Synopsis: Mother and daughter vampires Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) take refuge in a seaside town but in meeting a boy, Eleanor becomes disillusioned with living a life of lies.
Stan's thoughts: It's frustrating Twilight seems to have become the benchmark from which all vampire films are judged. Byzantium is supposed to be scarier and for grown ups. It's all hokum because it isn't so much scarier as more gothic, grungy and melancholic than Twilight. Yes some nasty stuff happens that wouldn't have happened in Twilight but they are very different beasts.
And, as film critic Mark Kermode says you can like both. And I do. Byzantium feels a little more dangerous helped by the less glamourous portrayal of vampirism - there are no super powers for a start. Eleanor and Clara struggle to make ends meet never able to set down any roots and loneliness is a central theme.
It oozes atmosphere from the grimy, down-at-heel, sea-front where faded fair-ground rides form a back drop for where prostitutes are worked by their pimps to the desolate island and fountains of blood that form the creation sequences.
Great cast too with the likes of Tom Hollander, Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller joining Arterton and Ronan, I really enjoyed this and it made for a refreshing take on the genre.
Ratings
- Stan's 72%
- IMDB 69%
- Metascore 62%
- Rotten Tomatoes 59%
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