Taglines: Her love will never die.
Beautiful vampire Djuna (Josephine de La Baume) tries to resist the advances of the handsome, human screenwriter Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia), but eventually gives in to their passion. When her troublemaker sister Mimi (Roxane Mesquida) unexpectedly comes to visit, Djuna’s love story is threatened, and the whole vampire community becomes endangered…
Kiss of the Damned is a vampire film written and directed by Xan Cassavetes. The film played at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival and was released in theaters May 3, 2013. The filming locations were New York, NY and New Fairfield, CT.
Director’s Statement (2013)
I am not a fanatical vampire person, although there are certain vampire films, mainly European, which have burned in my mind ever since seeing them as a teenager. Their beauty, formality and atmosphere continue to fascinate me. They are fantasies that reflect reality with their depiction of a kind of breathtaking power, loneliness and quest for survival.
With Kiss of the Damned, my first narrative feature, I wanted to tell a story of vampires trying to find the meaning in life, to enjoy the dilemma of forever. I wanted to borrow the tradition of contrasting loveliness and brutality from the vampire films I love, to set a story about confused creatures, trying the best they can to find truth. – Xan Cassavetes
Review for Kiss of the Damned (2013)
Kiss of the Damned received a lot of positive notices after it played this year’s South by Southwest. Maybe seeing it with a crowd makes a difference. Or maybe there was something in the air in Austin when it was screened. Either way, this critic feels like they saw an entirely different movie than the one in those favorable reviews.
A vampire tale that is awfully familiar, Kiss of the Damned is like a Skinemax offering with marginally better acting and a slightly bigger budget. If some flesh and sex are all you ask of a vampire movie, you will be plenty satisfied. But it’s not quite ridiculous enough to fall into so-bad-it’s-good territory and for the most part it is excruciatingly dull.
Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia) is a screenwriter camped out in some small town in an effort to get some peace and quiet and focus on his writing. One night he ventures to a local bar for some Scotch and is immediately smitten with Djuna (Josephine de la Baume). Sparks fly and she takes him back to her place, a large house she is watching for a friend. Just when things start to get hot and heavy, Djuna pushes Paolo away. She claims to have a skin condition and says it is too dangerous and he must go.
Paolo is not deterred. Less than 10 minutes into the movie he is completely obsessed with Djuna. He basically stalks her until she lets him back into the house. To make sure he understand what he is dealing with, she chains herself to a bed and allows him to see her turn into a vampire. Does Paolo run when he sees a woman chain herself to a bed and proclaim to be a vampire? No. Does he run after she really does turn into a vampire? No. He acts as if this is something he sees all the time. Instead he lets her bite and turn him, telling her that “I’d have done anything to be with you.” At this point, outside of being a vampire, there sure doesn’t seem to be anything remarkable about Djuna.
Djuna fills Paolo in on the lifestyle, explaining that they will heal quickly and never age, but they can die (beheading, etc.). It’s the usual rules. Everything is going well until her sister, Mimi (Roxane Mesquida), shows up. Mimi is nuts and she and Djuna do not get along. They bicker endlessly about nothing particularly interesting and Djuna knows that she and Paolo need to get far away as soon as possible.
The bickering is boring. Vampires discussing the current state of vampire life (are they the real monsters or are human?) is boring. Talk of a synthetic drug awaiting FDA approval is boring. The love story at the center of everything is forced and unconvincing. The acting ranges from passable to embarrassing. There’s the aforementioned sex and a little gore but it’s certainly not the least bit suspenseful. Everything is stale and sluggish.
It also takes itself way too seriously most of the time. There are moments of absurdity (Paolo and Djuna kissing passionately through a chained door, seen via overhead shot) and you think maybe it will run with this and be entertaining. But those moments are the exception. For the majority of its running time Kiss of the Damned is tiresome and pedestrian.
Kiss of the Damned (2013)
Directed by: Xan Cassavetes
Starring: Josephine de la Baume, Roxane Mesquida, Milo Ventimiglia, Anna Mouglalis, Michael Rapaport, Megumi Haggerty, Caitlin Keats, Tiarnie Coupland
Screenplay by: Xan Cassavetes
Production Design by: Chris Trujillo
Cinematography by: Tobias Datum
Film Editing by: Taylor Gianotas, John F. Lyons
Costume Design by: Audrey Louise Reynolds
Set Decoration by: Daniel R. Kersting
Music by: Steven Hufsteter
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence, strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: May 3, 2013
Visits: 45
