Dead & Beautiful was released on Shudder on November 4th, 2021. A vampire story with promise featuring five Asian millennials with money to burn who discover they are suddenly eternal. Writer-director David Verbeek’s seventh feature film takes him back to city landscapes and bedazzled Asian culture. Similarly to his previous movies Shanghai Trance and How to Describe a Cloud, Dead & Beautiful sets up in dark city streets. In Dead & Beautiful the language flicks back and forth from English to Mandarin as the 20-somethings talk to each other throughout the narrative.
What begins as an exciting foray into the lives of this rich but bored group, immediately frays at the edges without characters to like. Unlike the popular TV series “Bling Empire” or even the film “Crazy Rich Asians”, interesting personalities are few and far between. In the opening scenes, we are treated to an introduction that shows each of the net worth values they have.
Aside from that though, their boredom centers on “having done it all.” To up the ante of their unfulfilled lives, they create a circle where each member in turn picks an activity for them to do next. With cars, money, and even helicopters at their disposal, ideas are often met with an unenthusiastic antiphon.
Shiny Well-dressed Vampires
On the upside, the cinematography is extremely beautiful. The five are always shot in a way that makes you feel like you’re getting a front-row seat with the cool kids. I particularly liked watching scenes featuring Lulu (Aviis Zhong) simply walking about in her long dark jacket and face mask. The color palette is full of pastel and neon hues and you can’t deny the perfect artistic styling.
Anastasia takes her turn to organize a trip to a remote area with a local elder. They are given a drug to inhale as part of the evening’s activities. When they wake up, they discover a dead body with wounds to his neck. It’s at this point any previous self-awareness dissipates. Earlier references to Bram Stoker and acknowledging a scary grey-haired lady as possible foreshadowing gave the impression characters were essentially familiar with popular horror movie tropes.
In addition, only one of them falls victim to a heightened personality change. Alexander (Yen Tsao) taps into his vampiric nature, kidnaps a prostitute, and makes a kill, but the rest of his friends decide it’s all too much. They simply complain about their situation.
Bling Empire With Fangs?
To clarify, I found relevance in the thinly veiled metaphor of bloodsuckers and what is commonly associated with the rich. However, the lack of relatability hampers a connection with these dead & beautiful vamps. They test the limits of their transformation by drinking blood and discovering a new source of energy. In this situation, their antics provide little more than minor entertainment.
The film drags along. A lot of Vampire movies reach deep to put forth the profound nature of being eternal. The mere thought of never dying is only good in theory. And while Dead & beautiful attempts to broach that feeling too, it fails to capture what that means. What remains is a soulless vampire movie about people I could care less about.
I give Dead & Beautiful
2 listless vampire movies out of 5
For an explanation for the ending of the Dead and Beautiful movie, Signalhorizon.com has you covered. For another vampire movie, watch Beneath Us All or The Crucible Humanist Vampire Seeking Consentual Suicidal Person next.
Dead & Beautiful Review
- Directed by: David Verbeek.
- Written by: David Verbeek with a screenplay contribution by Hugh Travers.
- The cast of Dead & Beautiful: Gijs Blom, Aviis Zhong, Yen Tsao, Philip Juan, and Anechka Marchenko.
Dead and Beautiful Trailer, Stream the Full Movie On Shudder
Watch the Dead and Beautiful trailer below and see if this title is your cup of tea.
Dead and Beautiful
Director: David Verbeek
Date Created: 2021-02-05 21:36
2
Pros
- Beautiful cinematography
- Vampires
Cons
- Uninteresting characters
- Slow paced without essential payoff
