Transilvania, mi amor

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.

What a nice surprise it was seeing this horror-comedy by director John Landis. Landis tells the story of a French female vampire, who does really not enjoy killing for food but must, rely on mobsters for her blood(making the killings look like mob hits afterwards). The story takes place in Pittsburgh, and the city never looked better on film. In fact, Landis has many marvelous shots of the city at night with snow falling in the background. It is a very stylish looking film. The primary story deals with the vampire(played with sex appeal by Anne Parrilaud) bite the throat of mob boss Robert Loggia only to be interrupted, escape, and find out that Loggia has turned into one of the undead on his way to create a legion of vampire mobsters. The premise is handled with care and works thanks to the direction of Landis, the good special effects, and the character acting in the film. Robert Logia, ever the versatile actor, does a wonderful job as this mob boss. Amongst his henchmen is lawyer Don Rickles in a well-played straight role. Anthony LaPaglia is the male lead and he is not a household name for a reason. He can't act! You have to love Landis for his love of the horror genre. In many scenes he has famous horror films playing on televisions in the background(Beast of 20,000 Fathoms and Dracula are two) as well as populates this film with genre cameos like Forry Ackerman, directors Sam Raimi and Dario Argento, Linea Quigley, muppet maestro Frank Oz, and Tom Savini. A well-made comedy horror film.

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.

I'm not really into the vampire movie thing, but this film is not serious and does not take itself seriously. That said one must bear in mind that there is an incredible amount of bloodletting, so if gore isn't your cup of tea I'd recommend you miss this one (unless of course you're a Parillaud, LaPaglia or Loggia fan in which case ignore my preamble, they are all great!!)I thought the film at 112 minutes was a little too long and at times lost pace; but if you like blood, sex and nudity than that shouldn't be a problem. I think John Landis made this film specifically to entertain and amuse his director chums including Sam Raimi who has a cameo part. The use of Dracula and Hitchcock films screened on as many televisions as possible throughout the movie is a witty touch. I particularly liked the blood swirling down the shower drain in the style of "Psycho" as vampire Marie sluices off after her latest kill. The photography is in many scenes quite unexpectedly lovely. For example the sex scene in the motel is strangely beautiful, gentle and tasteful in the middle of this bloodbath of a movie, and came as a pleasant surprise; as does in general the photography of the snowy Pittsburgh streets. Naturally the film is an utter load of tosh, but there are some great one-liners in there. And Parillaud and LaPaglia make a very sexy duo.

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 ****