TRAILER
When I saw the premise of this movie, namely 'Guy in near future that has run out of oil invents car that runs on blood', it immediately conjured up an image in my mind of what this horror-comedy would be like.
Well, the film was absolutely nothing like I expected it to be in terms of tone and mood, but it was unquestionably good.
It's a cripplingly-low budget post-modern anti-consumerist black comedy in which Vegan kindergarten teacher Archie Andrews is labouring away unsuccessfully in his attempts to create a motor which runs off of various vegetarian food sources.
We see his dilemma every day as he stops off at the vegan food kiosk ran by archetypal nice girl Lorraine, which just so happens to be directly opposite the meat kiosk (it's literally two booths in a parking lot, and works absolutely brilliantly in terms of production design contributing to the overall narrative) which is run by the stereotypical bad girl Denise.
After cutting himself and spilling some blood into his vegetable fuel, Archie quickly figures out where he has been going wrong, and succeeds in becoming one of the few people in the world able to run a car. This makes him verrry popular with Denise...that is, until the car runs out of gas.
Soon, it becomes evident that if our hero is to be able to get his rocks off (and indeed, have enough of his own blood left to achieve and maintain an erection, let alone remain conscious!), he's going to have to start finding other sources of blood...and so the killing spree begins!
Squirrels, dogs, the homeless, the elderly, hitchhikers. All grist for the mill, and fuel for the blood car!
The movie is also extremely suggestive sexually, with implied golden showers and F to M anal fisting. 'Last Tango in Paris' style! It really jars with the overall low-key mood of the film, but works all the same.
I particularly liked the ending of the film. Perhaps because I just got done reading Bronson's Loose!, but it reminded me of the end of Death Wish. Rather than stopping the killer in their midsts, the authorities seek to utilise Archie's talents for their own ends.
It's an intelligent and somewhat minimalist deadpan comedy that hits all the right notes as far as I'm concerned. Totally different to what I expected, but an extremely pleasant surprise. It's difficult to accurately sum up, but let me say that if Hollywood were to remake this movie tomorrow, it's the kind of thing that Michael Cera would be in the lead role of. It's like 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' spliced with 'Repo Man'. Seeing as I like both of those movies, I really enjoyed this one as well, so I can most wholehearted endorse it.
In short, buy this movie, or the cute child gets it!
