Pittsburgh cops Joe Blocker (Joe Sharkey) and Sweeney Birdwell (Jake Dengel) are in charge of finding a serial killer who is carving up prostitutes with a variety of gardening tools. It all seems so familiar for Blocker as the case echoes an Egyptian killer he almost nabbed in Las Vegas. He sends for his old Vegas partner, but gets his daughter Deedee (Susann Fletcher) instead. Why? Because it seems her dad is mysteriously missing. Another in the line of BLOOD FEAST wannabes (alongside the likes of BLOOD DINER), BPIP is something I didn't like when I first saw it on video back in 1991. So, naturally, I must revisit it 20+ years later to confirm, yup, it still sucks. The filmmakers openly compare this horror-comedy to AIRPLANE, but I'd think you'd have to include some jokes to do that. It certainly tries to be funny, but fails miserably. Example of humor: Blocker slipping on a severed ear while chasing a suspect. The recurring joke is Blocker gets ill any time he sees blood and people always say "I hear he has a sexual problem" when he is mentioned. Haha? The highlight for me was Birdwell's wife taking anti-smoking sessions, one of which ends with her being blasted by a water hose by some guys in gorilla costumes. It is a shame it didn't come together better because the production looks really nice with some great photography. Tom Savini did the gory FX, most of which ended up on the cutting room floor for the Paramount VHS release. The Lucky 13 special edition features the cut stuff in a deleted scenes supplement and it is pretty good work from the man.
Review of Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh
