The Warner Archive Blu-ray release of the 1992 horror-comedy "Innocent Blood" continues a recent Archive trend of mining topsoil in the form of including moderate doses of newer movies with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Golden Age films. The primary claim to fame of "Blood" is that it is the follow-up of director John Landis to his 1981 cult-classic horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London."
"Blood" additionally has an exceptional supporting cast. Insult comedian Don Rickles shines as a mob lawyer, and before-she-was-a-star Angela Bassett plays a tough U.S. Attorney. Other supporting cast members include Chazz Palminteri and Luis Guzman.
The following YouTube clip of a SPOILER-LADEN theatrical trailer for "Blood" shows that the film earns being called both a horror and a comedy film.
"Blood" provocatively opens with a scene in which full Monty vampire Marie (French actress Anne Parillaud) is engaged in an inner-monologue on her needs for sex and food. Her response to newspaper headlines about mob activity establishes both her plan to satisfy her hunger and her policy of not ingesting the titular plasma.
This leads to Marie meeting a made man, making him her dinner, and blowing off his head with a shotgun to ensure that dead man tell no tales. This killing catches the attention of police detective Joe Genaro (Anthony LaPaglia), who both is deep undercover with the mob and already is a modern-day Prince Charming to modern-day princess-of-the-night Marie.
Mob boss Sallie (The Shark) Macelli (Robert Loggia) subsequently brings Marie home for a bite n boff. The conflicting agenda of Marie taking a turn for the worse triggers the primary action of the film. Macelli (who ruins several tony outfits in the film) becomes even more vicious than is common for him and goes on a rampage. The primary objective of this carnage is to create an actual underworld mob.
The pursuit of Macelli leads to a very odd form of buddy cop pairing in having Marie and Genaro team up to bring him down; this leads to wonderfully violent carnage and ultimately trying to bring down an on-fire Macelli once and for all.
"Blood" additionally answers the question of whether a regular Joe (no pun intended) cop from Pittsburgh can find true love and happiness with a French vampire.
Landis presents all this with an entertaining mix of high style and pulp camp. There is plenty of noir-style darkness and neon but additional large doses of cheesy effects and clearly fake blood. Loggia spending much of the film under a heavy layer of pancake make-up is a perfect example of the latter.
Archive provides a provocative trailer of "Blood" as an special feature.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Blood" is encouraged to email me; you alternatively can connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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