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.
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.