Film

Vampire Academy

Name: Vampire Academy
Genre: Comedy, Action, Fantasy
Released: 2014
Cast: Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, Gabriel Byrne, Dominic Sherwood

Other titles called Vampire Academy: the 2022 series (Peacock).

Urban fantasy

A scrappy half-vampire guardian-in-training protects her royal vampire best friend at a posh academy full of supernatural politics and immortal threats. Think *Mean Girls* filtered through a gothic lens, with genuine charm, self-aware humor, and enough action to justify the setup. It knows exactly what it is and commits to the bit.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a snappy, mouthy heroine who trades barbs as freely as punches, and a boarding-school setting where the sarcasm does most of the heavy lifting.

Skip it if you find the wisecracking and the boarding-school clichés wearing thin, since the film leans on familiar teen-drama beats and rarely lets its fantasy world breathe.

What it asks of you: Brisk and busy, it moves through its hundred-odd minutes with little idle room, flipping between schoolyard sniping and sudden bursts of fight choreography.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones2013

Same supernatural academy energy—beautiful people with ancient secrets, found-family bonds, a protagonist protecting someone they love, and a mythology that actually matters. Lily Collins brings real warmth to the chaos.

But The plot twists feel familiar if you know YA tropes, and the film doesn't quite have the budget to make all its magic look stunning.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones poster

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

The spiritual ancestor of everything Vampire Academy is doing. A young woman forced into duty, sarcastic banter as armor, real stakes beneath the comedy, and a genuine found family. Seven seasons of this.

But The first season is uneven, and the show's episodic structure means some weeks are weaker than others. It's a time commitment.

The Magicians2015

Darker magical academy with the same blend of humor and peril, strong friendships at its core, and a willingness to actually hurt the characters you care about. Much sharper dialogue than you'd expect.

But It gets grim quickly—the tone shifts toward genuine darkness by season two, which some find jarring. Not as fun as Vampire Academy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Vampire Academy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Yellowjackets2021

Both stories center on girls protecting each other through an ordeal that should break them. Both use black humor to survive unimaginable situations. Both understand that sometimes your best friend is the only thing keeping you alive.

Plane crash survivors in the wilderness, but also the same survivors twenty-five years later. It asks what happens to girls forced into duty when there's no academy, no rescue, no rules. Gothic, tense, and genuinely unsettling.

But It's far grittier and darker than Vampire Academy, with real violence and trauma. The nonlinear structure demands attention, and season two got divisive with fans.

Reign2013

Royal intrigue with the same soap-opera DNA—gorgeous people in elaborate costumes scheming in corridors while genuine danger circles closer. Mary Queen of Scots hasn't seen this many double-crosses since.

But The historical liberties are *extensive*, and the drama-per-episode ratio will feel camp if you're not in the mood for it.

The Vampire Diaries2009

Same universe, basically—a young woman navigating a world where vampires are real and her friends are in constant danger. The early seasons especially have that mix of genuine affection and melodrama.

But Eight seasons is a lot, and the quality is inconsistent. The show becomes increasingly convoluted as it goes on.

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments2016

Young people with supernatural abilities training to fight evil, terrible jokes delivered with a straight face, and real stakes. It embraces its own absurdity in a way that's oddly endearing.

But The special effects are... budget-conscious, and some of the dialogue will make you wince. It's campy, full stop.

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments poster

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief2010

Orphan discovers he's a demigod, finds his found family, gets thrust into a world of supernatural danger. It's lighter than Vampire Academy and genuinely fun, with a charm the source material earned.

But The film doesn't capture the book's appeal for many fans, and the action sequences feel a bit flat despite decent production values.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief poster

Beautiful Creatures2013

Small-town Southern Gothic with a male lead protecting a girl with dangerous supernatural powers. Gorgeous cinematography, genuine chemistry, and more substance than the trailers suggested.

But It's slow and contemplative, which works for atmosphere but means plot-wise very little happens. The romance is the whole thing.

The Host2013

A girl with exceptional abilities trying to protect those she loves from an otherworldly threat. It's earnest, peculiar, and has a strange charm if you're willing to meet it halfway.

But The premise is genuinely weird, the pacing is uneven, and it failed badly at the box office—there's a reason you haven't heard people raving about it.

Crimson Peak2015

Both feature a heroine whose loyalty to those she loves puts her in constant danger from the people around her. Both have a protagonist who must decide how much she's willing to sacrifice, and neither lets her off easy.

A young woman enters a gothic mansion full of secrets, beautiful people with terrible intentions, and a beauty that masks genuine danger. Guillermo del Toro's visual gift applied to supernatural intrigue and betrayal.

But It's a gothic romance first and a thriller second—if you're looking for plot momentum, you'll be frustrated. The pacing is deliberate, almost dreamlike.

Arcane: League of Legends2021

Both stories understand that the strongest bonds form in crisis. Both feature protagonists whose best love is tested by duty. Both ask: what do you owe your friends, and what happens when the world demands something else?

Two girls on opposite sides of a magical class war, separated by circumstance and choice, driven to protect the people they love at any cost. Stunning animation, real stakes, and a found family that breaks your heart.

But It's adapted from League of Legends, which sounds awful, but that's irrelevant—know only that it's visually unlike anything else, and the source material doesn't matter. Season two's production delays meant a three-year wait, which frustrated people.