From Book to Screen…Sizzle or Scream?—-Vampire Academy.

Good Morning Blogging Friends,

Today, I am here to write about the movie adaptation of Richelle Mead’s, Vampire Academy….what I loved….what I hated…and most importantly did the film sizzle or make me want to scream?

The Trailer:

I LOVE movie trailers. There used to be a show back in the day on E! called Coming Attractions. This was thirty minutes of nothing but movie trailers. I LOVED it so much that sometimes I would pop in a VHS (those things that came before DVD’s..ask your parents about them), and I would tape the program just so I could watch it over and over again. Needless to say, I am very critical of the way trailers are constructed. Trailers can make or break a movie at the box office. Consider the movie, The Village. Packaged as a creature feature, people were greatly disappointed to find out that instead of a tale of blood, guts, and bumps in the night, they were watching a psychological tale about the power of paranoia and society building (Let it be known, I think The Village is one of the most highly underrated movies of all time). The trailer unrealistically packaged the movie as something it was not and damned it in the process. I think the same thing happened with Vampire Academy.

As you can see, the movie is packaged as a watered down, vapid Gossip Girl lacking substance and wit. Needless to say, as a fan of the series, I was highly disappointed and wasn’t going to waste any part of my lowly teacher salary on seeing the film in theaters. Thank goodness for Red Box.

What Worked:

Jeesh. Almost everything. The beauty of a crap trailer is that I went in with low expectations, and I came out wonderfully surprised. The highlight of the film had to be its star. She was wonderful, throwing out quips and snide comments with the ease of a Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer—a skill that not all actresses could pull off.

Another point of praise comes with the film’s pacing. Sometimes, and don’t kill me book fans, the narrative became bogged down with back story and lore, and the film, mostly due to the ease of the medium itself, provided audiences with the needed information without weighing the story down.

I also, kinda, just liked the way it looked. The fight scenes rocked and the editing was masterful. For a low-budget film it never came across as cheap.

What Didn’t Work:

Again, I am expecting riots, but I didn’t dig the actor who played Dimitri. If anything, I was way more into and interested by the acting choices made by the actor who played Christian. It’s weird until the very last scene, I didn’t feel any connection between Dimitri and Rose…but then that scene totally blew me away. I kept thinking…where the hell was all that chemistry before?

Verdict – Sizzle or Scream?

Sizzle. Overall, I thought this was a pretty faithful and fun adaptation of a story I really dug. I recommend it to fans of the series. I only wish it made more money because they set up a pretty awesome cliff hanger, and I would definitely pay some of my lowly teacher salary to see more.

Even the Fatally Flawed Deserve to Fall in Love….

Even the fatally flawed deserve to fall in love…what the heck does that mean? Soon, you’ll have over 200 pages to help you find out. I am thrilled to announce….

that’s right…I signed a book deal with Evernight Teen. Continuing my run with the wonderful world of small, dedicated, and author-centered and author- friendly publishers,  I have accepted a deal to publish my first YA Contemporary novel, The Language of Silence.

I will, of course, release more details into the world when I am allowed to, but what I can share right now is that I am super excited. This is a story I really love, and I am anxious to share it with the world. Dark. Gritty. Raw. And not always pretty. The Language of Silence follows two teenagers who learn that even the fatally flawed deserve to fall in love.