Pale Blood (1990)

Directors:

V.V. Dachin Hsu
Michael W. Leighton (co-director)

Writers:

V.V. Dachin Hsu (writer)
Takashi Matsuoka (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A vampire pretender (Wings Hauser) who is murdering women runs into a real vampire (George Chakiris)...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Breast Biting | Serial Killer | Blood Spurting | Video Artist

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

George Chakiris	...	Michael Fury
Wings Hauser	...	Van Vandameer
Pamela Ludwig	...	Lori
Diana Frank	...	Jenny
Darcy DeMoss	...	Cherry
Earl Garnes	...	Harker
Frazer Smith	...	Frazer Kelly
Michael Palm	...	Lead Singer in Band
Steven Bramble	...	Lori's Date
Randy Almazon	...	People of the Night
Frank Barajas	...	People of the Night
Sheryl Bence	...	People of the Night
Wanda Blunt	...	People of the Night
Den Daniel Jr.	...	People of the Night
Marc Leighton	...	People of the Night

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Noble Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Soundtrack:

She's Tuff

A pleasurable stroll through the hungry night.

A media storm is brewing in L.A. after a number of strange murders of young ladies being drained of blood. Michael Fury arrives in the city from London, and hires a vampire-obsessed investigator Judy to look into these murders. He encounters the erratic artist Van Vandameer, who seems to be interested in the case too, but for purposes unknown.

Well, this turned out to be one nice surprise. I never even heard of it, but the video case looked tempting enough, and plot outline capped it off for me to purchase it. What comes of "Pale Blood" is a highly stylish, sparsely slow-tempo low-budget vampire yarn that's a little more unusual, and clever than most of its ilk. However I can see why some might find it a turn off though, but while it's not a faultless exercise. I was reasonably transfixed. The premise does come off slight (but there are some neat ideas, and references within), and the messy screenplay makes little sense with the main concerned being on the moody nocturnal atmosphere filled with dreary lighting, steamy downbeat Los Angeles locations, piercing sound effects and an ominously ticking time-bomb music score. It scores big hit on those facets. There's a real art house feel to it, and just what was the deal with the inclusion of that punk band. Every so often it would cut to them in the club playing their song. Boy did it ponder, although I got to hand it to them that it was a tune that doesn't leave your head anytime soon. So from what you grasp, the soundtrack is largely filled with sleek, bouncy rock songs that enlivens the late 80s feel. V.V. Dachin Hsu garnished direction seductively cruises along and pulling out elaborate suspense by effectively generating disorienting spells of slow motion and trippy visuals filled with blue or red shades. Some sequences are quite blurry and move along like a music video clip, while the production limitations draw up a welcoming claustrophobic edge. The performances are reliable, if mostly dry. George Chakiris' perfectly shaped understated, sullen performance emit's a dark, youthfully heart-broken vampire. Now that's the opposite for a Wings Hauser. His nutty, slime ball performance was good fun to watch. An admirably unhinged Pamela Ludwig is decent. Diana Frank and Darcy DeMoss are there to look pretty, and than show off their acting expertises.

A fine, minor offbeat vampire flick that didn't blow me away, but it peaked my interest.