PALE BLOOD (1990)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

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PALE BLOOD is one of the many "good vampire" films that proliferated in the 1990s, made more palatable by the stylized direction of Chinese director V.V. Dachin Hsu and her co-director Michael Leighton. Even for a vampire drama, it's a bit on the slow side, and doesn't wrap up all of its plot-points.

As the film starts out, Los Angeles has seen three women die exsanguinated, leading to the press rumor of a "vampire killer." At the same time, a Romanian citizen named Michael Fury (George Chakiris) arrives in L.A. and makes contact with a local woman, Lori, who works for an investigative firm. The dialogue clarifies that Fury has engaged the firm to look into the killings, but Lori has very little to reveal to Fury, at least about the serial killer. She goes into much greater detail about herself, telling the pale-fleshed Fury that she's a big fan of vampires. Fury denies the existence of the undead, but not much later, it's made clear that Fury is the real thing. He's one of the last of his kind, and he takes umbrage at someone, real or phony, spreading the idea of a vampire murderer.

As it happens, the L.A. vampire is a phony, a loopy video director named Van Vandemeer (Wings Hauser) who has killed the women for a publicity stunt. Just as Fury seems composed and continental, Vandemeer is twitchy and obnoxious-- but the killer is also smart enough to detect the presence of a real vampire on his tail, and he uses some ingenious devices to turn the tables and to imprison Fury. The film does end with a somewhat unequal combat between the killer and the undead avenger, though I'd still judge the film as combative since Vandemeer is a classic "trickster villain."

The most egregious plot-problems are with Lori. She's more or less the "Mina" of this tale, who's devoted to the good vampire while he gets his (non-fatal) blood-sucking jollies with the appropriate "Lucy." Then there's a puzzling scene in which she's apparently learned enough occult stuff that she can cast visions to Fury-- though it's by no means clear that she intends to do so. The climax also reveals an additional layer to Lori's character, but the script doesn't play fair by including any hints of the big revelation.

The duel of heroic vampire and remorseless human killer is made more palatable by the skillful performances of Chakiris and Hauser, respectively playing "passive" to "active" to good effect.