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Blood Bust

In "The Moth Diaries," a teenage girl, describing her first sexual encounter, says "It was kind of nothing. I'm glad it's over with." Funny, the same can be said about the movie itself, which suffers from a bigger identity crisis than many of the adolescent females whining their way through the picture.

Based on a popular 2002 book by Rachel Klein, "The Moth Diaries" is yet another gothic tale where, dum dum dum, one of the characters is a vampire. Rebecca (Sarah Bolger), 16, is sent away to boarding school following the violent suicide of her father, and becomes close with Lucie (Sarah Gadon), a chirpy blonde. So imagine her disgust when suddenly a new girl appears and threatens to take some of that attention away from her. Unacceptable.

This intruder, Ernessa (creepily portrayed by British model Lily Cole), is not only a BFF thief, but she also resembles the living dead and some of her behaviors are peculiar. Like how she seems to brainwash people and walks through glass and never eats. Lucie doesn't notice though, and instead insists that Rebecca befriend her, even as the girls start getting plucked off by the vampire among them.

Clearly, this movie should be a comedy, one of those over-the-top B movies that is so awful that you can't stop laughing at it. But no, "The Moth Diaries" fancies itself a serious piece, even a horror film. At just 85 minutes, it is slow paced, drenched in dullness.  It suffers from "Cowboys and Aliens" syndrome: it's not self aware enough to know its right tone, and instead succeeds only at lulling its audience into a deep sleep. Geez, what happened to the Mary Harron who once directed "American Psycho"?

One of the only humorous kids in the film is Charlie (Valerie Tian), a snarky bisexual, so naturally she is sent home way early. There's also a random subplot of a handsome English teacher, played by Scott Speedman, who waxes poetic and then tries to console his students in pervy ways. There is no one here to give a toss about, especially the supposed heroine Rebecca, as her paramount behavior is moping around. Nobody wants to watch or root for a person who seems to cue the violins whenever she enters a room.

Diaries tend to be self-indulgent and tedious. "The Moth Diaries" is no exception.