"Bloodline" (1995)

"Bloodline" is a short film directed by Clarke M. Smith and Peter Beam, and starred Joi Campbell, Peter Beam and John Biase. It was completed in October of 1995 via equipment from Norwalk Community Cable Corporation. It was Smith’s first film post-graduation from the University of Arizona, having graduated in 1992.

In perhaps his longest break between films, Smith and Beam, now both living in Stamford, CT, had all but lost interest in filmmaking, concentrating more on paying work and career. However, the mood and look of Connecticut lead Smith to feel that a film must be shot here. One eerily moonlit and foggy night, the two were driving home from somewhere, when Smith suddenly said, “we should do a vampire movie, this place is perfect”. And so the seed was planted, and Smith got certified to use an SVHS camera and equipment at the local community cable organization, where, like Tucson, one can rent video gear, edit, and submit for their cablecast. As before, there has to be a slight white lie involved, where the company needs to know that your video is one ‘for the community, and benefits it in some way’. They don’t remember what they told the place, but it surely wasn’t “a goofy vampire movie”.

Realizing the Script
Smith and Beam immediately put together a script idea, with touches of “Subspecies” and “Interview with the Vampire”. Smith thought it was very enticing to now make a movie for the first time on the east coast, and also to try a genre never before attempted - which at the time wasn’t really a genre, but became a sub-genre - the vampire genre. Beam was a big vampire fan, and Smith had a feeling he wouldn’t turn down such an opportunity to make a vampire film.

Beam had appeared in numerous Smith student films, such as “The Lurking” (1985), as well as co-director of “Anonymity” (1989). It was quickly decided that he would play the vampire in the film, and was named “Anders”, after Anders Hove (lead actor from the Subspecies films). Next was finding the lead actress. Friday nights were spent at The Terrace Club in Stamford, CT, and Smith and Beam befriended bartender Joi Campbell. Long story short, she had done some acting and when asked, she said sure. Filling out the rest of the cast was John Biase as the psychiatrist, and Gregorio de la Pagiano in his film debut. Also returning from “Anonymity” was Lloyd Cook and Liz Beam. Finally, supporting parts were played by Clarke M. Smith (in his acting debut) and Ann Gutrau. Smith would never again attempt acting in a primary role.

Shooting Details
Lloyd Cook’s father was caretaker of a church in Old Greenwich, CT, and was able to secure it for filming. The first day of shooting occurred here, November 1994. Production got off to a very rough start, rather foolishly starting with a complex scene full of most of the cast. With nearly all new people who had never acted before or been involved in a movie (with the exception of Lloyd Cook and Liz Beam), the cast and crew were essentially completely taken aback with the nature of filmmaking; the hurry up and wait; the retakes; the lighting changes; the rehearsals. Not a lot got done the first night. Smith felt really out of practice too, having not made a film in over 3 years - and in the past working with all familiar people.

Joi created a lot of strife, having cancelled shoots numerous times, after Smith had taken the time to go rent all the equipment from the cable corporation. In the middle of shooting, Smith and Beam reached a point where they considered cancelling the project and shelving it. The fun it started out as, slowly turned to a burden and a struggle to complete. Filming finally came to an end in the spring of 1995, almost a year after starting. Some notable shooting experiences: the shoot at the park at night was absolutely freezing, and the actors could barely get their lines out through frozen lips. The lair was located in a basement at the law firm Beam worked at, as well as the psychiatrist’s office. John Biase was in character the entire time, creating a bit of nervous stress as the scene was shot. There was beer drinking and pizza at the church, which in hindsight, felt like a sacrilege. Gregorio and Beam were running around a real and creepy cemetery at night for those scenes when he gets his neck broken. Joi Campbell was supposed to be a part of the church scenes, but due to her not being available (or more likely, cancelling last minute), scenes were altered there. Smith was hugely self conscious with acting, and felt he did a terrible job, vowing never again to act. It did give him a new appreciation for people like Clint Eastwood, acting and directing at the same time. Pete however, had a fun time donning the wig and teeth, and fulfilling a love of vampires, and playing one. Liz Beam would later getting married at this church. During shooting, Smith and Beam started to develop a film project called “Clips”. Clips was to be short recreated scenes from 10 of each of their favorite and most inspirational films. Some movies were not possible to attempt, such as “Star Wars”. Smith chose “Jaws”, Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “The Thing”, “Alien”, “Aliens”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “The Terminator”, “Rain Man”, “Dirty Harry”, and “An American Werewolf in London”. Beam chose “Scarface”, “Subspecies”, “The Hitcher”, “Interview with the Vampire”, “Halloween”, “Basic Instinct”, “Tombstone”, “Stripes”, “The Crow”, and “The Breakfast Club”.

Shot during the making of Bloodline, they only made one ‘clip’: “An American Werewolf in London” (1995). The singular scene proved to be too difficult a project to make the team want to continue. Recreating a scene, shot for shot, line for line, camera move by camera move, was a lot harder than anticipated. To this day, its the only film project that Smith started and abandoned.

Film Analysis
This film is considered by Smith to be his worst. He had envisioned a much more serious and stylish film. But many drawbacks, budget and quality derailed that. Action scenes were very disjointed, and much of the camera work was subpar due to the rush and stress of the production. That being said, years later (when Smith relocated to San Diego, CA), he revisited the film and digitally re-edited it from scratch with yet another musical score, this time from a quirky band called Midnight Syndicate. While Beam was not in favor of replacing the iconic Subspecies score, he did like the improvements and quality, as well as an effect added to his voice in the film. Smith created a souped up DVD and included an option to play the film with the original score intact. The result of the new version softened Smith’s dislike of the film somewhat, essentially going back to “Anonymity” as his personally most disliked and worst film. Both films, not too coincidentally, had their share of nightmare production problems.

Aftermath
“Bloodline” was shown numerous times on the local Norwalk cable community channel. Several cast members were recognized on the street for years after. The quality of the cablecast was extremely poor, compared with the SVHS master tape.

Smith did a re-edit in 1997, this time with a score by John Williams. It was intended to be an improvement on the originally rushed edit, but in hindsight, was actually worse. The 3rd and final edit for DVD has been deemed clearly the best. It was during the 2nd re-edit that Smith met Eric Smith. The two of them had a mutual love of film, and Eric was so impressed with “Arizona Smith” (1989), that it led to them joining forces for Smith’s next film project, “Contamination 2” (1998).

Smith got married to Leilani Moats in 1996, shortly after Bloodline was completed. Filmmaking continued the next year, with the Contamination sequel.

Video Links
"Bloodline" (1995) (Full Movie)

1999 Visual Audio Commentary

"The Bloody Making of Bloodline" (2015)

"Bloody Bloopers" (1995)