There are three reasons I wanted to see this movie. The first, is director Mary Harron who did the excellent "American Psycho" a decade ago, but has yet to really follow up on it. The second is I enjoy ANY adaptation of the Sheridan LeFanu tale "Carmilla", a story which preceded Bram Stoker's more famous "Dracula" and one that introduced the lesbian vampire trope. This 19th century story has served as inspiration for the British Hammer Studio's "Carnstein" trilogy, the Belgian classic "Daughters of Darkness", the lesser but still worthy Spanish film "The Blood Spattered Bride" and and even Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dryer's early sound classic "Vampyr". The third reason, is that I am always a sucker for any movie set in a girls' boarding school. Before you label me a pervert, however, let me stress that the actresses playing "girls" in these movies are usually in their twenties and far, far sexier than ANY actual schoolgirls.
The movie does resemble "American Psycho" in that it's left very ambiguous whether what is happening--the protagonist (Sarah Bolger) suspects a new arrival to the school (Lily Cole) of being a vampire when tragic events befall her friends--is really happening or is all in the troubled protagonist's head (and perhaps the real cause is more mundane adolescent problems like anorexia nervosa). The protagonist's fertile imagination is sparked by the LeFanu "Carmilla" story, which she is (rather implausibly) reading in her English class, and she is also haunted by the recent death of her father. The morbid eroticism and repressed desires of the classic story do fit in well with what is actually going on in the school (as do the intimations of lesbianism and lesbian jealousy).
Sara Bolger is pretty if also pretty young (she was a little girl in "In America" only a few years ago), but the real problem is she is not quite a strong enough actress to pull off such a complex character (she's certainly no Christian Bale). But she gives it her best try. British actress Lily Cole has the right look (creepy), but she too is a pretty inexperienced. Sara Gaddon, a somewhat older actress, has all of the more erotic scenes, but her character is rather underdeveloped. The movie is definitely too erotic and violent for kids--or perhaps even your more impressionable teens (although it's hardly a lesbian sex romp either). The biggest problem though is the short length, which I think indicates that Harron's vision was perhaps somewhat hampered either by a lack of money or interference from the people providing the money (maybe both). Still while the movie doesn't entirely work, it is a very interesting failure.
