Vampire Academy is a 2014 American fantasy comedy horror film directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay by Daniel Waters, based on the first book of the novel series of the same name by Richelle Mead. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Zoey Deutch as Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir, and Lucy Fry as Lissa Dragomir, her Moroi best friend, and follows their return to the St Vladimir's Academy boarding school, after being on the run for one year.
Preger Entertainment announced the film's development in 2010, with Don Murphy as producer. In 2012, the Waters brothers joined the project with Mark serving as director and Daniel as screenwriter. Casting began in February 2013 with Deutch, Fry, and Danila Kozlovsky announced to play their respective roles. Principal photography took place at Pinewood Studios in England between May and July 2013.
The Weinstein Company released Vampire Academy theatrically in the United States on February 7, 2014. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $15.4 million worldwide against a $30 million budget, making it a box-office bomb. Due to the film's poor box-office performance, its theatrical release in the United Kingdom was postponed and the film was later released as a direct-to-video on July 14, 2014 by Entertainment One.
Following the film's failure, Preger Entertainment launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the production for a sequel based on the second novel, Frostbite, with Piers Ashworth hired to write a script. However, the campaign failed to reach its goal. A reboot television series premiered in 2022 on Peacock and ran for one season.
Plot
Rose Hathaway, a seventeen-year-old Dhampir guardian-in-training, and her best friend, Moroi Princess Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, are living discreetly, having escaped from the St. Vladimir's Academy boarding school one year prior. Dhampirs are vampire-human hybrids trained to protect the Moroi, mortal vampires with a normal lifespan and death who tend to have magical powers and belong to royal bloodlines.
The girls are found and forced to return to St. Vladimir's Academy where they encounter the Strigoi, the undead vampires of legend, which Moroi become if they completely drain their victims of blood, or are turned. Lissa is ostracised by her peers as Rose starts to form an attraction to her Russian Dhampir mentor and fellow Guardian, Dimitri Belikov.
Mysterious messages threatening Lissa start to appear, written in blood on her wall and an exploding memorial to her family in the school church. They suspect that it is the work of classmate Mia Rinaldi, who had dated Lissa's now-deceased, non-monogamous brother Andre and now directs her hatred towards Lissa as the only surviving member of the Dragomir line.
Manipulating two other students using sex, she persuades them to help her spread rumors about Rose. Moroi Christian Ozera, viewed poorly by his peers as both his parents became Strigoi, tries to romance Lissa but Rose blocks him by lying to them both. Christian and Lissa begin to bond regardless.
Later, Rose investigates the disappearance of Sonya Karp, a teacher who helped her and Lissa escape, and finds video footage of Karp mentally unstable from using Spirit Magic. She also discovers that Lissa has the same rare power that the founder of their school St. Vladimir had, that of Spirit, a power which enables the caster to heal ailments, and saves the dying; however, using Spirit also drains the user's life energy gradually with each use.
Rose demands headmistress Ellen Kirova show her classified information on Karp, who reveals that Karp became Strigoi and escaped before disappearing. At the same time, dead animals begin to appear wherever Lissa goes. At the Equinox Dance, Rose discovers Mia is not responsible for all the dead animals. Soon, Lissa is kidnapped and Rose, Dimitri, and Christian rush to save her.
The Moroi responsible for the kidnapping and the threats against Lissa is Victor Dashkov, a previous candidate for the throne, who suffers from the chronic disease Sandovsky's Syndrome. He plans to use Lissa to cure himself, although the cure would eventually cost Lissa's life. Once captured and placed in the secure cells beneath the school, Victor explains to Rose that she bonded to Lissa is because she was "shadow-kissed", having been brought back to life by Lissa's magic.
While they are talking, Victor's daughter Natalie, who befriended both Lissa and Rose and was a very insecure student there, is enacting the tools of his escape. She'd turned Strigoi by draining her crush to death. Dimitri comes and kills Natalie and detains Victor.