Byzantium (4¼ Stars)

Only those prepared to die will find eternal life.

This is yet another rewriting of vampire mythology. How many different alternatives can people come up with? In this film vampires can walk in sunlight, although they prefer the dark. They can't enter a home unless invited. They can only be killed by being beheaded. That's pretty standard stuff. But it gets wild when it comes to becoming a vampire. To become a vampire you have to carry a sacred box into a shrine on an uninhabited island off the coast of England. When you're there your double drinks your blood, and you emerge as a vampire. That's new. Apart from this, in the Byzantium Universe only male vampires are allowed. Two women, a mother and daughter, have become vampires by stealing the box, so the males are hunting them.

Despite the erratic reinventing of vampires, this is a fascinating, typically British vampire film. Clara and Eleanor Webb, played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan, are a mother and daughter who are about 200 years old. Since they both look young, they pretend to be sisters. Clara earns her money from prostitution, occasionally killing her customers if she thinks they're carrying enough money with them. Eleanor was only 16 when she became a vampire, so Clara still thinks of her as a child and expects her to remain pure.

The two vampires are always on the move, running as soon as they get into any trouble. They move to North Haven, a fictional English coastal town. Clara takes over a hotel, the Byzantium Hotel, and turns it into a brothel, while Eleanor goes to school. But they haven't settled down long before they start killing people again. How long can they stay before they're noticed?

Gemma Arterton has a haunting beauty in all her films, but in "Byzantium" it's especially appropriate. Her appearance is a fascinating mix of a sex siren and the girl next door. Saoirse Ronan is also beautiful, although she dresses down to look plain in this film. I've always wondered how to pronounce her name, and after listening to the interviews in the Blu-ray extra features I still don't know. Sam Riley and Gemma say her name differently, so I don't know which one of them is right. Or maybe they're both wrong.