Remember yesterday when we posted the new stills from Vampire Academy and I pointed out the decided lack of fangs in the photos? Well, that definitely doesn't apply to the trailer for the adaptation of Richelle Mead's young adult novel. There are plenty of fangs to go around and lots of drama. But not a whole lot of explanation as to what the story's about, beyond the obvious; it's set at a high school for vampires.
The new trailer begins with a semi-slow-mo walk of three beautiful teens walking confidently among their peers at what appears to be an upscale school dance. As Zoey Deutch's Rose's voice points out, her school school can get a little insane. At first glance, it looks like a typical dressy school dance - excluding the fact that everyone looks pretty enough to star in a CW series - and then the fangs come out. Yeah, they're all vampires. Or Dhampirs. We'll get to that. Cut to Rose's best friend Lissa (Lucy Fry) sinking her fangs into Rose's neck. Lissa's a Moroi vampire, which means she's mortal, and not evil. She drinks blood and avoids the sun and all that, but she ages and she's not out stalking and murdering, which is what differentiates the Moroi from the Strigoi, the immortal vampires who hunt humans and Moroi. As a Dhampir, Rose is half human, half vampire. While Lissa trains to understand her magical abilities, Rose is working hard to become a better guard to her Moroi friend, as that's what Dhampirs do.
None of this is explained in the trailer, which comes to us via Yahoo, but that's ok as it'll presumably be broken down somewhat in the actual film when we get to know these characters better. In the meantime, the trailer does sell teen vampires, fanged shenanigans, fire, kissing, violence, more kissing and all of the other things the kids are still into, last I checked, which I'm guessing is what they're going for here. Well, that and a big nod to fans of the books who probably don't need any explanation about plot to get excited about the movie. And it all ends with an exploding rose, which morphs into the Vampire Academy logo.
I read the first book from the series expecting high school vampire angst and a lot of fangy teen drama. I was pleasantly surprised at the focus Mead put on establishing the history of the school and vampires, and focusing as much attention on Rose's sisterly relationship with Lissa as the story does on romance and other teen-related drama. And Rose's narration is candid and accessible, which is a big plus, as the story's told entirely from her perspective. The trailer doesn't delve much into the plot that's developed in the book, but I'm optimistic director Mark Waters will find the right balance of everything in the adaptation, which was penned by Daniel Waters.
Vampire Academy is slated to arrive in theaters February 14, 2014.
