jordan Hoffman is an American freelance film critic and former actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his work with ''New York Daily News'', ''The Guardian'', Film.com, ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'', ''ScreenCrush'', and ...

of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' called her work the film's "breakout" performance while positively comparing her to Page. However, Hoffman criticized Byrne's performance as "obligatory slumming". Harvey described Kozlovsky's acting as "so expressionless that he can in all honesty now say that he never acted in anything called ''Vampire Academy''", while also criticizing Byrne, Richardson, and Kurylenko; Travers also panned the latter three, saying they were "bringing shame on all their reputations". Dargis praised Waters for providing "a conspicuous sympathetic touch" to the performances of Deutch, Fry, Hyland, and Sherwood.

Accolades

The film garnered nominations at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie: Comedy and Choice Movie Actress: Comedy for Deutch, but lost both awards to '' The Other Woman'' and

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991 Additional on October 9, 2016) is an American actress. Known for her work in film and television projects of the horror film, horror and thriller (genre), thriller genres, she has received List of awar ...

for ''

We're the Millers ''We're the Millers'' is a 2013 American crime comedy film directed by Rawson M. Thurber and starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, and Ed Helms. The film's screenplay w ...

'', respectively.

Canceled sequel and reboot

Following the movie financial failure, no adaptation of the second novel, ''

'', was announced. On August 4, 2014, Preger Entertainment announced on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

website that they had found investors for a sequel. However to convince them that there's enough demand, they launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to help fund the rest of the production cost. The campaign was launched on August 6, 2014 and Piers Ashworth was hired to write a script. The campaign failed to reach its goal, resulting in the project cancellation. On May 19, 2021, it was announced that

had given a series order for a ''Vampire Academy'' reboot television series by

Julie Plec Julie Plec (born May 26, 1972) is an American television producer, writer and director, known for her work on The CW television series ''The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017) which she co-created with Kevin Williamson, and its spin-offs '' The Or ...

References

External links

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