Only Lovers Left Alive is simplistically a tale of two people in a romantic, sensitive and timeless connection with one another - the only twist is that they are vampires. Which leaves us with a ‘bloody’ unique film. So what makes it being different to all of the vampire films we have seen time again? Here is what we thought:

Tom Hiddleson seems capable of modelling any hairstyle and making it work. Look at his portrayal of Loki in The Avengers for example. Equally his take on a vampire is just as convincing, what with the salad cream pale skin and long majestic hair; he looks remarkably like Harry Potter’s Serious Black. Adam, portrayed by Hiddleson, lives an isolated lifestyle in rural Detroit where life is simple. Like most Vampire tales, he must avoid daylight, yet Adam almost avoids both day and night remaining in solitude within the confine of his uniquely decorated home; uniquely defined by the egg-box wallpaper, blacked-out windows and instrument-filled recording studio. He is a self-confessed music junkie that barely leaves his lair, yet is underlying a poetic, soulful, yet sad individual. Almost like a fragile Hamlet, yet gothic.

Enter Anton Yelchin’s character, Ian. He is a human, (or a zombie as Adam call them), and almost an errand boy for Adam. Although a short performance in OLLA’ it is seemingly better than the entirety of Fright Night, mind. Ian sells Adam's his music off to other bands who claim it as their own in exchange for modest cash. Following conventional vampire 101, they need blood to survive – but not forgetting that this is a 21st century set film, so sucking from necks is a thing of the past. So instead Adam goes straight to the source by taking night-time visits to the hospital where Jeffery Wright’s character exchanges pure donated blood in exchange for cash. Hiddleson interestingly described his character as a ‘vegetarian vampire’ – which seems quite accurate.

Across the globe in Tangier, Adam’s wife, Eve, lives a similar lifestyle - oh, and yes her name is Eve and his Adam, like the biblical story. Don’t worry, this type of humour continues throughout, yet director Jim Jarmusch remains adamant that it was not intentional. Played by the wondrous Tilda Swindon, Eve is cast perfectly, and could visually pull of the vampire role any day of the week due to her unique looks.

Later, it is revealed that Adam and Eve have not seen each other in eighty-seven years and are in fact very old. At this point the narrative takes hold as we realise the longitude of these characters being, having survived the highs and lows of the past few centuries – plagues, world-wars to name a few. After meeting again they go and see John Hurt’s character. This is where the film really picks up in both uniqueness and quality. John Hurt, a master-class of the cinema, looks about 800 years old, like the scene in The Last Crusade where Julian Glover’s character ages and then dies - Hurt is about the half-way point as if he could drop dead any moment and looks terribly authentic. Many of the films laughs are also owed to Hurt’s character as he sports forth century attire, and reveals that he wrote all of Shakespeare’s work, which is just one of the many historic references throughout.

All three vampires get visions, similar to what Anakin does in Star Wars when something bad is soon to happen - and then it does. Eve’s sister, Ava, arrives. Portrayed by Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), unfortunately this is where the film begins to flop, slowly turning into a family frenzy oriented drama. Bringing in the style over substance issue, things just seem slow paced and less ambitious.

Only Lovers Left Alive feels fresh, melancholic, and vastly different to what we have seen before. Writer/Director Jim Jarmusch’s approach to camera, style and story all add into the mix, creating a unique tale on vampires – bringing in mood and equally dark atmosphere producing it as an independent cult to be.