BLOOD DRIVE (REVIEW)
Season: One
Reviewer: Martyn Wakefield
BLOOD DRIVE promises to give you the ride of your life on the highway to hell via checkpoints of zombies, cannibals, nymphos, monsters and loons. An invitation we would be rude not to take up. Luckily, there are no false promises with the TV event of the decade as the 13 episode series charges off the starting line with a bang.
In episode one, “THE FUCKING COP”, the stage is set as we are introduced into the blood thirsty cross country race that allows its competitors the opportunity to win a fortune. Along with homicidal clowns and a host of other murderous survivalist battle to be crowned the winner. In the midst of the race, a police crackdown sees a cop, Arthur (the last honest cop in America) forced to play the game as he’s partnered up with Grace, a beauty with a lust for male blood, shown excruciatingly in a scene where she fills her car up with the carcass of a wanton courtier.
From there the series descends into a sheer whirlwind of "theme of the week". Mutants, robots, monsters are all there and carry the wider story arc to completion. The saddest part of BLOOD DRIVE is knowing that the adventure is over but it's contained enough to watch on repeat or individual episodes and with a cast this good, who wouldn't want to.
At the centre of the race is show master Julian Slink who carries the show as the storyteller and event host rolled into one. With enough disregard for the ratings board, this is one series bound for success. Not only does the show boast about being the goriest on TV, it also is the only show that currently hosts all of the classic horror tropes in one beautifully crafted package. What makes BLOOD DRIVE so appealing is it’s love for horror but also how much fun it has with the genre.
The script is corny, the scenery abusive and the wardrobe none existent and yet this is so perfect. From the outset, BLOOD DRIVE puts itself on the map for its artistic merit, sheer lack of political correctness and gallons upon gallons of blood. From the opening blood drive to the satisfyingly teasing closure, this is the best hour of television all horror fans deserve. If you thought ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD had gore, it was merely a starter for BLOOD DRIVE.
With enough gore, sex and violence, it’s enough to make your head explode and that’s something the series plans to provide plenty of over the coming weeks.
What is clear throughout is the sheer passion that BLOOD DRIVE brings with it. Crafted as a love letter to the genre each episode is a siloed adventure with a “villain of the week”-esque concept all encapsulated in a wider 13 episode arc. All of the cast are perfectly made for the series and the chemistry between all is explosive to watch. Add into that the real star of the show, the masterful special effects and blood extravaganza and we are off to a racing start for a race that will pump our veins with adrenaline and the lust for grindhouse we’ve missed since Robert Rodriguez’ golden era.
In the words of Slink himself: Ladies and gentlemen, bastards and tramps, bloodsuckers, motherfuckers, road trash and vamps, to the queer and the strange, in the crowd and on the stage, to the violent, the malevolent, and those seeking a grave… Welcome home!