There are two genres that are lynchpins in the land of movies and TV for that matter. Vampires and The Mafia. Rarely have these two crossed paths but in 1992 they did under the eye of a man more known for his work with werewolves. Innocent Blood would show us a new sort of vampire and would be a love letter to both genres with a massive list of cameos and in jokes that would keep many a horror fan happy. So, lets head down to Pittsburgh and see if we can find a blood sucker as we take a look back at Innocent Blood.

Innocent Blood would be directed by John Landis, the man who a decade earlier had given us a mix of horror and comedy with the classic American Werewolf in London. He’d cross the genre streams with Innocent Blood as well, mixing the mob, vampires, comedy and horror together into a film that doesn’t get enough love, at least to me. The movie takes place in Pittsburgh (the land of Zombies usually), and we’re introduced to Marie as she narrates her story (while very naked.) Marie says that vampires like her really survive on the senses and that food and sex are important. Sex is not an option as her lover left her (we never hear who the lover was) but apparently Marie’s picky appetite is why they left her. Marie won’t kill to feed unless the person is a bad guy basically. She won’t drink Innocent Blood (hence the title.) Upon seeing the amount of crime happening thanks to Sallie the Shark and the mafia, she decides…Italian sounds nice.

Marie heads out in a very short skirt considering the weather and heads to a known location for the local bad boys of the mob. It’s there we are introduced to Joe Gennaro, a young thief working with the mob who also happens to be deep under cover for the police. Joe’s been undercover for a long time and the lines are crossing for him in his head. The mob guys are becoming friends and he’s not sure where he stands anymore. That’s when he literally runs into Marie and she thinks for a moment she’s found her meal. But then she sees Joe’s eyes and realizes he’s not a bad guy and in fact he’s got a lot of sadness within him. Then she runs into Tony and boy did she find a meal. After acting like a defenseless little lady, Marie tears Tony’s throat out and has a great time feeding…until she has to see herself in the mirror. After a shotgun blast to the head making sure the nervous system is disconnected, she heads back out.

While the body is very drained of blood, it still appears like a mob hit. Joe arrives on the scene putting his undercover work at risk and proceeds to be outed as such by his boss to the press. It’s now apparent to Sallie The Shark and the whole crew that Joe has a lot of dirt on him. Manny, Sallie’s lawyer tells Sal he needs to plan ahead before they freeze his assets and hit him with the RICO act. It’s then that Sal sees the little lady that’s being “helped” by his driver Lenny. Sal decides he likes her spunk and takes her along with his dinner to a hideout. We see that the whole garlic is a problem thing for vampires is true before Marie digs into her own meal of shark meat. Before she can finish her food though she’s wounded, and Sallie is left to change into a vampire.

Joe is placed in protective custody so he can testify but with the announcement of Sal’s death he and his protection detail arrive at Sal’s hideout where he tracks down the murderer, an injured Marie. What follows is a bloody, hilarious, nearly cartoon like return to unlife of Sallie The Shark as everyone tries to figure out (including his own crew) if he’s actually alive or not. The answer is…sort of. Thanks to Marie, Sallie has become a vampire and he quickly realizes all the strength and powers that come along with that. After nearly killing Joe after finding him, Sallie realizes the weakness too as he gets caught in the sun. Marie, who saved Joe, also has to hide from the sun. It’s clear though that Marie and Joe have a far better time than Sallie while waiting for the sun to go down.

Eventually Sallie starts changing his minions into fully fledged vampires to create a blood sucking mafia that will take over the town. Joe and Marie finally are able to stop him after a lot of carnage, with Marie deciding that it would be better just to watch a last sunrise. Joe stops her, confessing he loves her after all is said and done and the two find another hotel room to wait out the dawn.

Innocent Blood wasn’t the original vampire film that Landis was to do for Warner Brothers. The original film was one set in Las Vegas where we learn the city is ran by vampires and the main protagonist was to be played by Wayne Newton. Newton was to be a lounge singer who is bitten by a female vampire and finds out all the literal underground history of the city. Apparently Wayne Newton and vampires was a fang too far for the studio who instead brought Landis Innocent Blood. Landis loved the script and after getting an okay to pretty much do whatever he wanted proceeded with the film. Instead of New York, Landis went with Pittsburgh as the setting. For his vampire, Landis chose French actress Anne Parillaud who was enjoying success from her lead role in La Femme Nikita two years earlier. Parillaud was perfect for Marie as she was very fit and unafraid of the physicality needed but was a petite powerhouse. While her accent was still very thick, Landis didn’t overdub her and that worked here as part of her MO as a hunter was to act as though she was a stranger in a strange land.

