In the near future, two weeks from now, gas prices have risen to astronomical levels. Gas prices are so high that no one drives their car anymore though promiscuous teenagers will go to car graveyards to get their backseat kicks. Motivated by social consccience and moral conviction mild-mannered school teacher Archie Andrews spends his spare hours creating an alternative fuel powered automobile using a new bio-fuel using Wheatgrass juice. Frustrated with little progress being made nothing seems to work until one day, in a vodka-fuelled scientific rage he accidentally cuts himself and his blood mixes with his bio-fuel. His experimental engine starts to whir. But will it work in his car?
The car engine roars to life, and now that our central character has wheels he finds himself the object of the affections of the local meat seller, Denise. As long as he has a running car so will Denise continue to rock his world. Chicks dig guys in cars, so guys in cars must keep cars running, no matter what the cost. The blood must flow if Archie is to get any.
Someone on the programming team at Toronto After Dark really has something for meat. For the second year in a row the social issue of meat eaters and herbivores/vegans serves as motivation for a central character. Having said that, Blood Car is a dark, twisted and damn funny movie which blends bloody portions of horror, humor, and political satire.
Even though the movie only clocks in at 76 minutes I still think it could have been tightened up a bit. It did tend to meander about a bit between its highlight moments. But I am picking on a debut film here. Had this been from an established creative team I could be merciless. But I still have to note that as many high points as there were in the film- Archie walking through the neighborhood with a pellet gun shooting local wildlife and pets is absolutely priceless- there were equal low points as well. I mean for this to be constructive.
I do think that some of the editing choices detracted from some potential emotional developments in the story. While it is evident that Anna Chlumsky’s Lorraine is enamored with Archie I think the choice of editing their conversations to solo head dialogue doesn’t necessarily detract from their relationship but neither did it fully flesh it out. Oh how more uncomfortable their love scene would have been if that emotional awkwardness was further realized earlier in the film. There were concerns about continuity and attention to detail.
Regardless, Blood Car plays perfectly to the late night crowd. It has some damn funny, dark and absurd comedic moments. There are plenty of bared breasts and sexual exploitations. Oh boy is there blood. Was that a tribute to Peter Jackson’s Braindead near the end there? And as long as water cooler debate exists about the price of a barrel of crude oil and how much it costs to fill our tanks each holiday weekend the underlying social satire elements of Blood Car will remain relevant. At first I thought it was a bit too obvious but masking something like this in ambiguity would only cloud the fact that indeed all types of people in our world are dying for this black gold.
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