Kiss of the Damned

Kiss of the Damned is a "classy" vampire movie, one in which nothing much happens. If that sounds fun for you, then perhaps you need to watch more exciting entertainment. I kid, kind of. Its actors are flat, its story is simplistic and melodramatic -- without being able to justify its drama -- and its characters are inconsistent and uninteresting. It looks kind of nice, but it's a boring movie.

John Cassavetes' daughter is not much of a director. The vampire genre's got a lot of excellent material and this story did not offer anything new for the genre. Neither did Ventimiglia nor Rapaport. The most irritating was the sound editing: the score and lines were off the balance. Cinematography was okay.

Kinda like Jean Rollin without the poetic experimental touches to keep it interesting. The story moves too quickly in the beginning to give the audience a reason to believe this is anything more than puppy love, when even Twilight got that much right. So it's hard to take any of it seriously. It's something of a shame too in this case as the mood and production values are spot on for calling back those atmospheric vampire films of yore.

good soundtrack, abysmal everything else

Such instense look on desire

"Xan Cassavetes cops to nothing more significant than being more keen on Vampyros Lesbos than anyone else from her clan of famous cinephiles." - Ed Gonzalez

A live-action Gothic Tom Ford lookbook.

A lush resurrection of classic grindhouse horror, with all the gore, sex, and psychedelic rock. Lusciously shot with utterly brilliant set pieces, pushed forward by apt performances to just the type of out-of-nowhere conclusion that this type of flick requires.

Decent and well shot but feels as though it goes nowhere and ends on the flattest note imaginable. However, the film moves along well enough with solid action and tension to keep things going. Unfortunately though the characters remain one note and there's no real story to tie things together. A mixed bag but nothing you need to run out and see.

Abysmal even for a modern vampire flick.

What shines: the score, the beautiful cast, the subdued landscape. What doesn't: incredibly clunky dialogue and a boring story. The look and feel of Kiss of the Damned is much better than the actual film.