If you think vampire movie have been done to death, than prepare to be surprised, for indie director Jim Jarmusch has breathed new life in to the genre with his fantastic new film Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as two bloodsuckers in love.

Named Adam and Eve, here the vampires are not demonic creatures but introverted outsiders; with their long straight hair, mascaraed faces and intact British accents making them look more like jaded rock stars than gothic monsters. The bloodsucking trademark remains, but sticking with the rock star theme they act more like addicts, trying to get their next fix on a fresh batch of blood.

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Tom Hiddleston is excellent as Adam, a misanthrope who actively shuns modernity to live in his ramshackle house full of antiques. The only companionship he seeks is with Tilda Swinton's Eve. Lovers throughout the centuries, the two would be soul mates if they had any souls.

In typical Jarmusch fashion, this is a film that shuffles along at its own sedate, hypnotic pace, as we follow the two vampires wandering through derelict Detroit and ancient yet alive Tangier. Detroit in particular is stunningly captured at night-time by cinematographer Yorick Le Saux. From driving down the city's empty streets to visiting a former concert hall turned car park, there is a melancholy attached to the once booming Motown that permeates throughout the film.

Only Lovers Left Alive
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive. (Sony Pictures Classics)

But this is still a movie full of dark humour, with great supporting turns from John Hurt as Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe and Mia Wasikowska as Eve's reckless younger sister Ava. The music is also incredible; a minimalist rock requiem crafted by Jarmusch and Dutch composer Joseph van Wissem where the guitar feedback buzzes to the vampire's bloodlust.

The film's greatest triumph though, is how it manages to avoid and subvert the clichés surroundings vampire folklore. The v-word is never mentioned, and in a playful twist, it is the humans that are referred to by Adam and Eve as "the zombies". Adam and Eve may be cultural snobs, but their tender relationship means this is Jarmusch's warmest film yet.

Only Lovers Left Alive will be released in cinemas nationwide from 21 February.