User reviews

John Landis is not the type of director who goes for any deeper meaning in his films outside of the occasional well-staged car chase in heavy traffic; however, this time, working with Michael Wolk's first-rate screenplay, he excels in narrative as well as in visual form. An undercover cop in Pittsburgh, posing as a thief for the Mob, becomes attracted to the scintillating French woman who is hellbent on killing kingpin Robert Loggia (seems she's a bloodsucker by night--and forgot to "finish the food" the evening she put the bite on Loggia's Sal the Shark!). Not terribly bright, but full of puckish black humor and one exciting, masterfully staged sequence after another. And when things calm down a bit, as with the motel sequence between hot twosome Anne Parillaud and Anthony LaPaglia, Landis is adept at smoothly changing the movie's rhythm. It's an impressive, gory, foul-mouthed, yet adrenalized and satirical piece of work, Landis' best. *** from ****

What a nice surprise it was seeing this horror-comedy by director John Landis. Landis tells the story of a French female vampire, who does really not enjoy killing for food but must, rely on mobsters for her blood(making the killings look like mob hits afterwards). The story takes place in Pittsburgh, and the city never looked better on film. In fact, Landis has many marvelous shots of the city at night with snow falling in the background. It is a very stylish looking film. The primary story deals with the vampire(played with sex appeal by Anne Parrilaud) bite the throat of mob boss Robert Loggia only to be interrupted, escape, and find out that Loggia has turned into one of the undead on his way to create a legion of vampire mobsters. The premise is handled with care and works thanks to the direction of Landis, the good special effects, and the character acting in the film. Robert Logia, ever the versatile actor, does a wonderful job as this mob boss. Amongst his henchmen is lawyer Don Rickles in a well-played straight role. Anthony LaPaglia is the male lead and he is not a household name for a reason. He can't act! You have to love Landis for his love of the horror genre. In many scenes he has famous horror films playing on televisions in the background(Beast of 20,000 Fathoms and Dracula are two) as well as populates this film with genre cameos like Forry Ackerman, directors Sam Raimi and Dario Argento, Linea Quigley, muppet maestro Frank Oz, and Tom Savini. A well-made comedy horror film.

I'm not really into the vampire movie thing, but this film is not serious and does not take itself seriously. That said one must bear in mind that there is an incredible amount of bloodletting, so if gore isn't your cup of tea I'd recommend you miss this one (unless of course you're a Parillaud, LaPaglia or Loggia fan in which case ignore my preamble, they are all great!!)I thought the film at 112 minutes was a little too long and at times lost pace; but if you like blood, sex and nudity than that shouldn't be a problem. I think John Landis made this film specifically to entertain and amuse his director chums including Sam Raimi who has a cameo part. The use of Dracula and Hitchcock films screened on as many televisions as possible throughout the movie is a witty touch. I particularly liked the blood swirling down the shower drain in the style of "Psycho" as vampire Marie sluices off after her latest kill. The photography is in many scenes quite unexpectedly lovely. For example the sex scene in the motel is strangely beautiful, gentle and tasteful in the middle of this bloodbath of a movie, and came as a pleasant surprise; as does in general the photography of the snowy Pittsburgh streets. Naturally the film is an utter load of tosh, but there are some great one-liners in there. And Parillaud and LaPaglia make a very sexy duo.

Before Twilight we still had the forbidden vampire/human love....but thankfully there was no sparkling and there was blood....lots of it. Vampires did what they were supposed to do....kill.

Innocent Blood is a surprisingly interesting take on this notion. A peaceful female vampire who only feeds on the blood of the evil and a police officer after her after a high profile murder come together to face a common foe.

LaPaglia I always refer to as the poor mans Bill Pullman since they always remind me of one another, but for the right reasons. He is likable and this is essential for any leading man. Does LaPaglia take this opportunity and run with it? No! But he is entertaining none the less. Its our lady vamp who steals show, her performance is fantastic. She remains feminine and even fragile for most of the film but still maintains an animalistic ferocity that is required for the blood sucker role.

This movie breaks down no walls and is nothing we for the most part haven't seen before but its refreshing, well acted and with a sweet ending.

