The film stars an ensemble cast led by Zoey Deutch as Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir, and Lucy Fry as Lissa Dragomir, her Moroi best friend, and follows their return to the St Vladimir's Academy boarding school, after being on the run for one year.

Following the film's failure, Preger Entertainment launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the production for a sequel based on the second novel, Frostbite, with Piers Ashworth hired to write a script.

Rose Hathaway, a seventeen-year-old Dhampir guardian-in-training, and her best friend, Moroi Princess Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir, are living discreetly, having escaped from the St. Vladimir's Academy boarding school one year prior.

Dhampirs are vampire-human hybrids trained to protect the Moroi, mortal vampires with a normal lifespan and death who tend to have magical powers and belong to royal bloodlines.

The girls are found and forced to return to St. Vladimir's Academy where they encounter the Strigoi, the undead vampires of legend, which Moroi become if they completely drain their victims of blood, or are turned.

Lissa is ostracised by her peers as Rose starts to form an attraction to her Russian Dhampir mentor and fellow Guardian, Dimitri Belikov.

Mysterious messages threatening Lissa start to appear, written in blood on her wall and an exploding memorial to her family in the school church.

Moroi Christian Ozera, viewed poorly by his peers as both his parents became Strigoi, tries to romance Lissa but Rose blocks him by lying to them both.

The Moroi responsible for the kidnapping and the threats against Lissa is Victor Dashkov, a previous candidate for the throne, who suffers from the chronic disease Sandovsky's Syndrome.

Additionally, Dominique Tipper appears as Gabriela, a Dhampir Guardian, while Nick Gillard portrays Kenneth, a Moroi who works for Victor.

[9] On February 1, 2013, it was announced that Zoey Deutch, Australian actress Lucy Fry, and Russian actor Danila Kozlovsky were cast as Rose Hathaway, Lissa Dragomir, and Dimitri Belikov, respectively.

[11] On May 10, additional cast members were announced to be Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle, Claire Foy, and Ashley Charles for the roles of Mason Ashford, Mia Rinaldi, Sonya Karp and Jesse Zeklos respectively.

[16] To prepare for their roles as Dhampir novices and guardians, Deutch,[17] Monaghan[18] and Kozlovsky underwent rigorous training sessions and workouts.

The album itself was released on February 4, 2014, including tracks by artists such as Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, Sky Ferreira, Natalia Kills, and Au Revoir Simone.

[22][23] The Weinstein Company, the North American distributor for the film, held a competition where the winner would be able to visit the set in London and meet the cast.

[28] On September 12, The Weinstein Company started releasing stills and character profile photos on the film's Twitter account.

Special features include an alternate opening, deleted scenes and a conversation with the author of the Vampire Academy book series, Richelle Mead.

[34] As of February 16, 2014, the film had grossed $6,663,650, with many suggesting that poor box office returns will effectively end any plans for a sequel.

[35][36] Poor international box office takings led to the cancelation of the film's theatrical release in Brazil and the United Kingdom.

The website's consensus reads: "Though it may appeal to its built-in fanbase, Vampire Academy's Twilight-meets-Mean Girls conceit borrows lazily from its predecessors and offers few laughs or thrills to complement its overstuffed backstory.

"[38] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 31 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

"[37] Dennis Harvey from Variety called it "the crassest possible mashup of Harry Potter and Twilight elements" and compared it negatively to both series.