Innocent Blood (1992)

Since John Landis never seemed to be able to get his sequel to “American Werewolf In London” off the ground, I guess he decided to use the same comedy/horror format that worked so well in that film and substitute werewolves for another time honored monster...the vampire. Cute little French vamp Marie stalks the city streets as any typical bloodsucker is apt to do; the difference with Marie is that she only kills those that are deserving, as in criminals etc, and she always finishes her “meal” to prevent her victim from becoming one of the undead. Marie decides to start chowing down on the local mob circuit, though she messes up when she is interrupted from finishing her feast on mob bass Sal “the shark” Macelli, resulting in Macelli’s eventual return from the grave. This prompts Marie to team up with an undercover cop who’s been on Macelli’s case for years and together they try to stop Macelli from creating an entire army of undead mobsters.

First off, while it is a completely different film, people are going to compare this to 1981’s “werewolf”, no matter what. C’mon folks, it’s a horror/comedy featuring monsters and directed by Landis in what has only been his second attempt at horror up to this point. And, while it’s nowhere near as good a film as “werewolf”, it is a sort of goofy blend of vamps and mobsters, with that typical Landis trademark of car crashes, cameos for those in the horror know, and overall blend of goofball humor and cheap scares. Actress Anne Parillaud does well as Marie, the cute and sexy little vamp with a conscience, while Robert Loggia hams it up as the head vampire/mobster. It also has a decent amount of gore to it, as the vampires in this one don’t just put two little holes in ya, they rip out great big chunks of your neck. Ouch. There’s also a few vampire meltdowns which are nice and gooey, as well as a surprising sex scene that is fairly explicit and most assuredly gooey in it’s own way. On the downside, the film ran a little to long as certain parts tended to bog down a bit whenever a vampire wasn’t ripping out someone’s neck or something. Besides the characters of Macelli and Marie no one else really stands out, and Marie’s cop partner looked like a poor man’s Bill Pullman and was just annoying overall. Worth a look for vampire/John Landis fans, for everyone else it’s just a good time waster if caught on late night cable sometime.