YMMV / Byzantium

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Is Darvell a Horrible Judge of Character who intended to turn Ruthven despite him being the worst possible candidate for vampirism, or did he intend for Clara to be turned, but did so indirectly to give him Plausible Deniability with the Brethren? As the WMG points out, there's a fair amount of evidence for Darvell intentionally letting Clara know about the island's location in the hope that she'd take the opportunity to become a vampire. Sam Riley says outright in a behind-the-scenes interview that he gives the map to Clara deliberately, adding credence to the latter interpretation.
• Complete Monster: Captain Ruthven is the film's human antagonist, and a sadistic pimp when not fighting in The Napoleonic Wars. Ruthven preys on young women by kidnapping them and forcing them into prostitution, with a bit of rape as his own personal compensation, a fate which befalls a young girl named Clara. Ruthven considers her his "favorite" prostitute, having her gang-raped by his upper class associates and regularly violating and beating her himself. After she gives birth to her daughter Eleanor, Ruthven is discovered to be dying of syphilis and that he discovered the existence of vampires; he did so during the war when he abandoned his kindhearted friend Darvell to die, robbing him and revealing his hatred for the man. Ruthven plans on joining the vampire Brethren to escape death, but is cheated out of immortality by Clara, who became a vampire instead. In retribution, Ruthven rapes the teenage Eleanor to spite Clara; not only does he deliberately pass on his syphilis to her, but it's also implied that Eleanor could be his own daughter.
• Moral Event Horizon: Captain Ruthven is a perverted asshole. Him raping Eleanor while having syphilis cements his depravity.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The scene where Eleanor tells Morag that the only way she can prove to her she’s a vampire is by coming to Morag when she’s elderly, thus revealing Eleanor has not aged. Morag doesn’t live to old age because she’s later murdered by vampires.
• The Woobie: Noel. A man so desperate for some semblance of affection in his life after the death of his only family that he goes to a prostitute. And promptly breaks down crying in front of her. Then takes said prostitute and her "little sister" off the streets out of kindness. He doesn't really seem to care if he's being used, he just wants some companionship. And then he dies accidentally.

---