Blood, Guts, Bullets And Octane Review

A pair of witless car salesmen agree to care for a gleaming Pontiac convertible while the owner's away. Trouble naturally ensues.

by Bob McCabe |
Published on
Release Date:

18 Feb 2000

Running Time:

87 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Blood, Guts, Bullets And Octane

Sid (Carnahan) and Bob (Leis) are used car salesmen, who are basically not very good at selling cars. They're certainly no way near as good as their rival and former employer Danny Woo (Harlan), and bankruptcy is just a few repossessions away. But then Ray (James Salter), their ever so slightly dodgy car broker offers them a deal that seems too good to be true: a classic Pontiac LeMans will be delivered to their car lot; all they have to do is keep it there untouched for 48 hours, and for their troubles they'll be slipped a cool quarter of a million dollars. Naturally they take the deal... and naturally it all goes pear-shaped, with our hapless heroes eventually taking to the road, pursued by the FBI and a string of killers, some of whom may have been responsible for the massacre of an entire Ecuadorian tribe.

Writer, director, editor and star Carnahan - along with producer, co-star Leis - decided to make a multi-character, action road movie on a minuscule budget with no professional training. They succeeded in making the film, but what they made is by no means a success. Attempts at quirky characterisation fail dismally, due largely to a pretty average script.

Carnahan seems to think that having everyone repeat all their lines about three times in a row to suggest agitation, and including the word "fuck" a lot, gives his film an edge. It doesnt, it merely makes it look like the stymied, flat piece of US indie cinema that it is.
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