Dead and Beautiful – A Mediocre Horror Drama

Shudder is a streaming service that doesn’t quite deliver highly entertaining content on a consistent basis for horror fans.  Like any platform, it’s hit or miss. Premium content easily worth box office elevation comes along once in a blue moon. And then there’s well, everything else. Dead and Beautiful is the latest offering that finds itself somewhere firmly in the middle; it’s neither wholly terrible nor white-knuckle top-notch horror.

The gist of Dead and Beautiful focuses on five 20-somethings named Lulu (Zhong), Anastasia (Marchenko), Mason (Blom), Bin-Ray (Juan), and Alexander (Tsao) who are all filthy rich with no other life goals but to entertain themselves in any way possible. Each member of their elite group of friends gets to choose what comes next – the more thrilling, the better. So they’re all trying to outdo each other. There’s a lot of room for the story to expand from here, but it doesn’t get any better as time progresses.

The film’s setting, more or less, is Taipei, prompting some Mandarin subtitles which is fine. What’s less bearable is when the primary characters cut in and out of speaking Chinese and English. Two group members seem to be European, making for an exciting mix of culture but on the other side, the film becomes a little disjointed once the language clumsily goes back and forth throughout the film. This reviewer personally prefers when dialogue flows as evenly between characters as possible. It’s generally a lot less enjoyable when viewers have to concentrate just a little harder on deciphering what is getting lost in translation.

Once Marchenko’s Anastasia chooses the next event where she led the group into some wilderness, the group found themselves meeting a mysterious older man. A small ritual takes place involving blood. The following day, everyone in the group wakes up with vampire teeth and a hazy recollection of what happened. At this point, viewers surely are already be feeling less interested in the plight of the rich brats of Dead and Beautiful, but I’m a completionist. From there, each member of the group goes through their separate turmoil after their fateful night in the jungle.

The relationships among the members of the group then begin to change. Meanwhile, the plot seems to be without any direction in some scenes. It’s also next to impossible to figure out who is loyal to who, leading the group into utter chaos. It is, however, interesting to watch how each member deals with their newfound vampire status. Checking to see if the sun burns their skin is an absolute must (no, I’m serious!).

While we won’t spoil the twist, it’s a pretty good one and well worth watching until the end to see it. But it’s not enough to drag the disappointing film that is Dead and Beautiful out of mediocrity.

still courtesy of Shudder

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