Vampire Academy

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Not recommended for under 13’s; PG 13-14, Suitable for individuals aged 15 and over.(Supernatural themes, violence and sexual references).

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Vampire Academy
  • a review of Vampire Academy completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 11 March 2014.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 13 Not recommended
Children under 13-14 Parental guidance
Children 15 and over Ok for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Vampire Academy
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Supernatural themes, violence and sexual references
Length: 105 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Vampire Academy is a romantic comedy based on a series of novels – it follows Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), a mortal vampire princess who lives in constant fear of the Strigoi, the dangerous and fierce vampires who are determined to take as many lives of the Moroi people as they can. Lissa’s best friend Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a Dhampir, a very powerful creature who is a mix of vampire and human who serve as the guardians of the Moroi. After being on the run for two years living secretly amongst humans, Rose and Lissa are finally tracked down and reinstated into their own world at St Vladimir’s Academy. It is within this institution that Rose trains and hones her fighting skills under the guidance of her Russian mentor Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), in an effort to graduate formally as a guardian and take on the role of protector of her best friend. Reluctantly, Lissa learns the significance of assuming her rightful place amongst the royalty of her species, gradually coming to understand the unbreakable bond she shares with the magic of the earth.

Although life is similar to what they remember, Rose is unable to ease her anxiety in relation to the imminent darkness that looms over St Vladimir’s. She fears that the Strigoi will close in at any moment and take away the people she loves dearly. Together, Rose and Lissa attempt to survive within their dangerous world and prepare themselves for the impending fight that threatens everything they know and love.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Good versus evil; the supernatural; personal growth

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is quite a lot of violence in this movie including:

  • There are multiple battles using guns and knives, where individuals are shot and stabbed. There are instances where people are kicked, pushed, punched and have their bodies slammed into walls or fences.
  • There are multiple instances where vampires feed on humans and drink their blood, puncturing their wrists with their teeth and often leaving residual blood on their own faces. There are several casualties resulting from the vampire attacks.
  • There are instances where characters have their bones broken, and there is an audible crack when an individual’s leg is broken and another snapping sound when someone’s neck is broken.
  • Several animals are seen killed and left bloodied – a dead fox is shown, and a dead cat is also found in a high school backpack.
  • A violent car crash is shown multiple times throughout the film, where two cars crash head-on and dead bodies are seen inside. This scene is shown within dreams and flashbacks.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  •  Children in this age group will be frightened by the supernatural and vampiric elements within the film – drinking of human blood, the physical transformation and sharp teeth of the vampires, etc.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Children in this age group may also be frightened by the above mentioned scenes.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
• Some children in this age group may also be frightened by the above mentioned scenes

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

• Some children in this age group may also be frightened by the above mentioned scenes

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Many of the items of clothing worn by female characters are tight-fitting, quite low-cut, revealing and sexually suggestive.
  • There are multiple discussions between the characters regarding sex and losing one’s virginity.
  • Rose tells three teenage boys to stop talking about her ‘ass’, to which the boys reply that they’ll talk about her ‘tits’ instead.
  • Rose and Lissa discuss how it would be much nicer to dream about ‘hot naked guys on unicorns’ than to have nightmares.
  • Rose discusses having a crush on her mentor Dimitri, calling him ‘sexy’ and makes a reference to ‘the school’s number one wet dream’.
  • There is considerable flirting between Rose and Dimitri, with Dimitri tackling Rose to the ground at one point and suggestively asking if she has ‘any other moves to show’ him

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Rose and Dimitri share a passionate kiss. She takes off his shirt (we see his bare chest and abdomen), while he removes her dress (she is in a bra and underwear) – they continue kissing while lying down on a bed. They nearly have sex, but do not.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • A woman is stabbed in the buttocks with a hypodermic needle containing a sedative substance – she immediately collapses into a chair.
  • Vampires are shown drinking blood from wine glasses at various points.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Bitch, ass, tits, whore, tramp, shut up, damn.
  • Multiple religious exclamations such as ‘oh god’.

In a nutshell

Vampire Academy is a romantic film set within the fantasy world of the supernatural. Despite this, the key elements of friendship, protection, and loyalty are clearly prevalent. The film highlights the enduring nature of true friendship, and the necessity to forgive the mistakes of those who are inherently well-intentioned despite their misguided actions. It emphasises issues that are relevant to teenagers, such as sexuality and romance. At the same time, the film makes the complexities of these themes very clear, focusing on the often multifaceted nature of peoples’ motivations and relationships.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • The importance of being kind and compassionate to one another.
  • Letting go of the past and forgiving people for their mistakes, as they are part of human nature.
  • Recognising the potential for the existence of things greater than oneself, in a cultural and spiritual sense.


This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Mental illness, depression and behaviours such as self- harm – the film explores the nature of these issues, as well as the consequences of self-destructive actions.
  • The nature of sexual relationships and losing one’s virginity, as well as age differences within relationships and the difficulties this may create.