This hype surrounding this movie made it sound good, but it was a boring mess, with a bloated run time and unlikable characters. No fangs, just a sharp thumbnail to open up throats is the only way to tell this movie is supernatural in the slightest. The vampires walk around in daylight with no problem. They don't even look pale. Would have vastly preferred the film to dispense with the painfully contrived modern day storyline and stay in the past. The mysterious vampire island shrine with the red waterfall and swirling flocks of bats was the only inspired touch in the whole film.
Neil Jordan's done some great stuff in the past (The Company of Wolves, The Borgias, etc.), but Byzantium isn't one of them. The only vampire movie more arty and boring than this was that awful one Abel Ferrara did back in the 90s.
Neil Jordan's done some great stuff in the past (The Company of Wolves, The Borgias, etc.), but Byzantium isn't one of them. The only vampire movie more arty and boring than this was that awful one Abel Ferrara did back in the 90s.