10 Hidden Gem Vampire Horror Movies

2. Kiss Of The Damned

Kiss of the Damned
Magnet Releasing

Released in 2013, Xan Cassavetes' Kiss of the Damned is to date the filmmaker's only feature film. Given the quality of this offering, it's a huge shame that Cassavetes - daughter of legendary director John - has opted against returning to helm any follow-up pictures.

What's most striking about Kiss of the Damned, is just how darn beautiful the film looks. At a time when Twilight and True Blood were all the rage, Cassavetes' movie delivered something more in tune with the classic gothic vampire efforts of decades gone by, pulling clear inspiration from European icons like Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento for colours and textures.

Plot-wise, Kiss of the Damned revolves around vampire Djuna (Josephine de la Baume) and her non-vampire would-be lover Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia). To her credit, Djuna does her best to not get too close to Paolo, spurning his advances for fear of losing control. For Paolo, he spends the initial portion of the movie convincing Djuna that he's absolutely ready for what is going to be more than just a gnarly love bite.

With these lovebirds wanting to simply spend eternity together and harvest blood from animals rather than humans, the landscape of Kiss of the Damned is thrown up in the air when Djuna's overly-sexed, morally-different sister Mimi (Roxane Mesquida) decides to pay this couple of visit...

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.