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Five bored young billionaires become vampires in “Dead & Beautiful,” a middling horror-thriller and social satire that opens with an intriguing premise but never probes its cashed-up characters deeply enough to create gripping drama from the heightened hedonism or existential crises they experience after acquiring new powers. Slickly photographed in a neon-drenched Taipei and featuring an attractive young cast, this riff on the eternal tale by Dutch filmmaker David Verbeek scores early points by drawing parallels between mythological vampirism and the modern metaphorical vampirism of rich elites before losing its sting and meandering toward an unsurprising “surprise” conclusion. After notching appearances at festivals including Rotterdam, Sitges and Fantastic Fest, “Dead & Beautiful” releases Nov. 4 in North America and the U.K. on genre streaming platform Shudder.

These rich young things deal with the burden of being unbelievably wealthy and incredibly bored by taking turns to arrange pranks and experiences that...

Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has announced that psychological thriller Dead & Beautiful will premiere on Thursday, November 4 in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The film, which is written and directed by David Verbeek (R U There), is also set to play at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas on Saturday, September 25.

In Dead & Beautiful, five rich, spoiled Asian twenty-somethings are suffering from upper class ennui, unsure how to spend their days when so little is expected from them. In search of excitement, the five friends form the “Circle”, a group where they take turns designing a unique, extravagant experience for the others. But things go wrong when the privileged urbanites awaken after a night out, to find they have developed vampire fangs and an unquenchable thirst for flesh, blood, and adventure at any price.

Dead & Beautiful...

Dead & Beautiful: "...Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has announced that psychological thriller Dead & Beautiful will premiere on Thursday, November 4 in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The film, which is written and directed by David Verbeek, is also set to play at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX on Saturday, September 25.

In Dead & Beautiful, five rich, spoiled Asian twenty-somethings are suffering from upper class ennui, unsure how to spend their days when so little is expected from them. In search of excitement, the five friends form the “Circle,” a group where they take turns designing a unique, extravagant experience for the others. But things go wrong when the privileged urbanites awaken after a night out, to find they have developed vampire fangs and an unquenchable thirst for flesh, blood, and adventure at any price.

Dead & Beautiful...

Shudder to Premiere Psychological Thriller Dead & Beautiful Thursday, November 4. The Film is Set to Play Fantastic Fest Saturday, September 25th – Watch the scary trailer:

Today, Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has announced that psychological thriller Dead & Beautiful will premiere on Thursday, November 4 in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The film, which is written and directed by David Verbeek, is also set to play at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX on Saturday, September 25.

In Dead & Beautiful, five rich, spoiled Asian twenty-somethings are suffering from upper class ennui, unsure how to spend their days when so little is expected from them. In search of excitement, the five friends form the “Circle,” a group where they take turns designing a unique, extravagant experience for the others. But things go wrong when the privileged urbanites awaken after a night out,...

Back in Rotterdam with his Taiwanese-Dutch production Dead & Beautiful, the IFFR regular David Verbeek had a world premiere of his genre-bending drama (which screened in the Limelight section) whose plot centers around five uber-rich young people and their attempts to feel real life by “taking turns”.

Dead and Beautiful screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam

The rules of the game are allegedly simple. “Turns” happen on weekends, when one of the five tries to impress the rest of the gang by organizing an unforgettable, unique experience. Any genuine emotion – extreme happiness, deep fear or immense sadness is a welcome reaction. But, it turns out that it’s very difficult to impress a billionaire, and almost impossible to impress four billionaires at the same time. Money alone isn’t enough to ignite fire in any of them, and the race for the best show begins.

Verbeek came up with the...

Dutch director David Verbeek is no stranger to the International Film Festival Rotterdam: his newest film Dead & Beautiful is his seventh feature to play there. For quite some years we've been hearing bits and pieces about "this vampire film" he was planning to make, and lo-and-behold, even though he made several other films first, David Verbeek still managed to get it finished on time for a world première at the festival's 50th edition. So, was it worth the wait? The answer is: definitely. Dead & Beautiful is an extremely stylish and polished thriller, and one of the best films I saw at the festival this year. In the film, we follow five friends, all young and filthy rich. "Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...