Review of Innocent Blood (1992) by Curt F — 24 Jan 2009

The first moments of John Landis's Innocent Blood give off the same vibe as his classic horror comedy An American Werewolf in London, but the biggest difference between the two is that instead of being in a deserted valley, the image is a dark and cold night in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which looks like any ordinary city, but in this case, and unbeknownst to its many residents, ordinary is not an option because a vampire is roaming the streets.

As the movie opens, we meet Marie (Anne Parilaud of the classic French action flick La Femme Nikita), a vampire who craves only two things: blood and sex. For the past six weeks, she has been left hungry and sad because there has been nothing to feast on. That is until this night, when a mafia war starts to erupt after a murder occurs. To explain, she restricts herself to feeding on gangsters only. The only thing she doesn't want is innocent blood, which in her mind is a person who is a good and is not worth feading on. She also has two rules: (1) Never play with the food and (2) Always finish the food. This guarantees that there will never be any other vampires, and everything goes fine with her rules (especially when she feeds on gangster Tony (Chazz Palminteri)) until one night, when she decides to feed on Mob boss Sal "The Shark" Macelli (Robert Loggia) and ends up being interrupted by another of his associates. Now Marie has two problems: Because she screwed up, Macelli has now become a vampire, but making matters worse, she is beginning to fall in love with Joe Gennero (Anthony LaPaglia), a cop who has been working undercover for Macelli's mob the past few months. Now, in order to track Macelli down, she is going to need his help. Especially when Macelli discovers what he has become and feeds on his lawyer Manny Bergman (Don Rickles). Only Marie and Joe can stop him before it's too late.

The most interesting thing about Innocent Blood is how it approaches its ideas. It's a really freaky movie all the way around, and also one that can surprisingly make you laugh at the same time it is freaking you out. Take for example the sequence where Macelli wakes up in the morgue. Not only does he freak out the morgue attendant (Frank Oz), but he freaks out the barrage of reporters who are waiting in the lobby for his autopsy as well. Their reactions are what make something like that hysterical. Another scene like that is the scene where we actually see one of the vampires meet his demise by sunlight. My God, this scene with scare you senseless, but at the same time (or maybe because of it), the reactions of the people around him to this will actually make you crack up even while you hear him dying in excruciating pain. It's an uncomfortable moment, but at the same time, it's also really funny.

The most interesting thing to know about watching Innocent Blood is that on your first viewing, you might feel let down by it. You might not know where to laugh and you might not understand what it is trying to do (or maybe you might feel it does nothing with the concepts its presenting), but take my word for it, give it a couple of chances before you completely give up on it. This is a film that might just have to take its time to work on you. It's a very uneasy and strange motion picture to grasp (and if your put off by female nudity, it will be hard to take), but it does have a lot of fun with what it does have to offer. Still, my biggest complaint is that it doesn't really do anything innovative with its vampires (I mean, even the growls are taken directly from An American Werewolf in London), but even that is only a minor complaint. There is still a lot of fun to be had throughout.

Another thing to point out is that the look of Pittsburgh in this film is extraordinary. As photographed here by Mac Ahlberg, he does an amazing job presenting a Pittsburgh that is beautiful, fluid and real. Shot throughout Downtown, North Side, Strip District, Greenfield, West End, and Shadyside, every location looks amazing on camera, and at times, it even upstages the actors that are on screen. Not exactly a bad thing. Still, it is Landis who also makes sure that it looks amazing as well. The film's first shot, which is an amazing aerial shot zooming in on Pittsburgh, sets the tone well, especially with its choice of music, which is "Night" by Jackie Wilson. To me, it gives it the same vibe as the opening shots of An American Werewolf in London (which was set to "Blue Moon" by Bobby Vinton), which is we are entering a freaky world with its own rules and ideas. Only one word comes to mind: Beware!

The performances aren't really as important or as good as the visual effects or the production design, but still there are standouts to be had. Especially Robert Loggia, who seems to have a lot of fun as the mob boss turned vampire who discovers really quickly that once you're dead, the real fun can begin. Anne Parilaud does what she can with Marie, but her thick accent at times undermines her performance. It's not a bad performance at all though, and because she is already extremely beautiful, her body alone make up alone for her flaws, as it seems to act on its own. Still, she does fine (and let's leave her body out of this now).

Still, I must give credit where credit is due, and that is to John Landis. His direction is what makes this film as successful as it is. Because he already did An American Werewolf in London, he already seems versed in this style, but throughout he does a lot of interesting stuff that he didn't explore previously, and it's because of that that he succeeds a lot more than he fails (Only a few jabs of humore fall flat), but most of the movie know how to make us scared and how to make us laugh at the same time. It also helps that a lot of the film is a lot of fun too.

Although flawed, I have no choice but to recommend Innocent Blood. It is scary, fun and something definitely different from the norm. It also helps that there is a scene-stealing Robert Loggia as well, but it's Landis' direction that guarantees that it works. If you open your mind, I guarantee that the film will work just as well for you too. Also, be sure to be on the lookout for cameos by Tom Savini, Dario Argento, and Sam Raimi or you'll miss them (Some of them come so quick).