Demarest Films, Lipsync Productions, Number 9 Films,
Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller, Daniel Mays, Caleb Landry Jones, Kate Ashfield, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Uri Gavriel, Thure Lindhardt
Two sisters, Elenor (Saoirse Ronan) and Clara (Gemma Arterton) are on the run after committing a gruesome crime and settle on a little seaside hamlet to hide out in. Immediately Clara meets Noel (Daniel Mays) who allows he to stay in his lonely guest house, Byzantium, while Elenor meets Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) and makes a friendship with him where she reveals the truth, that she and Clara are 2000 years old and survive on human blood in this Gothic horror tale.
This movie might suit a certain brand of people who are huge Gothic story fans. It is dark and dreary, slow moving, and filled with the stuff that Gothic tales of horror generally provide. But I really got bored right away with this film and even though I stuck with it, it never improved, nor did it catch my interest. I never really got into either story. This is really two films at once, set in the same town with the same characters. Hastings was once a tiny fishing hamlet, and today it’s a seaside resort town. Performances are decent, it’s just that story lagged too much for me to really get into it. Take a look at the preview and see if it might be for you, but for me, it was a big disappointment. It just didn’t work.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
