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20 out of 23 people found the following review useful: Nothing Like Some Good 'Italian Food!', 5 June 2006 Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States
I've always found this a "guilty pleasure," an extremely entertaining profane-gross-funny film about a female vampire who likes "Italian food," meaning she likes to kill members of the Mafia!! I am a bit partial in favor of this movie, anyway, because I am fan of Anne Parillaud. She starred in two of my favorite films: Map Of The Human Heart and Frankie Starlight. To me, she's always great to look at listen to, especially with a comedy here. This is about as good as she's ever looked. I also enjoyed her narration. Also, with director John Landis, you almost always get a very entertaining movie.The special effects in here are fun to watch and the general off-the-wall humor is great. If you appreciate dark humor, you'll like this movie. The filmmakers also did not go overlong on the action scenes. The film is almost a put-on about vampire movies. The negatives are too much profanity, too much for a comedy. It sometimes gets ridiculous. Robert Loggia plays most of the profane characters I've ever heard on film, yet is very funny at times. The gore is overdone in parts, too, but nowadays - even watching television (i.e. CSI) - we're used to that now. My other complaint is why this DVD is not on widescreen. Why is it only offered in pan-and-scan?If you don't mind blood, guts and foul language, this is a hilarious film.
17 out of 18 people found the following review useful: One of the best from John Landis!, 9 April 2003 Author: capkronos (capkronos00@hotmail.com) from Ohio, USA
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!
11 out of 13 people found the following review useful: Vampires Over Pittsburgh, 10 July 2001 Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC
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.
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Vampired to the Mob, 10 March 2006 Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
It's about time John Landis delivered a worthy follow-up to "An American Werewolf in London"! That particular classic was one of the only films ever to successfully blend gross horror situations with likable black humor. "Innocent Blood" does the same, albeit less impressively. The crime-congested streets of Pittsburgh form an excellent setting for this light-headed and often cheesy crossover between vampire horror and mafia action that also has a great cast and terrific make-up effects. Marie is an incredibly sexy but not exactly cheerful vampire with a strong appetite for human blood, yet she only feeds on criminals and other scum that doesn't deserve to live. With the large number of Italian gangsters ruling the city, Marie can easily still her hunger and simultaneously improve the safety on the streets. However, when she fails to properly eliminate mob boss Sal Macelli, he turns into a vampire as well, and his bloody intentions are far more dangerous to the world. Marie will require the help of undercover cop Joe Gennaro in order to destroy Macelli for good. The screenplay of "Innocent Blood" is rather exciting and Landis effectively gets rid of some ancient vampire clichés. Wooden stakes are no longer required to kill them, Marie does have a reflection in the mirror and the eyes of vampires suddenly take on all the bright colors of the rainbow. Natural sunlight is still pretty painful, apparently, and that's illustrated in a fantastic sequence with class actor Don Rickles. Talking about the cast, "Innocent Blood" assembles some of the best actors for a modest horror production ever. Anne Parrilaud was already famous for her role of female assassin Nikita and especially the male casting choices were splendid, with Robert Loggia, Anthony LaPlagia and Chazz Palminteri. The most exhilarating aspect about this film (for horror fans, at least) is John Landis over-enthusiast dedication to the genre! There's always some classic horror film playing on TV in the background and numerous prominent filmmakers appear in small roles or cameos. Most memorable are Sam Raimi (creator of "The Evil Dead") as the meat truck guy and Frank Oz as the pathologist. Highly recommended!
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Very bloody, equally funny, take on vampires and crime., 12 December 2001 Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ
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.
8 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Pretty funny., 1 December 2002 Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland
"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!
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Featherweight dark comedy about a sexy bloodsucker, though exceptionally well-done, 7 October 2006 Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca
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 ****
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: * *1/2 out of 4., 23 August 2002 Author: Brandon L. Sites (brandonsites1981@yahoo.com) from USA
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.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: One of the best vampire movies I've ever seen, 19 April 2005 Author: gjwr-1 from Dodgeville, Wisconsin
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.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: A gory treat you can make out to, 21 November 2005 Author: Scott_from_Modesto (danofthedead80@yahoo.com) from Bear, Delaware
I've recently been re-evaluating some big Hollywood horror movies and I stumbled upon John Landis's Innocent Blood. I always knew it was a horror movie but I didn't know anything about it beyond that and had somehow formulated the opinion that it was crap. Well, I was partially wrong: It is crap, but it's crap with a high level of entertainment value. Not only does it have a frequently naked vampire chick (Anne Parillaud, La Femme Nikita), it's also got great Steve Johnson effects, Sinatra tunes, and one thousand cameos. It's also kind of funny and you can probably watch it with your girlfriend or whatever.The flick has Anthony LaPaglia as an undercover cop who's been deep inside Pittsburgh's Macelli crime family for a few years before he gets taken off the case. Meanwhile there's a sexy French vampire, Marie, roaming the streets in search of casual sex and the blood of bad guys (she doesn't want to shed any innocent blood, hence the title). So gangsters start dropping. Marie sucks 'em dry then blows their li'l heads off with a shotgun so they don't come back to life. One exception to her regular schtick comes via an interruption on her feeding on Sal The Shark (Robert Loggia), leader of the Macelli family, who doesn't ultimately get his head blown off but instead comes back to life a while after he's attacked. This is no good. So Marie and Joe (LaPaglia) team up to stop him. But Sal at this point is thinking' he's invincible and proceeds to bite everyone in his crew. Incidentally, his scum lawyer (Don Rickles) has one of the best on screen deaths in the movie. But that's besides the point, cause there's also a love connection being made between Marie and Joe, who have to learn to trust each other. That's right, it's a romantic comedy, too.Innocent Blood has some things going for it--the aforementioned nudity (forgot to mention the strip club scene with Teri Weigel) and gore, actual celebrities, big-budget glossy production values, a few laughs, etc.--but it also has some substantial minuses. Number one in the minus column would be the acting of Prillaud. This is automatically disqualified as a minus because she does in fact give us some full frontal love. Second minus: Don Rickles has nary a funny line--why not use a comedian for comedy? Actually, a lot of the talent in this movie is underused--Luis Guzman, anyone? Third minus: There's too much going on to try to pull this film off as slickly as it was obviously intended to be. A lot of the comedy made me groan and the film just seemed overly long for the brain candy it should be. The fact that traditional vampire traits (such as how they can be killed) are toyed with also bugs me a bit.Innocent Blood is a gangster/horror/romantic comedy and as such is in a class by itself. It's a great flick for the six bucks I spent on it but it also has some distracting flaws that take away the edge. It would prolly make a good date movie as it's pretty damn entertaining, but it could've been done better, IMHO. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
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