A Vampire travels to LA to look in on a series of bizarre murders. All the victims seem to be drained of blood and killed by a vampire. Fearing the bad name this would give vampires, he tries to stop the killer with the aid of a vampire obsessed PI.

Pale Blood (1990) Is a bizarre Direct to Video horror movie. I first became aware of it thanks to the acting credit of Wings Hauser (LA Bounty), but I wasn’t prepared by how silly and fun the finished product would be. This was the first directing job of V.V. Dachin Hsu, Who made the film fresh out of UCLA. It has the marks of a first film, but the energy behind her film makes up for any errors.

It’s a lovely time capsule of the early 90s and LA culture (Tho many sources point to IMDB which lists the filming locations as Hong Kong, but there is no mention of it in interviews). The fashions and hairdos are all polished. The neon lights and high beams. It’s all perfect sleaze. The lighting is full of primary colors and sudden transitions in pale blues and greys. The one negative is the use of a blurry slow-motion effect that is dragged on for too long during a sudden shooting and a love scene.

The characters and story are filled to the brim with silly energy and melodramatic pauses. It feels like a script written by Tommy Wiseau with a music video director taking over the editing and look. Something is off about the whole movie like its all lost in translation. Dialogue is stilted with only Wings Hauser truly selling the material. In terms of unique images, we get lots of random scenes with the rock/ punk band, some tacky flashbacks, and boob biting.

Hauser’s character should’ve been the main focus of the story. Whenever he is on screen the movie gets a bolt of energy. He plays a video director who is the grandson of vampire hunters. But he is so mad about his experimental and erotic videos that he just wants to capture strange images. He has many freak-out moments where he sits around and talks to himself about vampires. Plus the insane moment where he shouts “This isn’t film, this is video. And it’s art!”. One of his erotic videos has an insane moment where a woman holds an egg between her legs as another pet it! What a sight.

The main character of Michael Fury is played by the sleepy George Chakiris (West Side Story). It’s a shame because he is given plenty of good scenes. He just seems so out of it. Added to this is the unconvincing love story between him and the downright creepy Lori, played by Pamela Ludwig (Which IMDB lists this as her final role). Her character just looks like a wild stalker who obsesses over vampires. When we see her apartment, its comically overstuffed with vampire figures, jack in the boxes, and vintage posters. She is even watching Nosferatu! Most of her lines feel poorly dubbed, some are even ADRed to be louder. 

It may not be perfect, and I do have a lot of issues with it, but Pale Blood is a noble first directing job. It’s so odd and playful. But at the same time hilariously serious. So much of the script feels like a spoof but the crew didn’t get the memo. What saves it is the truly wild performance by Wings Hauser.

Vinegar Syndrome brings this oddball film to blu-ray glory with a mostly solid release.* The movie comes with two audio tracks. First up is the English DTS-HD Master Audio track with a well-mixed series of effects. Sadly the audio has a constant annoying hiss noise. It sounds like the audio was raised and then it peaks off. The audio clips in many scenes, mainly with Pamela Ludwig’s scenes. The next track is the English Dolby Digital which actually adds to the hiss problem. It only lasts for a few seconds but it does pop up a lot during the last 45 minutes of the film. English subtitles are included.

The 1080p HD transfer fares better. The flesh tones look natural and there is hardly any film grain. The opening credits are a little soft around the lettering. The blacks are also soft in many shots. The neon lights and club scenes by comparison look brand new. 

Extras include:

• “Understanding Immortality” An interview with Director V.V. Dachin Hsu, which runs 15 minutes. She covers a lot of ground with her career, moving from Hong Kong to New York, and her time at UCLA. She even shares a cool story about meeting John Hudson. Now going under the name Jerry Funkmeyer, she seems like a fun person with a lot of love for her film.
• “Acting with Eggs” is an interview with actress Darcy Demoss which runs 7 minutes. She talks about her casting process and her enjoyment in making the film.

Pale Blood is rough around the edges, but it’s so dang weird that you can’t help but fall for it. Wings Hauser makes this a truly wild and offbeat experience. Check it out.

Director- V.V. Dachin Hsu

Cast- George Chakiris, Wings Hauser

Country of Origin- US

Discs- 2

Distributor- Vinegar Syndrome.

Reviewer- Tyler Miller

*This 2 disc set comes with a DVD with the same extras.