Innocent Blood [VHS] [1992]

Two things keep you going when you're immortal, food and sex. Marie [Anne Parillaud] is a French vampire who feeds only on killers. Deciding that she fancies Italian, she allows various mafia hoodlums to pick her up, leaving each victim disguised as a hit.

Innocent Blood loses some of the more surreal humour from American Werewolf but still contains much bizarre imagery.

The leads are solid, and contrast one another effectively. Loggia's Sal shows no restraint, especially strong in the opening sequence as he maintains a menancing presence despite friendly humour. Parillaud's Marie is open, childlike, disarmingly and deceptively innocent. Her appearance is that of coquettish playful sexuality. Although LaPaglia remains somewhat stiff throughout, his growing relationship with Marie is one of the more engaging aspects of the film. Landis actually includes a reasonably daring love scene in which a naked Marie uses Gennaro's handcuffs to prevent her attacking him and then bows submissively on the bed.

The film boasts an impressive range of special effects, with several very grizzly throat-ripping scenes (Marie becomes zombie-like when she feeds, dramatically and even disturbingly contrasting the delicate figure she appears to be) , and a particularly good scene in which a nurse inadvertantly opens up the curtains, letting daylight in on a hospitalised vampire (interestingly, as in films like the 1987 Near Dark, the term "vampire" is never used throughout the film). However, the multicoloured glowing eyes effect that represents Marie's aroused emotional state, whether through hunger or passion, seems to be more a showcase of technical expertise rather than seriously aiding the film.

Landis keeps everything moving at the right pace, but insists on peppering th film with sequences like pointless car crashes, which detract from the more thoughtful aspects. However, afficionados will be pleased to discover the film is also littered with the usual Landis in-jokes, with many references to The Long Good Friday, and cameos from Frank Oz, Forrest J. Ackerman, and directors Sam Raimi, Dario Argento and Tom Savini. Actors in scenes shown on television screens during the film are credited at the end: Lugosi and Lee as Dracula, Hitchcock as "Man with a Cello", and Charles Gomorra as the ape.

Innocent Blood lacks some of the charm that filled Amerian Werewolf and fared less successfully at the box office as a result. It does, however, retain the subtlety and quirkiness. It begins to lose steam toward the end, and is generally a mixed bag, but is genuinely funny and not nearly as bad as some would suggest.

The film concerns a female vampire who only drinks the blood of the wicked, and in this case the local mafiosos are on the menu. After bungling up a feast on 'Sally the Shark' (played with relish by Robert Loggia), she has to team up with reluctant police officer Joe Gennero (Anthony LaPaglia) to track him down and finish the job. Get set for trademark Landis humour from start to finish.

The film isn't perfect, and I find that it does drag on at times, as I find myself wondering if this is a gangster movie instead of a horror comedy. But setting that aside, I found myself enjoying this film pretty much from start to finish, and there are some extremely pleasent moments in the film for horror fans...[with] the numerous cameos made throughout the film (look out for Tom Savini, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, Dario Argento and Forrest J. Ackerman).

Pretty gory for a 15 certificate, and very erotic in moments, this is a multi-genre film the likes of which John Landis could only conceive. Not as recyclable as AMERICAN WEREWOLF (meaning I can repeatedly watch it without getting bored), but still a treat for a late night in. One to definetly watch.