Bloody Marie - Eine Frau mit Biß

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 ****

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!

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.

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.

The movie had some little funny quips early on. It only got better. It was the humor that made this move. It also had some interesting twists on the usual vampire story.