Blood Car

Arriving in a timely fashion given the current petrol price crisis, Blood Car is quite the topical film. Fair play to the filmmakers for coming up with an original concept like this - set in the near future, no one can afford to drive any more, so one man, a vegan-primary school teacher called Archie (Mike Brune), decides to find an alternative.

He first experiments with wheatgrass with little or no success and it's only after he cuts himself and spills some of his blood onto the engine that it springs to life, putting the wheels into motion for this story.

Archie's new found discovery suddenly makes him cool and popular - having the only car in town that works certainly helps and scores him a date with sex-mad Denise (Katie Rowlett), but she'll only go out with him he if keeps his engine running. There's only one problem Archie is seriously lacking the special ingredient - BLOOD.

Blood Car is as silly as it sounds, part satire, part-horror and as cheap on thrills as it is on budget. Its clear the director was influenced by early Roger Corman films, and surely the main appeal for making Blood Car was the idea that making something cheap and simple would be a fun ride.

The comedy falls flat, and the social commentary never takes off, which is a shame for a film with such a good premise, while stereotypical characters only add to the woe. There are some nice camera moves and the film is shot inventively given its low budget but not even that could deter me from clock-watching throughout.

Overall, Blood Car is not an appealing ride.