Sang Plomb

I have to say that I harbored absolutely zero expectations to the 2007 movie titled "Blood Car", as I happened to stumble upon it here in 2024 and sitting down to watch it. In fact, I had never even heard about the movie.

Writers Hugh Braselton, Alex Orr and Adam Pinney put together a cheesy script, no doubt about it. But there was just something that worked about the movie, because it was so far out there and silly. I mean, you got to appreciate when someone comes up with these outrageous ideas for movie scripts.

I wasn't familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list. For a movie such as this, then the acting performances were actually fair. I will say that the hilarious dialogue, especially the dialogue from Denise (played by Katie Orr) was so hilarious that it more than made up for the shortcomings of some of the acting performances.

The effects in the movie were simplistic, but actually worked out well enough. You will not find yourself sitting down to be blown away by a myriad of impressive special effects here.

When Archie and Denise made it to the barbecue sauce, I have to say that the cinematography died. That hand-held, shaky camera that the movie suddenly opted to shift to just simply didn't work for me. And it was a rather horrible scene to sit through.

"Blood Car" is a fun little low-budget movie with a somewhat different storyline. Give it a gander if you enjoy movies that deviate from the usual cinematic stuff, you might just like what director Alex Orr has put together back in 2007. While I did manage to sit through he 82 minute runtime of the movie, I can honestly say that this is not a movie that will grace my screen a second time.

This movie is so wonderfully strange that it was actually well-worth sitting down and watching.

My rating of "Blood Car" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Schlock at its modern best. What made those 70s horror films great were their serious intent delivered with such camp. That is what works for "Blood Car." This indie film, directed by Alex Orr and starring Anna "My Girl" Chlumsky and Mike Brune is a fun romp into the camp of yesteryear, serving up generous portions of horror, humor, and political satire of our current affairs. Does it all work together? You bet! "Blood Car" bested my expectations with its over-the-top acting, a silly yet disturbingly plausible story (plausible in the most twisted of minds), and some brilliant editing work considering its indie film budget.

The film is set in the near future where gas costs hundreds of dollars to fill a tank. Only the most elite can afford to drive a car, making the cheapest of cars appear luxury if only for the fact that they can be powered down a road. The story concerns an elementary school teacher who seeks a method of clean-burning fuel to use in place of gasoline. As our teacher Archie loves his wheat grass, he tries to use it as an alternate fuel. During the experiment, he cuts himself, spilling blood into the mixture that makes an engine run. It's only later that he realizes its the blood and not the wheat grass creating the combustion. When he finds that the source runs out quickly, he abandons his life-loving peaceful ways and goes onto a killing spree to keep his car running. Plenty of humor runs between all the pseudo-violence as our poor anti-hero just wants to make good for the world, while spilling human blood. It was a joy to watch on the big screen and brought back memories of my drive-in days. (Yes, I'm old enough to remember drive-ins. They were outdoor theaters which you drove your car into, and... never mind.) Definitely a must-see destined for the cult-classic home DVD libraries.

I wasn't going to comment, but I felt I had to offset our friend from Romania, who obviously didn't "get it". He would have maybe been right if the film had taken itself seriously, which it certainly didn't.

One thing that puzzles me: In the disclaimer at the end credits, the word "fictitious" is badly misspelled. So is "exhibition". I can't figure out whether this was intentional or somebody actually didn't know how to spell these words. All other words in the paragraph were OK.

Anyway, somebody should make Uwe Boll sit and watch this to learn how to make a no-budget film.

I went in hoping for Little Shop of Horrors vs. Mad Max, but ultimately found myself unamused and waiting for the film to end. While the premise is interesting, there's not enough substance to sustain the entire length of the film, which feels too long even at only 76 minutes.

It's a notable achievement for their shoestring budget, but otherwise it comes across as very amateurish, the comedic scenes are forced (as in, "look at me, I'm trying to be funny"), and the characters are really unlikeable (save for Anna Chlumsky, whose portrayal of the girl next door is one of he few redeeming factors of this film). But, I've definitely seen worse. Heck, I've WORKED on worse films.

You have to appreciate what this movie is trying to accomplish and who it is made for. This is a terribly fun movie. The comedy is laugh out loud throughout, plenty of bloody goodness (the scene where Archie taps himself for blood will make even hardened gore fans squirm), and...oh my God...a message that you can sink your teeth into. What a concept, a comedy/thriller that has a point (anyone who doesn't "get it" can find Hostel 2 out on DVD)!

Watching this film is like seeing a good local band. You know you're not going to see Black Sabbath, but you still might see a really rocking group. This isn't Silence of the Lambs, most movies aren't, but it sure as hell is better than most of the garbage out there.