Blood Star

Blood Star

Struggling to survive in the desert wilderness of New Mexico

Bobbie doesn’t have the personality of a damsel in distress. She curses like an experienced dock worker and drives her car like a rally driver. This gets her into trouble. Through the wilderness of America, the one seldom shown in the media, she’s driving to her hometown. Somewhere along a gritty, godforsaken stretch of highway in New Mexico, she meets the local sheriff at a petrol station. The man is strange, but not enough for Bobbie to see him as a serious threat. Wrong. He’s a classic psychopath who shakes up the entire neighbourhood and decides to hunt Bobbie down. A chase along deserted roads leads to a bloody finale in which, as horror cinema goes, only the strongest will survive. Or the most depraved.

Watching “Bloodstar”, you might remember the cult film ‘The Hitcher’ with Rutger Hauer as a murderous hitchhiker, or ‘Cop’ Car’ with Kevin Bacon as a degenerate policeman. You can also hear the echoes of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “The Terminator” and such B-movie classics as “Bad Cop” and the “Psycho Cop” dylogy. However, finding brilliant references is only part of the pleasure of watching “Bloodstar”. The fun is mostly in the suspense and the silent escalation of violence. Bobbie’s fear feeds into the audience; they will feel trapped in the cinema hall just as she does. In the background, Jacomelli subtly smuggles in the feminist themes. A single woman, on the road, at the mercy of men. Is she, though? Or will it turn out that they are at her mercy? “Bloodstar” is a powerful, pared-down cinema that promises an adrenaline rush. After this screening, should you ever be stopped on the road by a police officer with a speed camera, you will feel a primal fear.

The cast of “Bloodstar” features Britni Camacho, known from the TV series “I’m a Virgo”, Arthur Roberts, a B-movie veteran (including Jim Wynorski’s “Not of This Earth”), and John Schwab as a psychopathic cop.