Kissed (2020) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The movie takes place in modern North American urban and suburban settings, primarily at a funeral home and mortuary where Sandra works, a college campus where she studies, a car wash, and a dimly lit basement apartment. These locations contrast everyday life with Sandra's morbid world.

• setting
• locations
• funeral home
• mortuary
• college

Kissed is set in the 1990s, a period when societal attitudes toward science, sexuality, and death shaped how people understood mortality. The era's social constraints create tension between Sandra's living relationships and her obsessive fascination with the dead.

• 1990s
• time period
• era
• setting

Sandra Larson is the protagonist, a biology student with a lifelong fascination with death who progresses from dissecting small animals in college labs to pursuing mortuary science. Her obsession with mortality becomes increasingly dangerous, creating a rift between her living relationships and her fixation on the dead.

• sandra larson
• protagonist
• character

The Death Obsession theme explores Sandra's fascination with death from childhood, when she dances with animal corpses, through her adult work with dead bodies in the mortuary. The narrative examines how this fixation blurs the boundaries between life and death, ultimately eroding her relationships and moral boundaries.

• death obsession
• theme
• mortality
• fascination

Matt is a medical student who dates Sandra and becomes intrigued by her fascination with death. He represents the living counterpart to her mortality fixation, trying to connect with her despite her obsession. His character highlights whether love can survive when a partner chooses death over life.

• matt
• boyfriend
• character
• love

The funeral home serves as the primary setting where Sandra's obsession plays out. It provides the clinical environment for embalming and encounters with the dead, representing the intersection of scientific procedure and the supernatural tension between bodies and souls.

• funeral home
• mortuary
• setting
• embalming

The Love vs Death theme examines Matt's relationship with Sandra, showing how her obsession with the dead redefines their bond. The film questions whether love can survive when a partner chooses death over life, revealing the devastating cost of prioritizing the dead over the living.

• love vs death
• theme
• relationships
• obsession

Mr. Wallis is Sandra's mentor who apprentices her in embalming, guiding her through mortuary practices and the technical side of handling the dead. He represents the professional and clinical approach to death that contrasts with Sandra's more personal and obsessive relationship with corpses.

• mr wallis
• mentor
• embalming
• character

The Mortuary Science theme shows Sandra channeling her curiosity into embalming and mortuary science, studying the deceased with precision. The film juxtaposes scientific technique with beliefs about souls and the afterlife, creating tension between empirical discipline and supernatural compulsion.

• mortuary science
• embalming
• theme
• profession

Jan is the funeral home janitor who shares Sandra's belief that dead bodies still retain a soul. He embodies the superstition and spiritual perspective about mortality that contrasts with the more clinical approaches to death seen in mortuary work.

• jan
• janitor
• character
• soul

Kissed is a horror film grounded in psychological tension rather than overt scares. The movie's disturbing and taboo nature comes from Sandra's necrophilia, which creates a consistent sense of dread. The horror stems from character psychology and the unsettling tension between desire and mortality.

• horror
• necrophilia
• psychological
• taboo

Kissed explores themes of death obsession, the tension between scientific rationality and supernatural beliefs, and whether love can survive when one partner becomes consumed by mortality. The film presents a dark character study of obsession eroding relationships and moral boundaries.

• themes
• meaning
• message
• interpretation