Its a shame you have to look so hard for other movies including members of the movies cast because most are excellent but badly underused within the industry.

"Innocent Blood" is an unusual mix of comedy,gangster movie and gory horror.Anne Parrilaud is a vampire with a strong appetite for blood.She turns to Italians as her next food source.The film has some great moments of humour,and there is plenty of cheesy gore and violence.The eye effects are outstanding and the film is well-written and doesn't fall into too many vampire cliches.It's also notable because of the short appearances of Tom Savini,Sam Raimi,Dario Argento and Linnea Quigley.Worth a look,if you want to be entertained!

This underrated and under-appreciated horror comedy from John (AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN London) Landis has everything you could possibly want in a 90's vampire movie...good special effects, stylish direction, a top-notch cast, action, comedy, explosions, sight-gags, freefalls off of rooftops, shootouts, blood, gore, dismemberment, clever film references, gangsters, spoofy dialog, car crashes, sex, nudity and a slew of cameos (a trademark of the director). Seldom has a filmmaker gone all out to please genre fans, but Landis has done just that with this fun and entertaining film.

Slinky French beauty Anne Parillaud (of LA FEMME NIKITA fame) is Marie, a sexy vampire prowling the snowy streets of Pittsburgh. She only kills the scum of the city and controls vampire overpopulation by blowing the heads off her victims with a shotgun after feeding! When she becomes involved with a local gang of mobsters and accidentally turns mob moss Sal 'The Shark' Macelli (Robert Loggia, who's terrific) into a vampire, things get a bit out of hand. When Sal is bitten and escapes, he realizes the extent of his newly-acquired vampiric traits and sinks his teeth into his crime family members, creating a whole slew of nearly-unstoppable bloodsucking gangsters intent on taking over the entire city! It's up to Marie and cop Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia) to stop them.

Aside from the three appealing leads, Don Rickles contributes a great supporting performance as Sal's sleazy lawyer and there's fun to be had in playing spot-the-horror-celebrity. Look for Forry Ackerman, Dario Argento, Steve Johnson (who also did the make-up effects), Frank Oz, Linnea Quigley, Sam Raimi and Tom Savini. Plus, you can spot Peter Cushing, Alfred Hitchcock, Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi and others on TV sets throughout the film.

This is a film made by horror fans FOR horror fans. Enjoy!

It may surprise some people to learn that the man behind "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers" directed a vampire movie, but it's true. And it's not a bad movie, either. Portraying sexy French vampire Marie (Anne Parillaud) killing Pittsburgh mafia people but accidentally letting one (Robert Loggia) live - thereby letting him turn more people into vampires - the movie takes some interesting turns. This is the sort of flick that would easily make anyone respect creatures of the night. If I was Anthony LaPaglia's character, I would be only too happy to help her out.

OK, so maybe this movie seems a little silly, but I still hold that it's impossible not to like. John Landis always has some interesting ideas. Also starring Chazz Palminteri and Angela Bassett.

Out of the vampire movies I have watched, this one is just forgettable. The story is really weak with the acutal plot not happening until later in the movie. First part of the movie is simple with Maria narrating her life and killing two guys. But after one of her victims turns into a vampire, it becomes her trying to hunt him down. That plotline is pretty predictable and is easily guess what happened next. The enjoyment factor is rather mix with a couple of enjoyable action scenes in it, but there's a couple of stale parts where nothing interesting happens. Also the comedy itself is rather weak because none of the humor is that funny at all. And the movie have a anticlimactic ending to it.

I do like how the movie is a mixture of vampires, gangster, and buddy cop genres which is a interesting idea to combine together. But I wish it executed a lot better than what we got.

This is not something I would typically enjoy, but it was recommended to me by someone I trust, so I watched it and was happily surprised. Citizen Kane it isn't, but we already have one of those and not everything has to be Great Cinema anyway. This is a very bloody (not my cup of tea, so to speak), very funny take on vampires and criminals. Good script, good performances, particularly from Parrilaud, Loggia and Don Rickles (!), playing a lawyers that even other lawyers would give a wide berth to in distaste. What happens to him is hilarious and proof that there can be justice, at least in films! Watch for the scene with the ambulance attendant and for the blonde nurse in the hospital. Check out the credits for some familiar names. Don't expect Art here, just sit back and have some fun. Recommended.

