Story
Vampire Academy is a romantic comedy based on a series of novels. Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry) is a mortal vampire princess who lives in constant fear of the Strigoi, dangerous and fierce vampires who want to kill as many Moroi people as they can. Lissa’s best friend, Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch), is one of the Dhampir, a very powerful mix of vampire and human who guard the Moroi.After being on the run for two years living secretly among humans, Rose and Lissa are finally tracked down and sent to St Vladimir’s Academy. Here Rose trains and hones her fighting skills under the guidance of her Russian mentor Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky). Rose wants to graduate formally as a guardian and become Lissa’s protector. Lissa learns why she must assume her rightful place among the royalty of her species, gradually coming to understand the unbreakable bond she shares with the magic of the earth.Rose can’t shake off her anxiety about the imminent darkness that looms over St Vladimir’s. She fears that the Strigoi will attack at any moment and take away the people she loves. Together, Rose and Lissa try to survive in this dangerous world and prepare themselves for an impending fight that threatens everything they know and love.
Themes
Good versus evil; the supernatural; personal growth
Violence
Vampire Academy has quite a lot of violence. For example:
Sexual references
Vampire Academy has some sexual references. For example:
- The female characters often wear tight-fitting, low-cut, revealing and sexually suggestive clothes.
- Characters often talk about sex and losing their virginity.
- Rose tells three teenage boys to stop talking about her bottom. The boys reply that they’ll talk about her breasts instead.
- Rose and Lissa discuss how it would be much nicer to dream about ‘hot naked guys on unicorns’ than to have nightmares.
- Rose discusses having a crush on her mentor Dimitri, calling him ‘sexy’.
- Rose and Dimitri flirt quite a lot. Dimitri tackles Rose to the ground at one point and suggestively asks whether she has ‘any other moves to show’ him.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Vampire Academy shows some use of substances. For example:
- A woman is stabbed in the buttocks with a hypodermic needle containing a sedative substance. She immediately collapses into a chair.
- Vampires drink blood from wine glasses at various points.
Nudity and sexual activity
Vampire Academy has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, Rose and Dimitri kiss passionately. She takes off his shirt (we see his bare chest and abdomen), while he removes her dress (she is in a bra and underwear). They keep kissing while lying down on a bed. They don’t have sex in the end.
Product placement
There is no product of placement of concern in Vampire Academy.
Coarse language
There is some coarse language in Vampire Academy.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Vampire Academy is a romantic movie with fantasy and supernatural themes.
The movie highlights true friendship, protection and loyalty, as well as the importance of forgiving misguided people who mean well. The movie also emphasises issues relevant to teenagers, such as sexuality and romance. It shows that these issues can be complex and looks at the often multifaceted nature of peoples’ motivations and relationships.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- being kind and compassionate to other people
- letting go of the past and forgiving people for mistakes
- recognising the cultural and spiritual dimensions of existence.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as:
- mental illness, depression and self-harm – the movie explores these issues and their consequences
- sexual relationships, virginity and the difficulties that can be caused by age differences in relationships.