Rent The Moth Diaries (2011)

The Moth Diaries review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

Under the influence of the woman who brought a truly gory and psychopathic novel to the screen (Mary Harron director of American Psycho) I had expected, not great things, but better things than what the Moth Diaries actually had to offer. But with a rather poor narrative (taken from the novel by Rachel Klein) there is only so much any artist could do to turn this paltry story of teenage angst and quasi-lesbianism, into an intriguing or even vaguely frightening teen horror.

Flying on the coattails of the Twilight movies, which it must be said now, I could not stand, the Moth Diaries is a similar tale of sexual tension and vampirism; except this time it takes place in an all girls boarding school and rather than opting for a somewhat masochistic and male controlled relationship the story leans further toward the socially awkward issue of female homosexuality.

Couple all of this with the typical phallic themes of vampirism and the central character’s obsession with the Dracula-esque novel Carmillia, there ought to have been plenty in this movie for me to – excuse the pun – get my teeth into, even if only as an academic. Sadly the film is simply too contrite, the scares too obvious and frequent and the finale too unimaginative that I spent the majority of the film waiting for it to be over.

For those who like Lily Cole and feel in the mood for a bit of adaptation cinema I would far rather recommend the somewhat mediocre Mortal Instruments movie released earlier this summer than a horror movie that’s about as scary as Cabbage