Bloody good entertainment this was. This one has it all, sans the stuffiness born of prudence. Beginning with some full frontal nudity, how are we to not like this horror comedy? And there is so much to like, including a wonderful cast peppered with multiple cameos and incredible horror homages. Even some of the myths are flagrantly flouted for fun. The acting was fine for what it was- entertaining. The direction of Landis was stylishly proud of its genre. With lots of blood and beautiful shots of a nocturnal Pittsburgh, the camera's lens settles in nicely. When the ending threatened to be cheesy, it answered with crackers. Ashe.

Evil Eye Reviews

Glossy horror / comedy about sexy vampire Marie (Anne Parillaud) who only kills those that should be dead. While feeding on a local mobster (Robert Loggia) she is disrupted and forced to leave before she can finish him off. He returns to life and sets up shop turning the members of his criminal family into vampires. Adding to Marie's problems is her relationship with a police officer (Anthony La Paglia) out to nab Loggia. Loggia is terrific in a dynamic performance. He steals the whole show. Parillaud has some rather sexy moments. And the film does a good job of balancing the comedy and horror.

Rated R; Nudity, Sexual Situations, Graphic Violence and Profanity.

As some of you may know, I not only consider Landis' AN American WEREWOLF IN London (1981) the finest "Wolf Man" flick ever but it is also, hands down, the greatest horror film to emerge during the last 3 decades. Still, while I have always been aware of this one – which deals with vampires – I somehow never got around to watching it until now! I did catch Landis' two good entries in the "Masters Of Horror" series, though, not to mention the debacle that was his episode from TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983).

Anyway, this is typical of the era in keeping nudity (right from the start, and some of which is surprisingly kinky!) and gore (as expected from a vampire movie, we get plenty of the red stuff) at the forefront. The film attempts to give a novel spin to the well-worn theme by making the heroine something of a femme fatale (a well-cast Anne Parillaud) – complete with first-person narration, where she rather uninspiringly refers to other humans as "food" – and throwing her amidst a modern-day world of 'cops and robbers' (thus continuing the noir analogy but which does not really lead anywhere!). The latter seems to emanate from a Martin Scorsese picture, what with the first such scene involving a man being beaten in the face with a toaster, but then it leans towards the heavy-handed when the mobster (Robert Loggia), vampirized by Parillaud when he takes her home for a fling, begins to infect his gang left, right and center!

The hero (Anthony LaPaglia) is an undercover cop and he instantly catches the eye of the leading lady in that she does not want to convert him to her nature, even if his pursuit of her for presumably killing Loggia (which he had been meticulously planning to personally bring down) is relentless – she even glides over him in a POV shot inside a church! Once he realizes what she is (though, apparently, the word "vampire" is never actually used!), he naturally has a hard time convincing his colleagues...that is, until corpses start coming back to life with uncomfortable regularity. Herein, however, lies the film's main problem: the vampires here hardly act like your typical bloodsucker (which, by the way, they do not simply bite the jugular but rather tear right into the neck like an animal!). When aroused, their eyes glow and they give out feral sounds (which again resemble more a werewolf or, at least a panther, as this reminded me quite a bit of CAT PEOPLE {1982}!). Besides, the deathly make-up makes them look more like zombies than anything else!

Other minuses, while we are on the subject, and especially in comparison with American WEREWOLF, is that the script (not written by the director himself in this case) shows little of the earlier film's knack in blending together the narrative's two styles, to the point that the comedy and horror here seem to belong in different movies but, also, the accompanying soundtrack pales beside that of the 1981 lycanthrope masterpiece (though one appreciates the in-joke of the mob being particularly fond of Frank Sinatra, given the singer/actor's notorious lifelong association with real-life underworld figures)! That said, a number of scenes are well done (notably Don Rickles' literal hospital 'meltdown'), Parillaud and Loggia (amusingly, he does not know what he has become at first and goes apeshit when he starts disintegrating in the sunlight) are terrific and, as usual, Landis incorporates his usual touches of the fabled "See You Next Wednesday" marquee and a handful of 'star' cameos, including genre authority Forrest J. Ackerman, directors Frank Oz and Michael Ritchie, and even fellow horror-meisters Dario Argento (then filming TRAUMA {1993} in the U.S.), Sam Raimi and Tom Savini!

