A group of young and spoiled rich kids turns into vampires after a night out, changing the course of their lives and driving a wedge between them all.
On the surface, there’s so much to love about “Dead & Beautiful.” Its depiction of ennui among wealthy teens might distance it from its audience but at the very least it lands “sexy teenage vampires” almost directly out of a CW program. The moody atmosphere carries the heavy weight of this film as its light on plot. The characters feel stretched a little thin at points and the erotic staring only goes so far. Still, the erotic languish of the main characters digs into some classic vampire stories and uses its locales to make it feel more thought out than it is.
Five uber-wealthy teenagers take turns giving each other the weekend of a lifetime. One trip takes the five of them deep into the Chinese jungle where a strange tribal elder knocks them unconscious. When they all wake up the next morning with sharpened teeth and a blood-drained elder, they begin to suspect their lives will never be the same. Each character takes the vampire revelation in different ways, spinning out over the course of the movie forcing each other into a collision course.
Sexy teenage vampires are nothing new to us. While the concept found its heyday with shows like “True Blood,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and more they are often set in America with foreigners being the outlier. In a world full of TikTok uber-wealthy children, our conception of bored rich kids expanded to include other nations and languages. It’s only fair our sexy teenage vampire genre expanded to include them as well. Much like its influences, “Dead & Beautiful” leans heavily on eroticism and style than plot.
Cinematographer Jasper Wolf frames many sequences in practical lights: TV screens, neon signs, street lights. Almost every subject gets artfully lit with contrasting colors bordering on neon-soaked. The steady camera moves consistently and rarely shakes or shimmers. Instead, it gazes delectfully at our subjects, raking in extra seconds of performance on longer-than-usual takes. This aesthetic priority clearly gains the movie more likability since the plot, when taken on its surface, drags before fizzling out after a promising finale.
“Dead & Beautiful” wants to be equal parts vampire drama, teenage angst, and arthouse slow-burn. That means it sacrifices much of its characters’ forward movement. Most of the movie follows the teens as they realize they are vampires, slowly pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with. It’s exciting to see them realize that, just as consequences mean nothing when they have that much wealth, they could possibly get away with murder. This slow drama builds on a tangle of sexy romances between multiple characters. When things finally boil over it becomes too much and stakes are FINALLY established.
The trouble with “Dead & Beautiful” is it wants to have its cake and eat it too. It takes so long to really feel the danger in their newfound vampire status that it doesn’t feel all that dangerous to begin with. This prevents us from feeling anything other than curiosity. I won’t give away the convoluted ending but I can safely say it backs away from those dangerous stakes to settle on something trite.
“Dead & Beautiful” has a chance to be all that it delivers and more. It languishes in its characters’ dark ennui. The visuals, much like the characters, look gorgeous on the surface but there’s little else there to draw upon. A pretty face, once left from view, is easily forgotten and I’m afraid this movie is too.
Now available to stream exclusively on Shudder
