‘Dead & Beautiful’ Is Beautiful To Look At But That’s Where The Attraction Ends
Imagine a world where Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries could have a crossover episode. That’s director David Verbeek’s Dead & Beautiful in a nutshell. Five bored young billionaires take turns trying to craft a unique experience to break up their mundane existences. The movie opens with a member of the “Circle,” Bin-Ray (Philip Juan), surprising the other members, who he convinced that he died, before segueing into a very random fight in an upscale establishment. However, two of the members, Lulu and Anastasia (Aviis Zhong and Anechka Marchenko, respectively), feel like the group is in a rut.
On Anastasia’s next turn, she gets a little help to craft something completely brand new that backfires. The Circle wakes up to discover that they have all turned into vampires. This is where all chaos should break loose. But unfortunately, it doesn’t. While the movie gives us a glimpse into what each member does with their newfound fangs, it never really shifts into drive. We get a few laughs as Anastasia tries to vlog as a vampire, and as Bin-Ray begins documenting the experience on video. We also get glimpses into some dark stuff with Alex (Yen Tsao) and Lulu that give momentary sparks but never payout. The movie caves under the weight of all of the twists that it tries to build to, while ultimately leaving us feeling disoriented for the wrong reasons.
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On the bright side, Dead & Beautiful is beautifully shot and gorgeous to look at. The costumes and hair are stunning. Each location looks like it was lifted from paintings. The lighting is easily a mood board waiting to happen. I sincerely believe screenshots of the movie might be enough to resurrect LiveJournal and Tumblr friendships that we thought we left in our tween years. However, the movie runs longer than it should. We spend so much time in each scene that it begins to feel like we are stuck. This issue is especially bothersome during the last two plot twists. Picking up the pace would have made those two moments feel like surprises instead of the inevitable next twist(s).
While Dead & Beautiful sounds fun on paper, it never really gets out of its way long enough to truly enjoy itself. It also never really earns any serious moments that it tries to manipulate us into believing are deep. Instead, I finished the movie and found myself thinking back to Anastasia and Lulu’s conversation at the beginning. I also felt the sense of ennui that they expressed.
Dead & Beautiful is now available on Shudder.
Summary
It is a beautiful film to look at, but that is about where the attraction ends.