The vampire lady is quite sexy and it kept my attention all the way through

Good film by Landis. The few complaints that I have are: the voiceover is unnecessary and kills the mood of the first twenty minutes, the effects are not on point sometimes (the eyes in particular look quite wonky at times), and that's about the worst that I can say.

Barring the song at the end of the film that sucks, this film has some great sequences and is generally underappreciated.

This is certainly a slickly made, good-looking movie with great special effects and some entertaining moments (like the ultimate fate of Don Rickles), but overall there is just something about it that doesn't allow me to call it a complete success. It's pretty slow-moving, and the mix of horror, gangster movie and comedy is not perfectly harmonious. However, Loggia makes an imposing villain and LaPaglia is likable. (**)

The story, actors and the limited special effect use all combine to make a great movie. Anne Parillard was perfect in her role as the French Vampire, Anthony LaPaglia is a great foil for Parillard. Robert Loggia as the Mafia Don almost stole the whole movie but the best character honors went to Don Rickles who played Loggia's legal mouth piece. The cinematography is first rate, the blending of the score and action is very smooth. Setting the time of the movie during Chrismas adds to the mix. I watch An American Werewolf in London then Innocent Blood followed by An American Werewolf in Paris every Holloween Eve. Holloween day I watch Dawn of the Dead and Day of Trifids. What can I say, I love horror movies.

Joey Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia) is a new henchman for mob boss Salvatore 'The Shark' Macelli (Robert Loggia). Sal is a ruthless killer. Joey turns out to be an undercover cop working under U.S. Attorney Sinclair (Angela Bassett). Marie (Anne Parillaud) is a vampire with a moral code. She only kills the criminal class and she finishes her food meaning she decapitates them before they turn. Tony (Chazz Palminteri) vouched for Joey but he gets eaten by Marie. Her next target is Sal but she doesn't finish before she gets shot and chased away. Sal is reborn and Marie needs help to bring him down.

I really like the premise of a gangster vampire. I would have preferred a dark intense horror. Director John Landis brings a lighter touch which detracts from the intensity. There is plenty of blood but it's not that grotesque. LaPaglia does great mobster acting but this movie could use another type of action hero. The premise is great but the execution is less than thrilling.

After John Landis' light return to form, he comes back with a return to the dull, plodding nature of Into the Night. Innocent Blood is caught between genres, unwilling to make any of them interesting on their own or even find ways to try and blend them convincingly until the film's final act when so much good will has already been lost towards long stretches of tedium. It's also kind of odd in that it almost feels like a George Romero movie. I'm surprised he doesn't have a cameo.

Marie (Ann Parillaud) is a vampire living in Pittsburgh who feeds on bad men, nearly targeting the sad-eyed Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia), a low-level member of the mob led by Sal the Shark (Robert Loggia), before letting him go and feeding on Tony (Chazz Palminteri), blowing his head off with a shotgun afterwards so that he won't turn into a vampire. Part of the problem with this film is that it treats established vampire lore fast and loose, but it never clearly establishes its own rules. It's like it takes its deviations from the commonly accepted rules for granted, so any explanations for the rules get delayed until very late into the film, if at all. It's representative of how the whole vampire angle of the film isn't really fleshed out.

The gangster side isn't fleshed out either. Sal is just generic mob boss with a crew. There's an investigation by the police, led by a USA Barbara Sinclair (Angela Bassett), of which Gennaro is an undercover operative (and also a local cop), but the investigation never gets any weight. It's just there so that Gennaro can have some bumbling cop friends. And yet, the focus of the film's first third is all of this, drenched in a heavy dose of mood with heavy shadows in the lighting while Marie reveals nothing about herself, Landis and his writer, Michael Wolk, choosing to shroud everything in shadow, not just the visuals. That can work if, like the obvious noir influences would normally have, there was a mystery involved. Marie shows up on Private Detective Gennaro's doorstep because she needs help with a mobbed up guy, who ends up being the head of the mob, and is also a vampire she turned because she's a vampire, and we have to work through Gennaro's point of view to work it out. However, there's absolutely no mystery here at all. It's laid out from the beginning while Landis and Wolk offer us nothing else.

