Innocent Blood

Yesterday we lost one of the great American character actors, Robert Loggia. What an amazing range this guy had. He could go from playing a tough drug lord in Scarface to playing a sweet boss of a toy company in Big. From wielding a gun to dancing on a giant piano, Loggia was a natural at whatever role he took on.

Today, I thought I'd take a look back at one of his forgotten treasures, which can be a daunting task since Loggia was constantly working. Since most of his roles were supporting, I picked one that had him in a starring role, 1992's Innocent Blood.

Anne Parillaud stars as Marie, a beautiful, French vampire living in Pittsburgh. Unlike most vampires, she's not evil. When she gets the urge to feed, she seeks out criminals and makes them her meal. When she is finished, she blows their heads off with a shotgun, preventing them from becoming the undead. This also covers her tracks because it looks like a mob hit.

She gets more than she baragined for when she makes Salvatore "The Shark" Macelli, Loggia, her next victim. Before she can finish him off, Salvatore's limo driver, David Proval, intervenes. Now a vampire, Salvatore turns his crew into an undead mafia family.

Marie reluctantly teams up with Joseph Gennaro, Anthony LaPaglia, a cop whose been trying to take down Salvatore but was kicked off the assingment. The two have their work cut out for them.

Directed by John Landis in the same vein, parden the pun, as his earlier film An American Werewolf In London. Like Werewolf, this is part horror/part comedy. And with the gangster element it's part crime film as well. I don't think it's as good as Werewolf, but it's still a really good movie. Landis was looking for a hit after his underappreciated Oscar tanked at the box office. Hoping to find the same success he had with Werewolf, he signed on to this. Interesting sidenote, he was originally tapped to do a vampire movie with Wayne Newton, but that fell thru. How odd of a movie would that have been? When this come out, the ads were quick to state that this was "From the same man who brought you An American Werewolf In London." I think the audiences could sense the desperaion and stayed away in droves. Loggia's great in this. He's played so many mobsters that he knows how to snap into that scary, yet funny, mob mentality. And it's good to see him as one of the stars instead of gangster number 3. Parillaud is very sexy in her role. After this, and La Femme Nikita, I'm surprised she didn't become a bigger star in the states. LaPaglia always has this likable charm and it works well with the mysterious Parillaud. And this movie has Don Rickles as Loggia's attorney. You heard me right, Don Rickles. How cool is that? Landis also has this staple of putting directors in small roles. I love when he does this. It's a like a Where's Waldo for filmmakers. This one included Frank Oz, Tom Savani, Sam Raimi, and Dario Argento.I really enjoy this movie, and if you're wanting to remember Robert Loggia and see one of his better, overlooked roles, you should check it out. Available on dvd.