Review: Vampire Sisters – Die Vampirschwestern (2012)

Director: Wolfgang Groos | 97 minutes | adventure, comedy, drama, family, fantasy | Actors: Marta Martin, Laura Antonia Roge, Christiane Paul, Stipe Eceg, Michael Kessler, Richy Müller, Jamie Bick, Jonas Holdenrieder, Jeremias Meyer, Maj Jablonski, Robin Kirsch, Xaver Wegler, Viola von der Burg, Christian Koch, Regine Vergeen, Hans-Peter Deppe

Look, Buffy and Angel should have known that: when a vampire has children with a human, they just become half-vampires. In fact, Dakaria and Silvania, the twin daughters of vampire Mihai and human woman Elvira and protagonists in ‘Vampire sisters’ (2012) by German Wolfgang Groos, have been given the best of both worlds: they can flop (move invisibly) and fly and with the help of sunglasses and factor 5000 they can just be outside during the day. Still, the two teens are not very satisfied. Firstly, they must comply with their parents’ decision to exchange the familiar Transylvania for the German city of Bindburg, secondly, they must change their entire biorhythm. Who is sleeping at night now? The tough-looking Daka in particular has trouble adhering to the strict rules of her toilet seat designing mother. Sister Silvania would prefer to actually become a thoroughbred human, because then at least she can go to the swimming pool with her new love without any problems …

“Vampire Sisters”, based on the series by German children’s book writer Franziska Gehm, is an infectious, cheerful youth film, in which normal teenage problems are ingeniously mixed with supernatural things. The biggest problem, of course, is the wrong-turning magic trick, which makes the fulfillment of the twins’ heart’s wish go horribly wrong. Daka, who actually dreams of a life as a full-blown vampire, gets her sister’s wish and vice versa. During the film, the twins must not only find out that staying yourself is actually best, they also have to beat their suspicious neighbor – who, by the way, is justifiably suspicious – and let their peers believe that they are normal adolescents. . With the help of classmate Hélène, who also has a secret of her own, Daka and Silvania have to turn their wish back.

The movie “Vampire Sisters” targets the segment that is too young for the “Twilight” series, but has an interest in supernatural matters. Of course it doesn’t get really scary anywhere, but comedy predominates in the adventures of Daka and Silvania. The blundering neighbor in particular provides a lot of slapstick moments, although that goes a few steps too far at the end of the film. Daka’s pet, little Karel the leech, is convincingly animated and the other special effects are also perfectly fine. The two protagonists perform their roles well, and quickly forget the first impression that they were only cast because of the similarity to the film parents. Very nice and well-made film, which girls and boys will have a lot of fun with.