Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh

My review was written in May 1991 after watching the movie on Paramount video cassette.

The cutesy title fronts for an occasionally amusing horror/comedy mishmash. Pittsburgh is the locale, and Tom Savini provides some gruesome makeup effects for diehard fans.

Direct-to-video release was produced in 1988 with the title "Picking Up the Pieces". That monike more accurately reflects a case surprisingly similar to "The Silence of the Lambs", as Pittsburgh cops are trying to apprehend a serial killer who mutilates women and keeps body parts for some strange ritual.

In a parody of a down-on-his-luck detective, Jake Dengel is the policeman with no stomach for his job. He calls in his former partner from Las Vegas who has expertise in this area, but the crony's daughter, spunky Susann Fletcher, shows up instead to assist.

Key clue of notes containing hieroglyphics, left on the corpses, leads to a cult working on eternal life via an ancient Egyptian formula. Porno veteran Jane Hamilton (a/k/a Veronica Hart) has fun as the slapstick villainess. Rest of the cast is nondescript.

Filmmaker Daan Tschetter's mix of gore and yocks strains, the equation that exaggerated blood equals black humor. Savini fans may get something out of this one but as "Silence" proved, this material is better off played straight.