Magnet Releasing has acquired worldwide rights to writer-director Xan Cassavetes’ “Kiss of the Damned” ahead of its world premiere as the closing-night film of International Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival September 7.
Inspired by European genre films of the 1960s and ’70s, Cassavetes’ erotic vampire film follows a female vampire who falls for a human male while having to deal with the meddling of her troublemaking sister. Joséphine de La Baume, Milo Ventimiglia, Roxane Mesquida and Riley Keough star in the project, which is a DeerJen/Verisimilitude production in association with Bersin Pictures.
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Jen Gatien and Alex Orlovsky produced; Adam S. Bersin, Jacob Pechenik, Riaz Tyab and Jon Vinnik are executive producers.
“Xan Cassavetes has managed to breathe new life into a tired genre in one of the most original, and frankly hottest horror movies I’ve seen in a very long time,” said Magnet/Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles. “‘Kiss of the Damned’ is a smart film with real artistic aspirations that is also incredibly fun to watch.”
Magnet execs Dori Begley and Peter Van Steemburg negotiated the deal with the filmmakers, producers and counsel André Des Rochers of Gray Krauss Stratford Des Rochers LLP.
The genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, Magnet has recently released the films “Goon,” “Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,” “Beyond the Black Rainbow” and “The Innkeepers. Forthcoming releases include the horror anthologies “V/H/S” and “The ABCs of Death,” which will screen during the Toronto Film Festival.
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