Flesh of the Gods: Inside Panos Cosmatos's 1980s Vampire Thriller — Now Filming in Spain

TL;DR: Director Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) is currently shooting his third feature — a vampire thriller set in 1980s Los Angeles starring Kristen Stewart and Wagner Moura. A24 has US distribution locked. International streaming rights, including India, are still being negotiated at Cannes. No release date yet, but 2027 is most likely.

Production is underway right now — here's what's confirmed

Cameras started rolling in May 2026 in the Canary Islands, Spain. The second half of shooting moves to Cologne, Germany.

The film follows Raoul and Alex, a married couple (Stewart and Moura) who descend nightly from their luxury high-rise into LA's electric after-dark world. They encounter a mysterious figure called "the Nameless" and her hard-partying inner circle — and get pulled into something glamorous, surrealistic, and increasingly violent. Vampires. The whole thing.

Cast:

• Kristen Stewart as Raoul
• Wagner Moura as Alex
• Esmé Creed-Miles (A Head Full of Ghosts)
• Roland Møller (Citadel)
• Alba Baptista (Warrior Nun, Netflix)

Creative team:

• Director: Panos Cosmatos
• Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en)
• Producers: Hyperobject Industries, Augenschein Filmproduktion, Nevermind Pictures, XYZ Films
• Financing: XYZ Films, YouRoc, IPR.VC, Vixens

A24 handles US distribution. XYZ Films is selling international rights at Cannes — which means your region's streaming home (Netflix, Prime Video, etc.) is still unknown.

Why a Panos Cosmatos vampire film matters

Two feature films. That's it. That's Cosmatos's entire filmography before Flesh of the Gods.

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) was a synth-drenched sci-fi horror that barely played theatrically. Mandy (2018)? That one broke through — Nicolas Cage, a chainsaw, and grief transmuted into pure rage across two stunning hours. It made maybe $1.3 million in theaters. Then it hit streaming, and suddenly everyone was talking about it.

The thing nobody mentions often enough is how rare this trajectory actually is. A24 doesn't pre-buy from unproven directors casually. They did it with Hereditary. They did it with Midsommar. When A24 commits before principal photography, they're signaling: we believe this director has something we haven't seen before.

What's striking about Cosmatos is his relationship with the 1980s specifically. His father, George P. Cosmatos, directed Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone — so there's analog cinema in his DNA. Panos channels a very particular kind of dread: synthesizers, neon, the creeping sense that something beautiful is also deeply wrong. That sensibility doesn't feel dated. It feels inevitable. Compare it to Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) — languid, atmospheric vampire mythology where style matters more than plot — and you're in the right territory.

The cast is genuinely international

Kristen Stewart's post-Spencer career has been one of the more interesting actor trajectories in prestige film. Oscar nomination for playing Diana, then deliberately choosing genre work. She's also directing now — her debut feature, The Chronology of Water, came out last year, and Esmé Creed-Miles appeared in it. That's not coincidence. That's a working creative relationship.

Wagner Moura brings something different entirely. Brazilian, fluent in multiple genres — Narcos (Netflix), Elite Squad, Alex Garland's Civil War last year. He's built for morally ambiguous material. The guy doesn't shy away from complex characters in high-concept spaces.

Esmé Creed-Miles is the connective tissue here. Fresh off leading Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala's A Head Full of Ghosts alongside Rebecca Hall. Roland Møller — Danish, Oscar-nominated for Land of Mine (2015), recently in Amazon's Citadel. Alba Baptista, Portuguese, known for Netflix's Warrior Nun and the upcoming Amazon feature Voltron with Henry Cavill.

This isn't a Hollywood ensemble pretending to be international. It actually is. Movie OTT notes that European casting often signals a film that's thinking visually across borders — and the Spanish-German production split confirms it.

Where you'll actually be able to watch this (eventually)

Here's the uncomfortable truth: if you're not in the United States, you're in a holding pattern.

A24 controls North American rights. XYZ Films is actively selling international distribution at the Cannes market — meaning deals for the UK, Europe, Asia, and India are being negotiated right now. No confirmed platforms yet.

For Indian audiences specifically:

A24's historical pattern in India has been fragmented. Some titles land on Netflix India (Hereditary, Midsommar). Others hit Amazon Prime Video. A few got limited theatrical runs through PVR Pictures before any streaming placement at all.

What we don't know yet: theatrical distributor in India, OTT home, dubbed versions, or release window. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker will have the answer once distribution is locked — likely within weeks, once Cannes deals close. Check back there instead of hunting across five different platforms.

The 1980s Hollywood setting and vampire genre have both performed well on Indian streaming. Netflix India's audience showed solid appetite for prestige horror (Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is a data point). Kristen Stewart also retains real name recognition there — the Twilight effect, for better or worse, created a durable fanbase that's now in their late 20s and early 30s.

What the script tells us

Andrew Kevin Walker wrote Se7en in 1995 — arguably the most precisely constructed genre screenplay in modern cinema. The guy knows how to build mythology. That he's writing Flesh of the Gods from a story co-developed with Cosmatos suggests a project where the vampire mythology has been built carefully from the ground up, not retrofitted from a treatment.

The official synopsis reads: "Raoul and Alex descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless and her hard-partying cabal, they're seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence."

Studio language. Controlled. Deliberately withholding. Cosmatos himself hasn't done lengthy press — he doesn't need to. His films are loud enough. (We reached out to XYZ Films for additional comment but hadn't received a response at publication.)

Release window and what to watch for

Flesh of the Gods is mid-production. Canary Islands is wrapping; Cologne comes next. Post-production takes time. A 2027 theatrical release is most realistic — though a festival premiere in late 2026 (Venice? Toronto?) isn't impossible if things move fast.

Watch for international distribution announcements in the next 4–6 weeks. XYZ Films moves quickly at Cannes. Once a platform confirms rights in your region, Movie OTT will have it updated in their tracker.

Should you want to watch this? Yes — if Mandy or Only Lovers Left Alive landed for you, this film is shaping up to be essential. Where and when you can actually access it depends on deals being made at Cannes right now. Frustrating, I know. That's modern film distribution.

Sources

• Deadline — "Kristen Stewart & Wagner Moura Underway On A24 Vampire Thriller 'Flesh Of The Gods' With Esmé Creed-Miles, Roland Møller & Alba Baptista Joining The Cast — Cannes Market"
• Bloody Disgusting — Wagner Moura Joins Kristen Stewart in Panos Cosmatos' 'Flesh of the Gods'; A24 to Distribute