MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Innocent Blood’ Balances Macabre With Merriment

When Marie, the ravenously hungry heroine of “Innocent Blood” (citywide), John Landis’ vampire comedy, says to herself while reading a newspaper “I think I’ll have Italian” she’s not thinking of pasta (or sex, for that matter) but of one of the in-the-news hoods who hangs out at a spaghetti joint in downtown Pittsburgh. Marie (“La Femme Nikita’s” gorgeous Anne Parillaud), it seems, is as moral as she is beautiful: If she’s got to suck somebody’s blood, it might as well be a bad guy’s.

She ends up putting the bite on the local Mafia kingpin (Robert Loggia), but doesn’t manage to kill him, a violation of one of her key precepts: “Always finish the meal.” (There’s a wonderfully deadpan Dietrich-ish quality to Parillaud’s delivery.) It soon occurs to Loggia’s heroically obnoxious Sal, now a vampire himself, that there could be a whole new meaning to the old Cosa Nostra initiation term, “made man.” Just think how invincible his gang would be if he were to turn his henchmen into vampires.

If Landis and his writer Michael Wolk seem a bit pokey in getting the show off the ground, they quickly make up for it. They take real risks in that “Innocent Blood” must always be as funny as they are grisly or they quickly become a turnoff. Fortunately, they’re able to turn the lavish display of blood and guts, devilishly concocted by special makeup effects maestro Steve Johnson, into cathartic laughter; even so, you wouldn’t want pre-teens to be exposed to “Innocent Blood,” which draws an R for sex and language as well as violence. (Mention must be made of a nasty anti-Korean joke, not out of character for Sal to make it, but gratuitous all the same.)

As it happens, there’s been for three years an undercover cop (Anthony LaPaglia) in Sal’s gang, a nice, decent courageous man who inevitably appeals to all of Marie’s best instincts, just as he is smitten with her. Their awareness of their mutual attraction leads to a scene that could become a comedy classic, an ultimate, if implicit, metaphor for these wary, cautious times in the matter of sex. The play of expressions on LaPaglia’s face is priceless as the cop finds himself at the height of anguished conflict between fear and desire. How far dare he trust Marie if they are to make love?

Casting has always been a Landis strength as much as an outrageous pitch-dark sense of humor, and his three stars couldn’t be better. Sal is one of those parts that allows a veteran like Loggia a legitimate opportunity to tear loose and grandstand gloriously, infusing the entire film with an exhilarating comic energy.

There are marvelous moments from Don Rickles as Sal’s nouveau riche attorney--”Don’t murder a cop on my front lawn!” he exclaims hilariously--and from Elaine Kagan as his terror-stricken, lacquered wife. There are also plenty of unbilled cameos, a Landis trademark, along with moments from beloved old films glimpsed on TV.

A number of films have been shot in Pittsburgh in recent years, but none has made it seem so beautiful and vital as Mac Ahlberg’s sleek cinematography has here; the film’s great look has been abetted by Richard Sawyer’s witty production design. On one point “Innocent Blood” does leave you wondering: Would Marie’s style have been cramped had she turned up in Pittsburgh during its ongoing newspaper strike?

‘Innocent Blood’

Anne Parillaud: Marie

Robert Loggia: Sal (The Shark) Macelli

Anthony LaPaglia: Joe Gennaro

Don Rickles: Emmanuel Bergman

A Warner Bros. presentation. Director John Landis. Producers Lee Rich, Leslie Belzberg. Executive producer Jonathan Sheinberg. Screenplay by Michael Wolk. Cinematographer Mac Ahlberg. Editor Dale Beldin. Special makeup effects Steve Johnson. Costumes Deborah Nadoolman. Music Ira Newborn. Production design Richard Sawyer. Set designer Carl Stensel. Set decorator Peg Cummings. Sound Joseph Geisinger. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (for vampire violence, and for sexuality and language).