Innocent Blood (1992)
The Principals: Anne
Parillaud,
Anthony LaPaglia, Robert Loggia, Don Rickles, Chazz
Palminteri, Luis Guzman, Tony Sirico, Kim Coates, Angela Bassett.
The Premise:
A
Pittsburgh cop, Joe Gennaro (LaPaglia), who is deep undercover in the
mafia organization of Sal “The Shark” Macelli (Loggia) runs afoul of a
local female vampire (Anne Parillaud), Marie, who just so happens to
have a taste for Italian. After she snacks on Sal without
finishing him off before he turns, Macelli revives and starts running
amok. At first disoriented by what’s happened to him, Macelli
eventually revels in his newfound power, including turning his fellow
mobsters into real
made men. Joe and Marie must then team up to stop Macelli and
his band of mob vampires. Joe isn’t sure he can trust Marie,
but he damn sure knows he’s attracted to her.
Is It Good:
It’s
a wonderfully understated vampire comedy and the last John Landis
project I remember enjoying. It has a great deadpan
atmosphere to almost anything going on onscreen. And if
memory serves, the word “vampire” isn’t mentioned once in the entire
movie. Anne Parillaud who, hands down, has the prettiest
smile I’ve ever seen in film, is affecting as Marie, a vampire who is
admittedly, “fucked up about men.” Anthony LaPaglia is fine
as essentially the straight man of the picture and Robert Loggia really
gets to ham it up like few times before or since. It’s also
got people whose work I like, including Luis Guzman, Chazz Palmitieri,
Kim Coates, and of course, Mr. Warmth himself. It’s also
notable for a pre-What’s Love Got To Do With It Angela Bassett in a small role.
Is It Worth A Look: Absolutely.
How
many other vampire flicks do you know of that take place in
Pittsburgh of all places? Plus it’s got just the right mix of
the aforementioned deadpan humor and gore. The effects work –
mostly the vampire eyes – is quite good and is,
for the most part, completely practical. Also there’s a pretty good CGI scene (when CGI hadn’t been around that long) where Macelli walks away from a gas tank explosion to inform Joe and Marie that the only thing they killed was his suit. Other notable scenes
include Don Rickles turning into charcoal when doused by sunlight in a
hospital, Joe and Marie taking on a room full of vampires in a strip
club, Macelli waking up in the morgue, disoriented, and some eye-glinting vampire sex.
I remember when this
film came out I was working at a movie theatre and had heard
essentially nothing about it. It came out of nowhere and was
an unexpected delight. If you’re thinking of checking out the latest Twilight flick, check this out instead. You’ll be much happier.
Random Anecdotes:
Look close for a number of cameos, including Linnea Quigley as a nurse, Sam Raimi as the Roma Meats Man, Dario Argento as a paramedic, and of course, Frank Oz as a bewildered medical examiner.
18 comments
i saw this movie when i was like 13, and to me at that time, you know before broadband internet, this was like hardcore porn, gotta say, one scene got ALOT of watches.
Thank you. I've been singing this underrated film's praises for years. The score by (I think) Ira Newborn is also a delight.
I like this movie too, but Don Rickles makes it a MUST.
"Nobody calls me pimp, nobody calls me goon. Since I'm 16 what people call me is Sally. The Shaaaaaark!"
Yeah, there's one scene early on and another scene a bit later on that are quite memorable. Then there's stuff about vampires which is mildly amusing.
I first watched this many moons ago expecting it to be Landis' vampire equivalent to american Werewolf in London. Of that it fell short, as most films do – but I'd really would like to see this again and give it a second chance. And you can't beat Robert Loggia hamming it up, his "Michael Cutler is MY boy!" from Over the Top is great stuff and fantastically adaptable in everyday life too.
Great pick for MOTD. I recall seeing this in the theater, the funny thing is I think this opened the same day as Last of the Mohicans and my girlfriend at the time wanted to see that but I persuaded her to go see this with me instead. She wasn't too happy about it
'How many other vampire flicks do you know of that take place in Pittsburgh of all places?'
Not a fan of Romero's Martin, I take it…?
Yeah, when I was younger this movie was notable for the amount of nudity shown in it. When I did watch it through years later on VHS I was surprised that this was a fun little movie, especially LaPaglia's work.
THANK YOU. Fans of "An American Werewolf In London" should not miss this film, as it is proof John Landis could still make a fun monster flick. Definitely underrated!
Forry Ackerman also cameoes as the guy who has his car stolen by Sal when he escapes the morgue. "That's my car!"
Over July 4th weekend I'm inviting some friends of mine over for a VHS theme party, so I may have to dig this tape out of storage
Tom Savini also makes a cameo.
But more importantly, this is the last enjoyable John Landis film you've seen?
Check out his documentaries "Slasher" and "The Don Rickles Project". Both are incredible.
This came out under the title "A French Vampire In America" in Australia and a few other countries.
Oddly, the DVD is under the original title now in these areas.
And yeah, saw it at the movies when it came out and it was great.
Absolute mediocrity. It's not a BAD movie, but it doesn't go anywhere. Just when it seems that things are ramping up because all of the mobsters are vampires, the good guys just show up and shoot them. This was the movie where Landis started getting lazy and lame.
I had a slow-jerk to this movie like 4 years ago when it was on one of the HD channels.
This movie is great. They just don't mesh genres like they used to. I still have no clue how they did those glowing eyes. Anybody?
ah, sex scenes in movies before the internet took off. I'm sure if I dug out my old VHS copy it would still play right up to the handcuff scene where upon tracking lines would cover the screen in white. Play-pause-rewind-play-pause-rewind…
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