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BLOOD GUTS BULLETS AND OCTANE

Yes, Blood Guts Bullets & Octane is yet another Quentin Tarantino-inspired effort from an unknown filmmaker wishing to break into the big time. But there's a bit more going on beneath the (very rough) surface of this picture. This time around it's writer/producer/director/editor/star Joe Carnahan who is channeling Tarantino as his muse, working with a mere $8000 budget and a burning desire to make a mark on Hollywood. And while the end result of Carnahan's efforts is no Reservoir Dogs, the filmmaker does prove to posses a fledgling, high octane (ahem) approach to making movies which is bound to serve him on the bigger productions and jobs that the relatively successful 1998 Blood Guts Bullets & Octane presumably have opened up for the filmmaker. (The Internet Movie Database indicates that Carnahan is currently making a film called NARC with Ray Liotta.)

As for Blood Guts..., Sid (Carnahan) and Bob (Dan Leis) are a couple of used car salesman, composed of roughly two parts Glengarry Glen Ross and one part Pulp Fiction characterizations. Their two-bit car lot is in financial jeopardy as the film starts, so when they're offered $250,000 to store a mysterious 1963 Pontiac on their property for a couple of days, it seems the guys' luck has turned. Of course, things can't go that easily for Sid and Bob, as it turns out the car has a history that includes dozens of dead bodies, a trunk that is wired to explode if opened, and the FBI in hot pursuit of the vehicle. The expected action and zaniness more or less takes over from there.

The picture is creaky like an early Robert Rodriguez film, a step above those Super 8 movies you used to make as a kid. But it's also bursting with a willingness to embrace various techniques, with mixed film stocks, odd angles and so on. These are just tricks in a filmmaker's bag, ultimately, but a willingness to use them goes a long way. See Baz Luhrmann's MOULIN ROUGE for further proof of this notion (or any standard Hollywood action fest for an example of what playing it safe will get you).

Carnahan's direction is all flash and style as is his writing, which provides some of the high points of the film as Sid and Bob pitch away to helpless customers. But like Tarantino himself, Carnahan doesn't know when to stop and the film begins to drag when the dialogue becomes a little too abundant and a little too irreverent; this is a shortcoming felt most acutely during the film's finale. With that said, Carnahan shows a great deal of talent and even more ambition, and both he and his film can be forgiven its small moments of indulgence.

Not surprisingly, the Blood Guts Bullets & Octane DVD is a barebones package. You do get a presentation that is widescreen (but not anamorphic) with Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound audio. The picture quality is decent, if a bit grainy, but considering the ultra-low budget origins of the film, this is to be expected. Extra features don't exist here (they would have cost more than the film itself) though a self-mocking theatrical trailer is included.