| Blood Drive | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Midnight Grindhouse Presents Blood Drive |
| Genre | |
| Created by | James Roland |
| Starring |
|
| Composer | Michael Gatt |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Production location | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Cinematography | Yaron Levy |
| Editor | Kristina Hamilton-Grobler |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 43 minutes |
| Production companies | Strong & Dobbs Productions Universal Cable Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syfy |
| Release | June 14 – September 6, 2017 |
Blood Drive is an American science fiction action television series that aired on Syfy from June 14 to September 6, 2017. On the same day that the finale aired, series creator James Roland announced that Syfy had decided to cancel the series after one season. [1]
Blood Drive is set in the dystopian "distant future" of alternate 1999, after the "Great Fracking Quakes" have literally split the United States apart, with a giant ravine called "the Scar" being formed roughly along the route of the Mississippi River. A megacorporation, Heart Enterprises, exploits strange discoveries from the bottom of the Scar to become ubiquitous across American politics, society, and the economy. Meanwhile, as a result of environmental decline, water has become scarce and gasoline prohibitively expensive.
The series features Los Angeles Police Department officer Arthur Bailey (Alan Ritchson), a.k.a. "Barbie", who is forced to partner up with Grace D'Argento (Christina Ochoa), a dangerous femme fatale who has an agenda of her own, as they take part in a death race in which the cars run on human blood – the titular Blood Drive, whose master of ceremonies, Julian Slink (Colin Cunningham), is secretly a Heart employee. As they make their way through the Blood Drive, Arthur and Grace realize that Heart has been involved in their own pasts as well.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The F...ing Cop" | David Straiton | James Roland | June 14, 2017 | 0.834 [5] | |
A cop is forced to partner with a homicidal bombshell in a bloodthirsty road race across America. | ||||||
| 2 | "Welcome to Pixie Swallow" | David Straiton | Marc Halsey | June 21, 2017 | 0.627 [6] | |
Grace and Arthur battle to stay off the menu at the first pit stop, Pixie Swallow Motel & Diner. | ||||||
| 3 | "Steel City Nightfall" | James Roday | James Roland | June 28, 2017 | 0.444 [7] | |
Arthur and Grace race through a mysterious city only to fall prey to its nocturnal inhabitants. | ||||||
| 4 | "In the Crimson Halls of Kane Hill" | James Roday | Nina Fiore & John Herrera | July 5, 2017 | 0.490 [8] | |
Arthur and Grace take a dangerous detour to a mental asylum to search for Grace's missing sister. | ||||||
| 5 | "The F...ing Dead" | Roel Reiné | Harrison Weinfeld & Daniel Zucker | July 12, 2017 | 0.454 [9] | |
Arthur and Grace must find a cure to a deadly sex plague that is unleashed on the Mayhem Party. | ||||||
| 6 | "Booby Traps" | Roel Reiné | Ben Wolf | July 19, 2017 | 0.436 [10] | |
Amazons ambush Arthur and Grace in the Savage Lands, but they hold a clue about Karma's location. | ||||||
| 7 | "The Gentleman's Agreement" | Lin Oeding | James Roland | July 26, 2017 | 0.380 [11] | |
Slink unleashes a demon from the belly of Heart Enterprises to exact his revenge and take control. | ||||||
| 8 | "A Fistful of Blood" | Lin Oeding | James Roland & John Hlavin | August 2, 2017 | 0.498 [12] | |
Arthur helps a wasteland sheriff free his town, but the line between good and evil is not easily drawn. | ||||||
| 9 | "The Chopsocky Special" | Meera Menon | Nina Fiore & John Herrera | August 9, 2017 | 0.334 [13] | |
Grace tests her kung fu against a mystic restaurateur; a dying Arthur embarks on a vision quest. | ||||||
| 10 | "Scar Tissue" | Meera Menon | Alex Ebel | August 16, 2017 | 0.343 [14] | |
A wounded Arthur stumbles into Cronenburgh, a wasteland oasis that may be too good to be true. | ||||||
| 11 | "Rise of the Primo" | Gregg Simon | Ben Wolf | August 23, 2017 | 0.377 [15] | |
Arthur resists bloodlust; Grace confronts a shocking revelation in a deadly battle-dome fight. | ||||||
| 12 | "Faces of Blood Drive" | David Straiton | Harrison Weinfeld & Daniel Zucker | August 30, 2017 | 0.364 [16] | |
Slink throws the ultimate mayhem party; Grace and a mysterious newcomer fight for Arthur's soul. | ||||||
| 13 | "Finish Line" | David Straiton | James Roland | September 6, 2017 | 0.364 [17] | |
Arthur, Grace and Slink attack Heart Enterprises, but their deepest fears await them. | ||||||
The show received a 13-episode direct-to-series order from Syfy on July 28, 2015. Each episode is based on a different genre of 1970s/1980s exploitation films, such as cannibals, nymphomaniacs, or insane asylums. [18] Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa. [19] [20]
Blood Drive received generally favorable reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 76% based on reviews from 21 critics. [21] On Metacritic it has a score of 65 out of 100 based on reviews from 13 critics. [22]
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter gave the show a positive review, noting that the show "kept me entertained and curious for longer than I expected." [19] Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times called it "a gleeful detour into grindhouse gore and raunch" and a sweatier, grimier and better-acted version of Death Race 2000 . [23] Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club was critical of the show and gave it a grade C, saying "If grindhouse TV wants to thrive in the medium, it needs to put its shocks and flesh in service of something more than a game of perpetual provocation and one-upmanship." [24]
