Pale Blood is a 1990

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

vampire film Vampire films have been a staple in world cinema since the era of silent films, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in films throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptat ...

directed by V. V. Dachin Hsu and Michael W. Leighton, written by Hsu and Takashi Matsuoka, produced by Omar Kaczmarczyk and Leighton, and starring

George Chakiris George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor and dancer. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of ''West Side Story'' as Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award fo ...

Wings Hauser Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser (December 12, 1947 – March 15, 2025) was an American actor, screenwriter, film director and musician. A prolific character actor, he appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once cal ...

, and Pamela Ludwig. It features music and performance by the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical uses of Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. T ...

Plot

Michael Fury (Chakiris) arrives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to investigate a series of mysterious high-profile murders where the victims have been completely drained of blood. Aiding him in his quest is Lori (Ludwig), a junior member at an investigative firm who is obsessed with the occult. Unbeknownst to her, Fury is himself a vampire. Yet, unbeknownst to Fury, Lori has been keeping a little surprise hidden too.

Cast

* Randy Almazon, Frank Barajas, Sheryl Bence, Wanda Blunt, Den Daniel Jr.,

Sybil Danning Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger; May 24, 1952) is an Austrian–American former actress, model, and film producer. She is best known for her frequent appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 1980s. Biography Early life Dannin ...

, Marc Leighton, Michaele Leighton, Michael Shane Leighton, Michael Rosen, Rita M. Saiz, Lindsay Santos and Tom Sidell as People of the Night

Production

''Pale Blood'' was filmed in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Release

It was released by Noble Entertainment Group in October 1990, and was also known as ''A Marca do Vampiro'' in Brazil. ''Pale Blood'' was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

by IMV in Germany in 1990, and by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and SVS in the United States on January 22, 1992. During the week of February 9, 1992, the film was the third best-selling

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

title in the United States.

Vinegar Syndrome Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore ...

released ''Pale Blood'' in April 2020 on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD. , the Vinegar Syndrome release is

out of print An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book that is ...

Reception

The film received a B− score from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', with critic Michael Sauter praising the film for doing "something new with the vampire genre." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' said, "''Pale Blood'' positively aches to do something original with the lore of the undead. But the film never overcomes a serious anemia of good ideas and ways to handle them''. In his book ''Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide'', John Stanley praised the film as an "offbeat, stylized vampire thriller with clever twists and a bravura performance by Wings Hauser." Brian Carnell of the ''

Kalamazoo Gazette The ''Kalamazoo Gazette'' is the daily newspaper in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is part of MLive Media Group, Michigan's largest local media organization. The ''Gazette'' publishes seven days a week. Papers are available for home delivery on Thur ...

'' gave the film a middling review, critiquing Chakiris's performance as an "imitation" of

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

, and commented that the film would have functioned better as a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Accolades

The film received a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

nomination for Best Genre Video Release.

References

Sources

External links

* 1990 films 1990 horror films American serial killer films American supernatural horror films American vampire films English-language horror films Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Hong Kong 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{1990s-US-film-stub