(UK/Ireland, 118 min.)
Dir. Neil
Jordan, Writ. Moira Buffini
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, Jonny
Lee Miller, Daniel Mays
Byzantium could
have been the next great horror flick. Now that the Twilight saga is finally wrapping up, something needs to succeed
Edward and Bella and sate the blood lust of vampire fans. Byzantium is more like the anti-Twilight,
though, for there’s little emo pining going on here. Instead, it’s a blood
soaked fracas of gothic horror. It's not much of a love story, either, but
rather a mother/daughter tale of a curse that runs in the family.
Directed by Neil Jordan, who makes for a good fit with the
material given his canonical work on Interview
with the Vampire, Byzantium
displays a masterful sense of atmosphere. It's dark as night and as hypnotic as
a full moon thanks to its blend of mysticism and folklore. The arts and tech credits
are superb in delivering the gothic feel, especially the costumes, production
design, and score by Consolata Boyle, Simon Elliott, and Javier Navarette,
respectfully. Horror fans will love the femme-centric spookiness of the film,
not to mention the blood-soaked celebration of violence that follows the girls’
trail. Byzantium is drenched in red
corn syrup, as all good horror films should be. Additionally, thanks to the
strong performances by Arterton and Ronan, the female dynamic of the night
feeders gives the genre something new. Especially with Arterton's lady of the
night does Byzantium make an
orgiastic feast with the combining of sex and violence that one frequently sees
in the genre.
Unfortunately, though, Byzantium
takes for granted that few people live forever, and it's a shame that the
script by Moira Buffini (adapting her own play) takes an eternity to get the
blood pumping through this flick. If Byzantium
lost a good twenty minutes from its slow start (or one of its unnecessary
subplots), it might hit viewers like a stake through the heart. Unlike Twilight, though, this vampire movie
doesn’t suck.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
