INNOCENT BLOOD

1992 | DIRECTOR. JOHN LANDIS | REVIEW BY GLENN COCHRANE.

In 1992, much to the distain of director John Landis, Warner Bros. released his film Innocent Blood to an international audience under the preposterous title A French Vampire In America. The decision was obviously a flagrant attempt to cash in on his 1981 hit An American Werewolf In London, leading to the misunderstanding by many that the film was indeed a direct sequel to that film (that dishonour would later go to Anthony Waller’s ’97 pic An American Werewolf in Paris). Landis made his anger at the rebranding very clear, so much so that WB reverted back to the original title for the later international DVD releases, and yet there’s a fragment of truth in that peculiar alternative title.​

Innocent Blood has no obvious direct relation to American Werewolf and as far we know it doesn’t even occupy the same cinematic universe, and yet watching it (especially 26 years later) there are several striking similarities between them. The use of title typeface immediately recalls the earlier film, and the method of storytelling – with its familiar blending of comedy with drama – suggests they were cut from the same cloth. When you factor in the similar use of soundtrack and the design of its violence, the French Vampire title isn’t as far fetched as first thought.

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