10 Best Indie Vampire Movies You've Probably Never Seen
4. Kiss Of The Damned (2012)
Xan Cassavetes' female-led horror Kiss Of The Damned is an occasionally nonsensical but confidently done vampire story inspired by the classic gothic horror style of the 1970s.
Fuelled by unreserved eroticism and a story of human-vampire love that feels as old as time, Kiss Of The Damned is far more interested in its mood and look than its story (just as well, given how the plot by necessity feels a tad inconsequential).
It has the lavishly stained look of classic Euro horror with a sound design that throbs and pulsates just behind the visuals. It fully embraces the wicked aesthetics that made '70s bloodsucker movies so illicitly thrilling to watch, managing to put an at least semi-new spin on things.
The dialogue delivery is sometimes a bit monotone, and amidst the increasing presence of retro-horror movies over the last decade, Kiss Of The Damned might appear somewhat unremarkable. But it deserves renewed attention and praise, if nothing else for the unwavering dedication to a stylistic philosophy that has drenched vampires in blood-soaked thrills for years.