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Kiss Of The Damned
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Kiss Of The Damned
Released by: Magnolia Pictures
Released on: July 23, 2013.
Director: Xan Cassavetes
Cast: Joséphine de La Baume, Milo Ventimiglia, Roxane Mesquida, Anna Mouglalis
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Xan Cassavetes (yep, John's daughter), 2012's Kiss Of The Damned follows a screenwriter named Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia) whose agent sends him out to a small town so that he can get some work done. One night he meets a beautiful woman named Djuna (Joséphine de La Baume) and after a few drinks they head back to the palatial estate she calls home. She tells him she has a skin condition that means she can't go outside during daylight. Before the make out session can get too heavy though, she has a sudden change of heart and asks him to leave. He begrudgingly obliges but a day or two later he's back at her door - she opens, and they kiss without opening the chain lock. The fact that she gives him a nasty bite on the lip doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent and while he initially doesn't believe her when she tells him she's a vampire, after he chains her to the bed and watches her fangs emerge when he gets too close, he's convinced. And he's okay with it. In fact, he lets her change him.
Enter Mimi (Roxane Mesquida), Djuna's foxy raven haired troublemaker of a sister. The estate Djuna is living in is owned by a popular Broadway actress named Xenia (Anna Mouglalis) who firmly believes that Mimi needs a place to stay for a week before she can go to rehab. Djuna protests, but it is Xenia's house and there's not a whole lot she can do about it. There's an attraction between Mimi and Paolo, though he cares for Djuna. Once Mimi enters the picture, things start to get tense and soon enough she's causing problems not just for Djuna but for the entire secret vampire society of which all of these characters are a part.
Frequently artsy for the sake of artsy, Kiss Of The Damned is the right mix of arthouse style and blatant exploitation. The film flaunts the sexual side of vampirism and doesn't shy away from the gore, but uses lush location photography, impressive wardrobe dressing and some genuinely impressive cinematography to make it all seem like a much classier movie than it really is. Not to take away from the picture, however, as it's a ridiculously entertaining movie that's got some seriously great mood and atmosphere and some scenes of tangible tension of both the horrific and sexual varieties - sometimes both simultaneously.
At times reminiscent of some of Jean Rollin's movies and other times evoking the best moments from The Hunger, Cassavete's movie is well paced and slick and set to a great soundtrack that perfectly complements the onscreen action. The performances are also quite solid. Milo Ventimiglia is good as the male lead here. While his obsession with Djuna happens so quickly that it has to be almost completely physical attraction rather than anything more substantial than that which draws him to her, he commits to the part and his lust feels real. Joséphine de La Baume brings the right mix of reserved European classiness and aggressive power to her part that it makes sense for things to shape up the way they do between Djuna and Paolo. It seems inevitable from the moment they first meet that they'd fuck soon after, their knowing glances say much more than their dialogue. She looks great and plays the smart woman very well. On the flip side, in terms of character, though equally impressive in terms of her ability is Roxane Mesquida as Mimi. We know from the moment she walks on screen that she's bad news but she's shot in such a way that we want to know more about her - and as we do, the movie becomes more interesting. Mesquida vamps it up, pun intended, and more importantly she makes it look natural. She gives a very assured, confident performance and as such, Mimi is a character who very much knows what she wants and exactly how she's going to get it. The power struggle that ensues between the two sisters is an important part of the movie and these actresses make it work.
Cassavete's direction is strong throughout. The movie is paced well, never dragging or overstaying its welcome and clever enough to hit us with just enough flash and trash to appeal to our eyes and to our libidos. What we wind up with is a movie that plays more like the vampire films that came out of Europe in the sixties and seventies than anything Hollywood has pumped out in recent times - and that's a very good thing indeed.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kiss Of The Damned debuts on Blu-ray from Magnolia Pictures in a very striking AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.40.1 widescreen. The high contrast cinematography employed in the movie transfers beautifully here and not at the cost of texture or detail. The image offers up all sorts of little bits and pieces of eye candy to appreciate here, be it the bubbles in some blood dripping from a character's lips or the pores visible on facial close up shots. Medium and long distance shots show off impressive texture in drapes, bed sheets and gowns while color reproduction remains impressive throughout. Skin looks very much like skin, no digital scrubbing or noise reduction is evident at all, while shadow detail is strong in the dark scenes as are black levels. This transfer is great.
Two DTS-HD Master Audio tracks are provided in 5.1 Surround Sound and 2.0 Stereo, both in English and with optional subtitles provided in English and Spanish. The 5.1 track is the way to go if you've got the horsepower for it, as it opens up nicely in a few key scenes and offers up some impressive ambient noise that helps to fill in the soundscape nicely. The film's score, which is pretty much all quirky instrumental pieces, really helps to build some bizarre atmosphere and is spread out across all channels really nicely while dialogue stays crisp and clear and perfectly easy to understand. Bass response is strong when the movie calls for it but never overpowering and again, Magnolia's disc earns top marks here.
The extras kick off with a commentary track from director Xan Cassavetes who discusses writing the script, casting the picture, locations and quite a bit more. She elaborates on some of the themes and ideas central to the storyline and talks about her experiences making the picture. It's not a track that movies at a thousand miles an hour but it's a decent talk that explores her creative process and details the history of the production rather well.
From there we move on to the featuresttes, starting with a ten minute interview with Joséphine de La Baume and followed by a seven minute interview with Roxane Mesquida. Both actresses discuss how they met Cassavetes and how they were brought on board to work on the film before discussing their fellow cast members and sharing some experiences from the shoot. Mesquida also shows up in the five minute AXS TV Interviews alongside Milo Ventimiglia for an EPK style promotional featurette. Two theatrical trailers and previews for other Magnolia Pictures releases are included, as are menus and chapter selection. All of the extras on the disc are presented in high definition.
The Final Word:
An enjoyably pulp style horror film that isn't afraid to toss in all the sex and violence you could want in a good vampire story, Kiss Of The Damned isn't reinventing the genre but it is plenty entertaining. If it's occasionally an exercise in artsy style over substance, so be it - the story works well and the performances are strong and this turned out to be a lot of fun. Magnolia's Blu-ray looks and sounds pretty much perfect and it throws in some decent supplements too. A great release through and through.
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#1Lalala76Senior MemberFind all postsView Profile07-28-2013, 11:36 AMEditing a commentSounds great, my kind of thing but yet again is region locked.There is also alternate artwork for this I have noticed
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