I ended up watching PALE BLOOD because it came recommended as an 80's vampire flick. But honestly, I have to say it's not all that good. It actually all feels like a pretty wrong movie, really. But that's mainly because it's rooted so much in the spirit of the 80's, with that typical look & feel and pretty horrible music from a band called Agent Orange (not-so-good 80's punky/new wave/goth stuff). And why, oh why, did they always have to inter-cut to footage of that band performing? Incredibly ridiculous that was. On the upside, it is one of those more offbeat vampire flicks of which a lot were produced during the late 80's/early 90's (DANCE OF THE DAMNED, TALE OF A VAMPIRE, MIDNIGHT KISS,...). I can give it that much. The basic idea was even pretty good: serial killer/fake vampire finds a real vampire on his trail. But Wings Hauser pretty much is the only reason to see this flick, I believe. The little twist about the girl near the end was funny and the conclusion concerning Hauser's character pretty laughable. They sure don't make 'em like this anymore. Not good, not bad. Just a fun time-waster, in my opinion.

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.

Here's one of the more stylish and intriguing vampire fright features from the early 90's, a period when these pictures were seriously glutting the direct-to-video market. The chronically maniacal (and always delightful) Wings Hauser, who earned his B-movie cult stripes with his awesomely electrifying portrayal of the sublimely hateful'n'heinous psycho pimp supreme Ramrod in the great'n'gritty knock-out "Vice Squad," does his patented first-rate fruity'n'frenzied freakazoid act as Van Vandameer, a totally crackers psychotic video artist who's brutally butchering attractive young honeys in Los Angeles (the victims are thoroughly drained of their blood, which qualifies as par for the course as far weird s**t in L.A. is concerned). George Chakiris (the suave Latino gang leader in "West Side Story"), looking very pallid, handsome, elegant and uncannily youthful, gives a surprisingly fine, intense and sympathetic performance as Michael Fury, a dour, composed, reticent, decidedly undeadly and semi-heroic aristocratic European bloodsucker who hires diligent, energetic, outgoing private detective Lori (a spirited, beguiling Pamela Ludwig, a lovely lass who previously co-starred with Hauser in the passable post-nuke sci-fi/action item "Dead Man Walking") to help him track down Van Vandameer, who's the kind of contemptible good-for-nothing mortal miscreant who gives respectable real-life vampires a notoriously bad name.Hong Kong director V.V. Dachin Hsu brings a galvanizing surfeit of smoky, hazy, nightmarishly garish and bravura style to the reasonably artful, intelligent and original script, adding a few nifty, witty wrinkles to standard vampire lore (e.g., Chakiris sleeps in a portable leather suitcase come coffin -- complete with zipper! -- and doesn't like to drink Coke), neatly drawing distinct and engrossing characters, staging the frequent bloody violence with considerable flair (the climactic confrontation between Hauser and Chakiris especially swings), and injecting the funky, gleaming nighttime downtown Los Angeles locations with a finely atmospheric sense of pure skin-crawling dread. Moreover, incomparable trash movie goddess Sybil Danning can be briefly glimpsed walking down a street and the hip'n'ripping punk band Agent Orange perform a few thrashy numbers in a club. Crafty and involving, professionally done all around and a praiseworthy effort overall, this unjustly overlooked horror sleeper comes highly recommended, particularly to admirers of Wings Hauser's always deliciously loony, dynamic and exuberant bug-eyed histrionics.

I have loved this movie from the moment I saw it in the early 90's. It's absolutely impossible to find in order to buy it now-a-days, but I still remember it that fondly that I want to buy it.Yes, it was a little slow, but I enjoyed the music played by Agent Orange, especially 'Bite The Hand That Feeds' which is sung live on a stage in a club during the movie.I particularly remember the ending, as it was quite the twist and very romantic. The vampire found his mate in the most unexpected way. The movie was, at times, quite seductive in it's own way… If you're a vampire buff-and especially if you're sick of seeing the vampire die in the end because he's either 'feeling so guilty he walks into the sun', 'he gets bumped off by the hero or the girl he's after', or some other anti-vamp ending-watch this.