Filmed in the castles of England, the soon-to-open movie “Vampire Academy” is not the typical vampire love story.

The movie is based on the popular book series of the same name by Richelle Mead.  Mead has been writing the “Vampire Academy” series since the turn of the century. The sixth and final book, “Last Sacrifice,” was released in 2010.

The story is based in St. Vladimir’s Academy. Lissa is a vampire princess who comes from a divine bloodline. While trying to run away from her past, Lissa and her bodyguard Rose escape the sacred academy. In this society, there are three major vampire species – the Moroi, the Strigoi, and the Dhampir. Lissa is the Moroi princess. Rose is a member of the Dhampir race, who guards the Moroi from the Strigoi. Rose was assigned to guard royal Lissa, but she quickly got both of them in a lot of trouble.

The movie starts with Lissa and Rose just waking up. Lissa is the cautious one of the duo, while Rose is reckless. Since Lissa is obviously a vampire, she needs to feed. It is very frowned upon to feed on one’s guard, but Rose sacrifices herself as a meal to her best friend. Right after Lissa takes her teeth out of Rose’s shoulder, Rose notices someone watching them. The girls immediately leave the house and hide behind a car. The Strigoi spot the vulnerable girls and swiftly charge. Rose protects the princess, and both escape unharmed. When the girls attend the academy once again, they become the laughing stock of St. Vlad’s.

Lucy Fry was the lead actress throughout the movie. She portrayed Princess Lissa and did a very good job. Her emotion was consistent, and in interviews Fry admitted, “I sent videos of myself in to the company all the time. I loved Lissa, and really wanted this part, even if it meant bothering the producers!” Zoey Deutch played Rose Hathaway, the shameless protector. Many fans have stated Deutch was the image they envisioned while reading the series. She appeared to have fun with the part, but took it seriously as well. There was a headmistress of St. Vlad’s – but the actress seemed very bored. Olga Kurylenko did not express any energy throughout the movie. Granted, her character was not an outgoing person, but she did not give the part any pep at all.

This movie was very relatable, minus the vampire setting. There was the shy girl, the reckless girl, and the forbidden love affair. While it falls into the same category of films, “Vampire Academy” is different from “Twilight,” because the whole movie focuses on just vampires – no werewolves, no human-vampire love, just teenage vampires. All things considered, “Vampire Academy” is a better film “Twilight.”

Since this is an acclaimed book series, multiple movies are in the planning stage. As the first offering of the series “Vampire Academy” will be officially released to the public on Feb. 14, 2014.