Halloween may now be over, but that isn’t going to stop horror streaming giant Shudder from continuing to source new genre content. This week sees the arrival of a fresh and different take on the classic vampire in the form of David Verbeek’s Dead and Beautiful. Set and filmed in Taiwan, Dead and Beautiful follows a group of bored, young, rich kids (all the children of billionaires) as they embrace their vampiric sides after a wild night out. This new dynamic to their personas creates new developments within the circle of friends. Each has a different outlook to the others: some are afraid, others quietly cautious, whilst some embrace their new identity with startling ferocity. As events progress into dangerous territory, the fractured gang must find a way back together.
Dead and Beautiful is written and directed by Dutch filmmaker David Verbeek. After his studies, and with one well-received feature film, Beat, under his belt, Verbeek relocated from the Netherlands to China where he set about continuing his film career. Since the relocation, Verbeek has directed a further six movies, with Dead and Beautiful his seventh feature film. Verbeek has clearly put his past experience to work and in Dead and Beautiful has crafted a film that looks just as lavish as the lifestyles that the characters inhabit. The film also presents a lot of interesting and philosophical ideas and will suit those who prefer their vampire films less bloody and more existential.
Ahead of Dead and Beautiful’s arrival on Shudder later this week, I spoke with the writer / director to find out more about how the film came to life. We spoke of his global move and how that impacted his visual style, making a movie about billionaires on a limited budget, and just what Shudder audiences can expect from Dead and Beautiful.
Dead and Beautiful arrives on Shudder on 4th November 2021
