Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh

By the late 80's two styles of film had suddenly started running into overkill. On the Comedy side was the NAKED GUN/AIRPLANE literal style. For Horror films the Slasher genre was dying a death that not even it's creators could conceive in all its ugliness. Every week it seemed that a new film was rolling out that was embracing these styles.

Then in the year 1990 two films arrived that pushed the Horror/Comedy genres into the same area with such force, that you really had no idea what you were watching. One of those films was REPOSSESSED, which was a horrible literal Horror spoof that starred Linda Blair and Leslie Neilsen. The claim to fame was that it was Linda spoofing her EXORCIST character. The results were painful.

The other film was a very low budget film that centered on the Slasher film phenomenon, but used just enough humor to keep it from being a pure Horror film. Though it was nowhere near as joke-filled as was REPOSSESSED, it was still a far cry from HALLOWEEN or any of the films of the like. But this little film also had a little something to it to set it apart from other films rolling out that year, it had make-up effects by Tom Savini!

So what the heck is it all about anyway?

The film starts with a person walking behind a row of cars. The person is pulling along a little red wagon with a generator on it. We overhear the conversations of the people in the cars and realize that it is some kind of "look out point" and all the people are making out. Cut to the chase, the generator fires up and we are treated to a kill. We don't get to see too much of the kill, but the after effect is a rather nice shot. After the murder we meet two cops. Both seem nothing like the kind of cops you want on your local police force, but then again, neither do any of the others we meet in the course of the film! Our two heroes are Sweeney Birdwell, played in his best Columbo fashion by Jake Dengel and Joe Blocker, played by Joe Sharkey. The running joke here is that Joe has a weak stomach and on each crime scene all the other cops place bets to see how long it take him to loose his lunch. Plus they try to get him to do so by making gross comments. As it turns out though, Joe was a good cop once, but a case gone bad turned him to a weak cop. So anyway, these recent killings all seem very familiar to Joe. They remind him of the case that went bad and turned him into the mess he now is. Ah, you think you can figure out the ending now? Well, you probably can figure out the main aspects of the ending, but there are a few twists that you will almost never see coming! Teaming with Sweeny and his old partners daughter, Joe heads back out on the case!

The film has many running gags. The killer using power tools that need to be run on a generator is a funny gag at first, but by the end, you've seen it and it just wears a bit thin. Sweeny's chain-smoking wife is a confusing character that, oddly enough, does tie into the ending. Though the amount of smoking she does and her strange meals might be the most disgusting things in the movie. The talk box, messed greasy hair, and bathrobe just pushes the whole thing too far!

If the film knew what it wanted to be, it may have succeeded in one of the forms. But by not being too sure of where it wants to stand, both you and the film get lost. The acting is pretty decent and the whole crew seems to be a pretty competent crew. Some nice shots and some decent camera work keep you from being too bored.

This is a Program Power release, so that means it's time to look at the back of this DVD box and just frown and give the typical old frustrated look! Yes, again Program packs a DVD with tons of extras. Yes, once again you get interviews, commentary, promo photos, deleted scenes and a ton of stuff on the DVD-Rom area of the disc! What's on the HALLOWEEN II disc? What was that? Oooooh.

The commentary is actually quite funny. The film was originally called PICKING UP THE PIECES. But the producer felt that was not a good enough name. Oh, but guess what, the commentary is done by both the director and the producer! So we get to find out quite a bit as to when the director is not too happy about changes made by the producer! It gets uncomfortable at times, because though he sounds like he is joking, with as much as it is brought up, you can't help but feel that the guy really is hurt by the changes. He obviously prefers the original title. Also, the producer is Beverly Penberthy, who also plays the scary chain-smoking wife! The track is always active and never boring, but it does get a bit weird at times!

The rest of the disc is your standard Program Power quality. The picture and sound never really jumps to life, and you wonder if it is poor elements or if it is just that this is a low budget film. The picture isn't bad by any means, but it never screams to life like some films are capable of. Plus, it is again a full screen transfer, but this is possibly how the film was meant to be shown. My money is on that we are being given as much info as is available. Very little grain, but a soft image.

I did kick on my surround for kicks, and actually got a little (very little) action in the rear speakers! This actually surprised me a bit and might just be the way my stereo is. But it did add slight depth to it. But the audio track is fine in it's "ultra-stereo" form and works great. Actually, I am not too sure what "ultra-stereo" is and that might be the reason for the noise in my rear speakers.

So lastly, what about those Savini FX? Are the cool? Well, this isn't DAY OF THE DEAD or even CREEPSHOW here, but there are some nice shots and the Savini freaks out there should grab this just for the fact that there is some nice stuff. This is the other side of it all that makes the comedy angle not really work! Here you have some nasty stuff from Tom, then we are meant to laugh. Just seems wrong.

So all in all, BLOODSUCKING is basically a Troma film with really cool effects. That is the best way to describe this thing. Not quite as off the wall as Troma, but if they had put this out, nobody would have been surprised! Buy, if that is your thing.

Review by Carl Isonhart