Inocente Mordida

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.

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.

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.

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.