Transilvania, mi amor

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.

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!

See this movie just for the performances. Anne Parillaud gives one of the most sensual performances I've ever seen, no kidding, and her script is a work of genius. No red-blooded male will regret watching the movie for that alone. The gangsters are caricatures of course, but really good ones, Robert Loggia is pure entertainment, very similar to the main baddie from Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (for a recent comparison). Always classic Don Rickles is outstanding. In fact all the baddies here are brilliant. Also see Rocco Sisto from the Sopranos, among others. Angela Bassett from Gotham I think. I loved Elaine Kagan as well. The whole thing reminded me, of all things, the first Ghostbusters. I'm beginning to notice the style of big movies is often similar in the period 1980 to 1995. The whacky plot is straight out of a junior high school notebook pad, and kudos to Warner Bros for being brave enough to produce it. There is one scene that features effects as the lead is making love. Wow. That was classic. Brilliant ending. The whole thing is a corny, cringe-worthy, smiling, ridiculous, over-the-top, Bat-crazy jumble of silly effects, stunts, revolvers, comedy one-liners and absurd horror, and has my undying congratulations!

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.

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.