Really, it's obvious that John Landis' son, Max, took a lot of how he tries to tell stories from his father. People will point at An American Werewolf in London as the big influence, and I don't doubt that Max has a very special place in his heart for that film by his father, but Innocent Blood is probably the better example of the Landis family effort at genre mashups.

So, the do end up being small spurts of comedy in the film, mostly in the second act when, after Marie has bitten Sal but failed to blow his head off, he comes back and ambles around the morgue with Loggia providing the film's only laughs. I'm certain that they're intentional laughs, and I chuckled along at the moments, but it's odd that they only really appear here. I think there may be some darkly humorous moments as the film goes along, but the real nexus of comedy is just here, at the start of the second act. It's just kind of weird how they exist in isolation.

The second act, though, is dragged down by the same meandering nature of the first with Sal very slowly learning his powers and situation, mostly at the house of his lawyer, Manny (Don Rickles who provides no laughs, but he is, at least, the focus of the best special effects sequence in the film) with Gennaro and Marie both separately trying to track him down. By the way, can Marie fly? If she can, why does she need to keep stealing cars? Also, why is it always so easy for her to steal a car, especially from police?

The third act is where the film finally gets around the idea that should have driven the whole thing: Sal turning his entire gang into vampires. I mean, that's stuff that happens in act two, not three, building up towards the final confrontation between the undercover cop, the female vampire, and a couple of other cop buddies who decide to take up their friend even though what he describes is crazy. That's not something you throw into the third act as the final confrontation is already being headed towards. Really, this script is a total mess.

Is it worthless? No. The moodiness of the cinematography is nice. Loggia has those laughs. The deaths of the vampires, especially when it come to the scene with Rickles at its center, are great, gruesome, and very fun. It's just...so boring in between all of those moments. I think Max would have done a better job writing this. Yes, even six year old Max Landis.

The movie had some little funny quips early on. It only got better. It was the humor that made this move. It also had some interesting twists on the usual vampire story.

Directed by: John Landis. Stars: Robert Loggia, Anthony LaPaglia, Anne Parillaud, David Proval, Don Rickles, Luis Guzman, Tony Lips, Kim Coates, Tony Sirico, Angela Basset, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, Forrest J Ackerman and Tom Savini.

I expected a lot from this film. John Landis had done wonders to the werewolf films with, "An American Werewolf in London". I don't think that this will be a film long remembered, or if remembered, it will never be thought of as a classic.

The plot is that Marie (Parillaud) is a vampire that only sucks the blood of bad people, and she wants some from mobsters. She accidentally doesn't kill mob boss Sal (Loggia) and he turns into a vampire. Meanwhile undercover cop Joe (LaPaglia) is hot on the case of the vampire vixen killer.

People say that this film has a hard time switching from horror, to comedy, to drama. I sort of agree. It doesn't know if it's a mob movie or a horror vampire movie, and it seems as though the scenes of mob violence and the scenes of vampire attack don't fit together. The first 40 minutes were slow, but it picked up right when Sal became a vampire. The gore effects are top rate, and look gross. Several nasty scenes include a newly vampireized Don Rickles waking up in a hospital and seeing the effects of the sunlight, Robert Loggia pulling a thermometor out of his side and Robert Loggia on fire.

As for the performances, most of them were good. I thought the leading lady did a pretty good job, and our two leading men were great. Don Rickles is a character actor in the film as Sal's loyal but stupid lawyer, and even though he can't act, he brings screen presence. Many people show up for cameos including Forrest J Ackerman, Sam Raimi and Tom Savini. Frank Oz appears in a small but very funny role as the pathologist at the morgue that discovers Sal is alive and chases him around. I think this movie was fun and scary, but sometimes it tried to smash both together and that doesn't work.

My rating: ** 3/4 out of ****. Rated R for full frontal nudity and violence/gore. 113 mins.