Jim Jarmusch Takes on Vampires in an Exclusive Clip From 'Only Lovers Left Alive'

As the godfather of independent film, Jim Jarmusch has spent the past three decades chronicling the lonely existences of those who scrape along at the fringes of society, from haunted artists to would-be geniuses. In Jarmusch films like Stranger Than Paradise (1984) and Ghost Dog (1999), the director’s lost-soul characters walk through desolate landscapes, in search of an outlet for all they feel.

So it was inevitable then that the filmmaker would find his way to a vampire story; after all, it’s a genre in which vital, creative wanderers are driven into society’s shadows.

In this year’s Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch takes a moody, atmospheric look at these creatures, presenting them as society’s natural artists. In the film, TIlda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star as a very, very old pair of married bloodsuckers, who now live worlds apart, floating listlessly through a world in which human blood no longer delivers the punch it once did. In this exclusive clip, which you can watch above, the lovers seek to connect through a video chat, the technology under-lining their disconnection.

Lovers also stars Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, and Jeffrey Wright, and was hailed as Jarmusch’s sharpest work in years when it debuted earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie debuts on VOD this week and is out on Blu-ray August 19th..