Petrol substitute is bleeding obvious (Blood Car (DVD))

Member Name: Ailran

Product:	Blood Car (DVD)
Date:	26/07/09 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amusing touches, great storyline

Disadvantages: A tad too b-movie, a bit stilted in places

Blood Car is a very, very low budget horror that tells the story of Archie, a kindergarten teacher.
The film is set in the future, two weeks into the future, when the petrol prices have roared to stratospheric prices, no one drives anymore... no one can afford to!

Archie has a plan though, he is trying to find a way of making an engine that will run on wheatgrass, thereby returning normality to society, or maybe just so that he can get a girl! Any man who is seen driving will have automatic allure to the opposite sex.
His invention just doesn't work though, no matter what he tries, until the day he accidentally cuts himself and his blood drips into the mix. With this new addition to his formula Archie now has a working engine but how will the peace loving vegan go about collecting what he needs to make his engine, and therefore his car, run?

Blood Car is a low budget horror spruced up with a heavy dose of satire. The story is not only offbeat but is also very unpredictable, mainly due to an odd group of men in black suits who seem to be hanging around in the background all the time, up to who knows what. They seem to be watching over Archie for no apparent reason at all, but is everything as simple as it seems?
You are never certain what these men are up to, or what their purpose is, and this adds a whole degree of uncertainty to the plot line.
It is more than that though, there is a certain something to the plot, the characters and the situation that leaves you never being quite sure of the direction Blood Car is going to go.

Apart from Archie (Mike Brune) there are two other major parts in Blood Car. Lorraine (Anna Chlumsky) is the wheatgrass girl, who runs a little stall selling Archie's preferred form of petrol replacement. She is a bookish girl, nervous and shy around Archie, who she adores. He, of course, barely notices her apart from chatting to her when purchasing goods from her.

At the 'meat' stall opposite though is the sultry, sexy and very forward Denise. She is less than ambivalent about Archie, that is until he has a working car, then he becomes the main man.

Blood Car is incredibly black, as you might expect from the idea behind the story, and has a look to it that shows its low budget on its sleeve. There isn't much that is high quality in the look, sets or even the acting really but what it does have is a fun little story and some clever people who have managed to do what most low budget horrors fail to do... make the most of their limited finances and not try and do too much. They rely on the script and the actors to entertain the audience and don't write in effects that are then cheaply created and just look tacky. Blood Car does possess a smidgeon of this but in general it sticks to the amusing comedy side and does it very well.
Surprisingly Blood Car is also quite sweet. Archie is a very likeable guy that you warm to, even when he is trying to come up with ways of filling up his car. His attempts at a relationship with Denise are very funny, and Denise herself is such a fun character that you cannot help but smile when she is seducing Archie.

Blood Car is fun, it does show on the screen how little money it had spent on it but, even with its limitations, it is a more enjoyable viewing experience then many of the mainstream attempts at horror and comedy/horror these days. It is stupid, it is very bad in places but it has such an overall sense of fun about it that you don't really care.

Congratulations should be heaped in Fake Wood Wallpaper for achieving this and I will be looking out for anything else they do just to see what it is like.

If you like comedy horror then Blood Car is worth a watch. It may not be a great movie but it is different enough to be enjoyable in its own unique way.

Seen at the Cambridge Film Festival 2008

Summary: A comedy horror b-movie that will make you laugh