For Joe, Landis cast Anthony LaPaglia who would become well known for his work in Without a Trace. LaPaglia was a good choice for Joe who was a perfect everyman finding himself in the insanity of vampire mobsters. The rest of the cast was made up of a who’s who of Italian actors, many of which would show up on the Sopranos years later. Robert Loggia was fearless and ferocious as Sallie The Shark. He didn’t seem to care how bloody he became. His crew was made up of Chazz Palminteri, David Proval, Tony Sirico, and Kim Coates (who played a vampire twice previously, first in Red Blooded American Girl and then in Dracula The Series.) Most of you watching probably know him as Tig in Sons of Anarchy. The legendary Don Rickles would play Manny, Sallie’s lawyer and would have one of the most glorious deaths in the film. Also of note is the appearance of Angela Bassett in the film which predates her lead role in A Vampire in Brooklyn.

Innocent Blood is a vampire movie that actually never says the word vampire within it. It’s full of the dark humor that Landis brought to life in American Werewolf in London, but it’s also got a lot of heart to it if you look a bit deeper. While some scenes are straight up Scooby Doo like in their execution (Sallie running from the morgue and being pursued by the guard and the coroner being one stand out) the relationship between Marie and Joe makes a lot of sense. Joe’s a good guy trying to be a bad guy in his undercover work and feels like he’s losing himself. Marie is what many consider a monster but she’s trying to do right by ridding the world of villains and who she sees as monsters. They mirror each other.

There are moments that stand out as creepy and eerie. Sallie The Shark is a terrifying monster. Loggia chews necks and scenery as the crime lord. Don Rickles revived Manny really creeped me out for some reason. The designs of the recently returned vampires with their dead pallor and veiny skin is a little too real. There are no fangs here for these vampires, so the kills are particularly bloody. The standout of course to these designs are the eyes. The eyes that glow and change color based on the emotions of the vampire are really unnerving. These matched with what sounds jungle cat roars of the vampires and the voice levels changing were a unique and neat take on the creature. There’s also Marie’s method of dispatching the vampires which sounds more at home in a zombie film (especially one shot in Pittsburgh) where the way to kill a vampire (besides sunlight) is a complete nervous system disconnect. This means a bullet to the brain or decapitation will work just fine. Marie’s actually injured but heals from a gunshot to the abdomen. But it’s more the loss of blood that seems to slow her down.

One of the men responsible for the designs and effects work in Innocent Blood is the legendary Steve Johnson. Johnson had previously worked on American Werewolf in London with Landis and Rick Baker. Prior to this he’d worked on numerous TV and film projects including Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and Night of the Demons as well as Predator to name a few. Johnson’s work here is a standout and feels gory, crusty (I’m still not over Don Rickles) and a completely new take on the old legend. Speaking of Johnson, he and his then wife Linnea Quigley cameo in the film as an orderly and a nurse during Manny’s flaming death. They are only two of a slew of cameos in the film which features Forrest J Ackerman, Tom Savini, Frank Oz, Dario Argento and Sam Raimi. Landis even does an inception of sorts with cameos, including the appearance of Alfred Hitchcock in his own film’s cameo on a TV. Hitchcock’s appearance in Strangers on a Train is one of many classic films that are highlighted throughout the movie that characters are watching. Horror of Dracula and Phantom of the Rue Morgue are on screens as well.

Innocent Blood was one of many great vampire films to hit screens in the early 90s. This was part of a trend thanks to Bram Stoker’s Dracula and a number of films going direct to video that took advantage of the genres return to pop culture glory. Unfortunately, the film was staked on arrival, hitting the same weekend as The Last of the Mohicans which would be a darling of the awards circuit and make Daniel Day Lewis a running heartthrob. Innocent Blood had a 20-million-dollar budget and would only earn back not even 5 million of it.

Landis would actually make numerous cuts to the film to get it the R rating it received so there are a number of different versions available around the world. One of these had the title changed to A French Vampire in America (trying to capitalize on Landis’s American Werewolf film) which actually annoyed the director. Landis blames himself a bit on the lack of success when it was released, thinking that perhaps he was too loose with the comedy or overtness of the film.

Since its release Innocent Blood is getting more of a cult following and I think it deserves it. Landis and his team made something unique in a wave of vampire films hitting the big and small screen. And they gave us a new female vampire in Marie who wasn’t the monster for once. The film was unashamedly sexy, bloody and awash with Frank Sinatra. I’d love to see a completely put back together unrated version of this film, but I don’t know if it will ever happen.

If you haven’t seen Innocent Blood, I would highly recommend it. The film is available for purchase on Fandango at Home and if you can find it Blu-rays and DVD.

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