A late night endeavour for me as a friend was doing a rewatch and with a title like 'Bloodsucking pharaohs in Pittsburgh' how could I NOT take the opportunity to indulge?
Unfortunately, the title is a little bit misleading. as is...well the whole film really...
For a starters, the advertising for this movie is quite misleading...you look at the title of the movie and the first impression is its going to be some kind of 'killer mummy'/'vampire' flick...maybe a slightly Troma-esq picture thats ultra gory, ultra sleazy and a little bit 'Street Trashy'...The film isnt like that at all...it has odd moments here and there...but this is actually a rather grounded production that probably shares more in common with 'Seven' than it does 'The Toxic Avenger'...and when I say that, im NOT saying 'Its as good as 'Seven'...' Im saying that tonally its a lot slower and more serious than the title would have you believe.
The film is VERY loosely inspired by 'Blood Feast' and when I say very loosely I mean, the film is about 2 detectives hunting for a serial killer who's removing peoples organs. and then suddenly about 50 minutes into this 80(ish) minute film, they drop a CRAP ton of lore about Egyptian sacrifices...but they do so in a nondescript way...
In fact, thats probably this films biggest problem, its SO non comittal in anything it wants to do. As mentioned the Egyptian symbolism (barring a very throwaway moment in the opening 5-10 minutes) is entirely neglected until the 3rd act, when its unceremoniously dumped on the audience with no real explanations or reasoning. They dont explain why the specific organs stolen are significant, they dont really explain exactly WHY they're needed or what collecting them is ultimately going to do.
This is billed as a 'Horror Comedy' which is *technically* true. there is some moments of horror and some pretty funny comedy moments. But films that weild duel genres generally work best when they unify the two (bringing comedy into a horrible moment, or offsetting a comedy moment with some awful horror) and they work even better when theres a dominant genre in the mix...so a horror comedy thats leading with horror will pepper its scares with comedy moments, and vice versa.
This film treats them both equally, and keeps them pretty far apart from each other. Meaning the comedy never manages to bed in enough that audience members feel confident in it BEING comedy, and horror fans get a double whammy as the comedy downplays the suspense of the horror, AND due to the producer taking a pair of scissors to the film, all of Tom Savinis wonderfully gory work has been trunkated or removed to secure an R rating.
It script is slow boil, it has its moments, but it feels like, because the film failed to pick a lane, it doesnt really know what to do with itself for most of the runtime. It brings in a load of supporting characters who have nothing to do with the main plot of the film really other than giving the film makers opportunities to pad the runtime. The tones uneven, and as mentioned the act structuring is a bit of a mess because the first act is basically a detective slasher thriller peppered with comedic moments, the first half of the second act ramps things up a little, but not much. and then the second half of the 2nd act swerves violently into an Egyptian sacrifice subplot.
The direction, cine and performances are all fine. like...literally the base level required to make the film feel somewhat professional...I wish I had more to say on it...but honestly its just passably good. Nothing special, it just does the job on all counts. The soundtracks unmemorable...
I dunno...This thing just smacks to me of being an unfinished or rushed production that had a sloppy base that resulted in a sloppy movie. Im kind of glad i've seen it for reference, but if this was 'inspired by Blood Feast' there are other, better 'Inspired by Blood feast' movies out there such as 'Mardi Gras Massacre' and 'Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers' This? This is something i'll probably not watch again.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/bloodsucking-pharaohs-in-pittsburgh/
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