Lovers of mythological bloodsuckers will get more than a romantic gift this Valentines’ Day. HYPE writer Hon Liangyi prowls into Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.

First it was Twilight’s Edward Cullen, with his suave and sparkly ways. Then it was the sultry television drama series Vampire Diaries that spawned five seasons and earned 8 Teen Choice Awards nominations in 2013.

Now a half-human, half-vampire (Dhampir) and a mortal vampire (Moroi) are set to please in Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, which will be released in Singapore on Feb 13, a day before Valentines’ Day.

Based on best-selling book series by Richelle Mead, which has sold over 9 million copies, this filmrevolves around the Dhampir vampire, Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch), who is training to protect the Moroi vampire princess, Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry).

Credit: comingsoon.net/films

The best friends ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy but was dragged back by guardian Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky) who began mentoring Rose when he saw that the close bond between the two girls would make Rose the perfect guardian to Lissa. As they struggle with the brutal hierarchy of the Academy, a darker force unfolds beyond the walls – the Strigoi, undead vampires that attack them.

Rose and Lissamay have the entire month of February to entice moviegoers, but other book adaptations will be popping up throughout 2014. There is the hotly anticipated Divergent, the first installment of the trilogy of the same name in March 2014, followed by John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, the bittersweet romance movie in June 2014. To end off 2014 with a spark, Katniss Everdeen kicks off her rebellion in December, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

In short, the blood sisters have a lot of work to do.

Credit: comingsoon.net/films

Thankfully, it has been blessed with what seems like a promising cast, though not necessarily star-studded. There’s Zoey Deutch, fresh from her role as Emily Asher in fellow book adaptation Beautiful Creatures in 2013, while Lucy Fry portrays her first major role on the big screen in this film. Russian actor Danila Kozlovsky, was one of the European talents honoured at Kilkenny’s Subtitle Festival in December 2013 with the Angela Award.

Credit: comingsoon.net/films

With just the right balance of sass, heated romance and high-school drama, director of Mean Girls (2004), Mark Waters, with screenplay by Daniel Waters, may just be able to pull in moviegoers into this great blood-sucking adventure.

 

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters premieres in theatres on 14 February 2014.

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters Trailer:  https://youtu.be/D-_TxtG1CVw

 

 

Release Date: Feb 13, 2014

Runtime: 104 mins

Language: English

Censorship Rating: PG-13 (violence, bloody images, sexual content and language)

Genre: Action, Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

Director: Mark Waters

Main Cast: Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky

 

 

 

Are Vampires Even Real?

Obsessed with the film Queen of the Damned, Allan Menzies created an alter-ego vampire, Vamp, who apparently made a pact with Queen Akasha. With the notion that she wanted him to kill someone in order to become a vampire himself, Allan stabbed his friend 42 times, beat him with a hammer, consumed his blood and ate part of his brain. He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail and declared as a dangerous psychopath.

Author of From Demons to Dracula and archaeologist Matthew Beresford, pointed out that in Ancient Egypt, vampires were brought into the world through sorcery. On the contrary, author of Vampires, Burial and Death, Paul Barber theorized that the deceased who “returned from the dead” could be distinguished from birth. Abnormalities for babies born with teeth or an extra nipple were regarded as bad omens. Hence, these newborns were either killed or viewed with suspicion when they got older.

Whether vampires do exist or not, history has shown that some truly believe in the reality of vampires, while others relied on such cases to come to a conclusion. Though there isn’t a concluded answer and Hollywood continues to play on the plot twist of these creatures, one thing’s for sure: there’s more to unravel and piques at the inquisitive nature of not only scholars and researchers, but ours as well.