The Moth Diaries

I only watched this movie because I noticed the director had worked on something I really enjoyed before. But this film was pretty much a disappointment. Everything in the movie seems to just be "said", not actually acted. You feel no depth in the characters, their relationships just have to be "accepted" by the viewer. It all seemed very mechanized but I was at least hoping for some sort of greater point to it all (which of course never came) There's no explanation whatsoever as to why the characters behave the way they do, no motivation for their actions. It seems more like they are robots with predefined roles, instead of actual representations of human beings. I honestly have no idea what the target audience for this was, it's not romantic, it's not horror, not much of a mystery. It's basically a lame pseudo-emotional film with hints of horror (very mild hints mind you!).

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.

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is 16 year old and still haunted by her father's suicide. Her best friend is her roommate Lucy (Sarah Gadon) at her boarding school. Ernessa Block (Lily Cole) is the new girl and she befriends Lucy to the dismay of Rebecca. The mysterious new girl somehow got friend Charley (Valerie Tian) expelled. After Rebecca and Dora (Melissa Farman) witness Ernessa do something supernatural, Dora is later found dead falling off a ledge. There is also a new teacher Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) at the school.

This could have been a creepy Gothic horror movie. Mary Harron who made 'American Psycho' still pose the same problem to me as before. Her sparse style really stripes away the tension. She doesn't elevate the material and there is some good material here. More importantly, there are some great actors here trying their best. However, the movie never takes off. There is just a lack of tension. There is a lack of visual style. This is a bland execution. The female melodrama promises something that is never emotionally delivered. It's potentially an interesting horror but Harron doesn't know how to make one. Of course, this one doesn't have Christian Bale.

Moth Diaries is a supernatural horror set at an all girl boarding school where young Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is sent after the suicide of her writer father. She befriends the pretty Lucy (Sarah Gadon) and all seems well until the arrival of the strange Student Ernessa (Lily Cole). Lucy is drawn to Ernessa and the more Sarah tries to find out who this mysterious new girl really is, the more she begins to believe that she is faced with the very type of vampiric creature that she is reading about in her literature class. As the bodies pile up and everyone attributes Rebecca's suspicions as a product of the emotions left over from her father's death, Rebecca decides she must deal with this monster herself. Moth Diaries is one of those movies that tries hard and sometimes tries too hard for it's own good. There is a very Gothic mood to it. Director Mary Harron tries to give it the same period feel of a Dracula story despite being set in modern day. There are some nice visuals and effective scenes and the cast all perform well. But, sometimes the film is a bit too obvious for it's own good. Some of the scenes come across as a bit silly when maybe a bit more subtlety would have been better. Some of the voice narration by Rebbeca comes across as forced, telling us things we already have figured out for ourselves. The film probably could have used some of the sly humor that Harron used to perfection in the classic American Psycho but, here the tone comes across as a little too serious and it also can't decide whether it wants to be a straight horror or something more along the lines of a Twilight movie with it's melodramatics(Such as Rebecca's relationship with Scott Speedman's literature teacher that goes nowhere). Moth Diaries is not a complete failure and it has entertainment value but, it could have been a lot better if the filmmakers weren't trying too hard to create a goth classic in the same vein (sorry, had to) as Dracula with the melodrama of the Bella and Edward saga.

Rebecca attends an all girl boarding school for tiresome adolescents in an old hotel. Through her friendship with fellow student Lucie, she has learned to re-embrace life, after the suicide of her poet father.

However, When spooky new student, Ernessa, arrives and supplants Rebecca in Lucie's affection: Rebecca becomes jealous and decides that Ernessa must be a vampire, as described by her handsome romantic fiction teacher.

Staff and students succumb to premature exits of one sort or another and Rebecca becomes more and more convinced of the malevolent and supernatural influence of Ernessa whilst desperately fighting off the urge to kill herself.

Never was the nike "just do it" campaign slogan more in my mind. This film might appeal to you if you are a teenage girl, with little imagination or cinema experience.... otherwise I would avoid it.