"Helping people is my business". Jake is completely
MAD! So are his two sons. The older son (whose animated facials and yokel dialogue delivery will always have you in stitches) drives a Torino with spikes at the front bumper. This is used to smash and knock off innocent people from the road, so his daddy Jake can turn up with his tow truck to help them out. However he is actually there to help himself to their fresh, healthy body organs, so he can sell them on the black market to a travelling salesman (a terrifically edgy Ray Walston). Yep this southern religious fanatic is just not a tow-trucker driver, but a surgeon at trade
a rough one too. But he has his eyes set on a beautiful young crippled teenager who he believes he can cure, as she and her family are returning home from a beauty pageant when they encounter vehicle trouble. Guess who is on the spot to help them out. "Mad Jake" aka "Blood Salvage" is a sickly twisted and insane backwoods horror outing with plenty of pitch-black tongue-in-cheek humour and the story/visuals really do wear its influences proudly. What came to mind are Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Eaten Alive", especially for the use of a hungry alligator roaming Jake's property. Also "Motel Hell" and "Slaughterhouse". Still this little on-the-cheap b-picture is a simple mish-mash, made much more the merrier for its wacky performances (great villain performances -- Danny Nelson), in-jokes (one regarding Elvis' whereabouts and cameo by Evander Holyfield), nasty surprises/images and of course a horror favourite the always commendable John Saxon. The suspense is certainly sustained in patches and a definite feel of helplessness feels the air when the young, if totally obnoxious handicapped girl (played with girt by Lori Birdsong) finds herself at the mercy of Jake and his sons (well not so the bulky, dim-witted one). It probably goes on for a little too long, but the encounters were certainly amusing (can't get enough of roof hitting with a broomstick) and the direction surefooted in installing a secluded atmosphere. The music score did become grating at times. One thing though don't you just hate it when the video / DVD synopsis spoils certain twists
even if it's typically foreseeable. Daft, but oddly fun.
Review of Blood Salvage
