REVIEW #66 The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

The Vampire Diaries follows the Salvatore brothers, two vampires turned in 1864 who have returned to their native town Mystic Falls. The series explores a number of mythical creatures from Vampires and Werewolves, to Sirens and the Devil but mainly centres around friendship and family above all.

CAST & THE ACTING 

I think the acting as a whole is pretty good across all 8 seasons, there are so many emotional moments for the audience and that only happens when the acting is of good quality. Otherwise they just wouldn’t be invested in the characters enough to feel their pain with them. Ian Somerhalder plays Damon Salvatore and Paul Wesley plays his brother Stefan. Their mutual love interest Elena is portrayed by Nina Dobrev and other actors in the main cast consist of Kat Graham as Bonnie, Matthew Davis as Alaric, Candice King as Caroline and Zack Roerig as Matt. What I liked about the acting in this series is the range actors had to show, for example the Vampires in this series have a psychological switch which they can turn off to shut off their emotions which often turns them into careless killers. This requires the actors to essentially play two different people, the kind and caring versions of their characters and the more deranged psychotic killer versions, which I think they did well. There are a few cringe worthy performances from a few characters, one that stands out is Nina Dobrev and Elena I think a lot of fans tend to get annoyed by that character in particular, whether that’s the acting itself or the writing for that character I don’t know, maybe a bit of both!

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I loved the storyline, the vampire and werewolves genre is one I have enjoyed for years from watching the gritty Blade years ago to the more love centric films like Twilight. What I enjoyed about The Vampire Diaries is it sort of had a blend of both, it did have the main plots of love and devotion but it did have brute violence which included beheadings, ripping hearts from bodies and plenty of other gruesome deaths too and we all love a bit of gore to increase the stakes (pun intended)! If I had to criticise one thing I’d probably say towards the later seasons they ventured past the standard vampires, werewolves and witches and we saw Heretics, Sirens, the Devil etc and I just think when you start getting that ambitious, where is the limit and it can often get a little too far fetched. I think the best part about the storyline is how it initially started by focusing on love and the fight to win over Elena but as the seasons went on it became more about the bond between two brothers, I think that resonates with the audience a lot more and added a lot more sentiment to the series. It’s kept exciting at all times, with lots of new characters to love and hate and it also led to the Originals spin off which is fantastic too!

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

I think the special effects in The Vampire Diaries is kept really subtle, for example the vampires eyes go sort of black, with clear visible veins when they are about to feed. This looks realistic and that’s because it’s kept subtle and it’s not too over the top. The prosthetics and make up used to create all the gory scenes is also done really well and I think it’s that realism that makes the genre almost seem believable which hooks the viewers even more. In terms of cinematography, there are a few moments where the scenes look great and really capture an iconic moment well, like Damon’s and Elena’s moment in the rain. It looked great but it was done that way to emphasise the importance of that moment, which was often the case in this series. If the scene held a lot of importance for the characters development then more often then not the cinematography was put together really nicely to highlight this. So overall there wasn’t anything outstanding for this category but it was all done nicely and kept subtle so there certainly wasn’t anything to complain about either.

OVERALL (8.5/10)

I really do love this series, the fact I have watched it about 5 times now shows how much I think of it and considering there’s 8 seasons that’s no light task! I think the character development gets you so invested in them that 8 seasons seem to fly by really quickly. For the most part the acting is good and that acting creates some really emotional moments that really hit the audience hard, especially that finale. The storyline is always kept exciting and fresh which is important for any series with so many episodes. The effects and prosthetics used are great and it creates realism which makes it believable for the audience and that gets them hooked even more. Yes the later seasons do get a little bit too far fetched in my opinion, I’d rather they had just kept it simple and stuck with Vampires, Werewolves and witches instead of introducing all sorts of mythical creatures but I understand they had to keep it fresh for the viewers. I would definitely recommend the Vampire Diaries, especially if you’re a fan of the genre because I’m sure you’ll love it. 

Thanks for reading.

Callan