If your idea of a vampire movie was ruined by sparkly teen romances, “Byzantium” is the antidote. It's the complete opposite of movies like "Twilight," as fun as they are. It's a moody, grown-up, gothic tale that almost nobody talks about. This 2012 film is streaming free on Tubi right now, and it comes from a director who knows the genre as well as anyone.

Directed by Neil Jordan, the Oscar winner behind “The Crying Game” and, more to the point, “Interview with the Vampire," “Byzantium” is an adaptation of Moira Buffini’s stage play starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as its two leads,

It's a slow, stylish, character-driven take on immortality rather than a jump-scare machine. Even better for Halloween hounds, it's a mix of delectable bloodthirst with centuries of secrets to draw from. If you want a vampire story with some true sadness to it, this is a hidden gem absolutely worth seeking out since it's available for the low, low price of free right now.

Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are a mother and daughter who arrive, broke and on the run, in a seaside town. They take refuge in a guesthouse called Byzantium, which Clara turns into a brothel to keep them afloat. What the locals don’t realize is that the two women are vampires, and that they’ve been the same age for 200 years.

Eleanor, forever a teenager, is lonely and exhausted by a lifetime of secrecy, and she longs to tell someone the truth about what she is.

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