El beso de los condenados

I saw this movie at this year's SXSW. It's refreshing to see a vampire movie that features vampires in classical form... and it is even more refreshing to see a story from the vampire's perspective. This movie may not have hardcore CGI and 3D Gore splashing out into the audience, but it does however offer an interesting 'to the point' storyline and creative indie film tactics. People giving this movie poor reviews are probably looking for the next "Interview With A Vampire" or "Twilight" and are judging it on a summer blockbuster 10 million dollar budget scale. I found this movie to be plenty entertaining and worth checking out.

If European cinema in the 1960s had access to HQ digital cinematography and sound, then a vampire film made then would be like this. Xan Cassavetes has crafted a deliberately retro feel to the movie and it works. I love the soundtrack, which has variety (just listen to the opening few minutes). It uses experimental sounds to crank up the tension for example. If you ever loved prog-rock, and know then that punk rock by comparison has no class, no depth, you will love the fact (is it an in-joke?) that the baddie comes complete a with a punk rock soundtrack. Xan reveals herself to be a delightful musical snob. She is also firmly on the side of the vampires.

This great-looking movie is a mixture of what works and what doesn't, hence a seven. Kudos to getting French actress Anna Mouglalis to play Xena. While beautiful, Anna actually plays Xena as a character actor. What a voice! When her character 'loses it' later on in the film, Anna beautifully conveys the tics, twitches and desperation without overdoing it. She should be in more movies. The bourgeois party scenes are convincing. The film tells a conventional but slight, linear story, with a beginning, middle and end.

On the minus side, although the initial romance is convincing, a better film would have gone deeper into the romance and involved the viewer more, with more complex characters. Another better version would have gone all out to scare you, successfully. The 'horrific' bits here are not really horrific.

This is deliberate. The film is by design a mood piece. It is even relaxing in parts, making it a good film to 'wind down' to with your partner in the evening. Xan understands that relationships, even in a vampire flick, are more interesting than blood and screaming. But she is even more into the 'feel' of the movie. Viewers raised on the Texas chainsaw massacre remakes and their ilk might not want 'relationships' or 'feel'. If you can understand these things before you watch it, you should enjoy the movie.

With passion comes great responsibility ... especially if you are not able to control it. The main character is a very strange one and the actress has a tough role to play. There is a stretch in what she has to depict. The story itself is more adult than your average teenage movie that came out lately (yes Twilight and any spawn it gave "birth" to), but also very predictable.

I watched it at a Festival, so the audience knew or expected this to be a strange one. If you are about to watch it, you should note that too. There is a lot of sexuality and some violence in this, something to consider too. A nicely done movie about containment, self control and love in general. Also about the meaning of life ... it does have to say a lot, as you can see

I watched this film on a whim and I can tell you from the start that is mostly a waste of time. Mostly, because the vampires in the film, classical as they were, had this twist of high class addicts that tried to stay off human blood, but occasionally failed. There was even a night of the vampires where they just sat there and discussed their condition. This had a lot of potential. Unfortunately the discussion was stale, the basic premise of the film just a spout between eternal sisters (now that is hell) and nothing else.

The cast was also full of potential. Milo Ventimiglia is a decent actor and rather good looking; I bet he will do increasingly well. Roxane Mesquida is hot as hell, especially in the role of the out of control psychotic bitch. Michael Rapaport, poor guy, had a lot going for him but now is just a fat nobody playing ridiculous roles. However, I am pretty sure this cast could have done a decent job with a good script. Alas, this was anything but one.

Add to this the really bad direction, the weak effects, the obsolete camera techniques and you get a movie that looks made by a student for a cinematography exam. Just avoid it.

No plot, no point, bad acting, bad editing,unexplored characters, unnecessary characters, no character motivation,bad use of music,boring and unoriginal. At least it was mostly competently shot and coloured but that's it. Avoid.