Netflix A-Z: Kiss of the Damned (2012)

With Netfliz A-Z coming back, you know we’re back to normal.  I’ve drafted out the rest of the movies, hopefully, none of them will be removed before we get to it. I might replace a few with series if I feel like I need a little break from movies. We’ll see! K is always a hard selection but that’s okay. There are enough choices.  Not sure if any of them was intriguing but this movie has been on my list for a while.  I don’t even know why its on my list.  Its a vampire movie called Kiss of the Damned.

I really have nothing else to say.  Let’s just jump right in…

Kiss of the Damned (2012)

Director: Xan Cassavetes

Cast: Josephine de la Baume, Milo Ventimiglia, Roxane Mesquida, Anna Mouglalis, Michael Rapaport

The vampire Djuna resists the advances of Paolo, but soon gives in to their passion. When her trouble-making sister unexpectedly comes to visit, Djuna’s love is threatened, and the whole vampire community becomes endangered. –IMDB

 Kiss of the Damned is pretty much a harmless film.  I didn’t mind watching it.  There were some silly bits and the dialogue was pretty clunky and awkward.  Its bizarre in general.  The best part was the background music.  However, it also feels like a movie that has some intention except it doesn’t really know what it wants to be.  It seems to want us to feel fear because we’re dealing with vampires.  It wants us to feel the drama of being a vampire and the feud  between power and how much they should be revealed to the world. And easily the only thing it achieved quite a bit of, was romance and the emphasis on passion.  When it was passionate, it was almost burning with desire. It helps that the cast here are a pretty bunch and their clothes makes them sexy, classy, elegant, whatever that character was.

The only issue is that with a story that doesn’t commit to what it wants to be, its hard for us as the audience to commit either. Its sad because I felt the cast did a decent job and in the multilayer of no direction, if there was more of it, this could at least let me connect with one character. Except it falls into the boring territory of being predictable as it brushes past themes of passion and desire, jealousy and manipulation, rebellion and resistance. What is even more bothersome for me is the attempts at putting twists for the final reveal which was done so to try so hard to be surprising when it was obvious even before anything happened.

I have never seen any of the actors here except for the small supporting role that Michael Rapaport does. However, as I flip through the filmography here, the main man Milo Ventimiglia has been in a TV series that I have heard of but not seen. With that said, I liked his character quite a bit. The ladies used here were foreign actresses. Josephine de la Baume plays our main girl Djuna who has a crazy and rebellious sister Mimi. She falls in love with Paolo and things move fast. The characters are portrayed well and even the mood and cinematography has an artistic touch to it as it pairs with the beautiful music scored with Kiss of the Damned.

Overall, Kiss of the Damned is an okay, tries but fails to be unique movie. Even with good cinematography and pretty music, nothing can save this movie from its flawed execution, clunky dialogue and the lack of a decent script.  It builds decent romantic scenes especially the sex scenes are rather fun to watch, however, Kiss of the Damned lacks an engaging storyline to make it worth another watch.

Have you seen Kiss of the Damned? Do you like vampire movies? 

Next up is the letter L? Any ideas of what it might be? Hint: Foreign movie