Blood Salvage

Blood Salvage (1990)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Tucker Johnston

Starring: Danny Nelson, Lori Birdsong, Christian Hesler, Ralph Pruitt Vaughn, John Saxon

From: Paragon Arts International

What an interesting curio this proved to be, featuring several famous names... including Evander Holyfield!? Yes: 

Or: The horror film where an executive producer was EVANDER HOLYFIELD. I have known of this movie for years and even today I have no idea as to why the guy that soon after this movie came out would become the World Heavyweight Champion of boxing got involved with a low budget production such as this. He even has a cameo as himself; in one scene at a carnival his trainer at the time (Lou Duva) issues a challenge for any rube in the crowd to enter the squared circle and last a few minutes with his fighter. This sort of thing used to happen at carnivals in the real old days, where boxers and wrestlers issued grandstand challenges like that for a big sum of money and as the fighter could take care of themselves, they almost always won. A buffoon character accepts the challenge and even though The Real Deal is blindfolded, the bozo is knocked down with a blind punch.

As for the film as a whole, I had heard from a source-now known by me to be erroneous-that this was tremendously gruesome. That was not the case at all; there were only a few bloody moments. The subject matter is intense but don't expect gallons of blood to be shed. The plot: Rob Zombie redneck types who live in rural Georgia target a teenaged girl who happens to be in a wheelchair (there is a reason why she is specifically chosen); they are in the county for a beauty pageant and her dad is John Saxon; it's always a treat seeing him... as it was seeing Ray Walston for a few minutes. Those rednecks are religious types but they have perverted the word of the Lord to do some heinous things.  The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an obvious inspiration (it must not be a coincidence that their house looks like the Sawyer residence) but the reason for their butchery is different, at least.

While it was mainly for an important plot point, it was interesting to see that a girl who was physically handicapped (“due to illness”, as the movie vaguely explained) had such a big role... even if the actress playing her was able bodied. The evil family is what you'd expect: patriarch dad Jake is the ringleader, there is a mentally handicapped son named Roy and the other son Hiram, he is definitely a Rob Zombie character in that he not only looks gross, but also speaks in an incredibly vulgar manner and most of his dialogue is not fit for a review such as this.

The film is not as dirty or grimy or nasty as you'd expect from the premise. It has some real weird moments but I wouldn't have minded more carnage either; what effects you do see mostly look good considering the low budget. Still, at least I can say this film is OK; that is no shame considering this is random regional horror. There are darkly humorous moments throughout-for example, the evil family has a pet alligator that roams the ground-and thankfully much of it was not distracting or annoying. Maybe one day this will come out on Blu; the movie can be watched for free on Prime if you're a member but it is in fullscreen and was obviously shot at 1.85:1... a few scenes have the boom mic OBVIOUSLY appear. Plenty of people here have this rated a little higher than me so this is why I mentioned the idea of this getting a proper release one day.