Mad Jake

I'd never heard of this movie, so I wasn't expecting much, but I found it to be very entertaining.

A muscle car with a spike-plate on the front of it runs down a just-married couple in their car. They're picked up by a tow truck, and taken to a salvage yard that is more interested in them than their car.

The hick family of three behind the salvage yard takes an interest in a young woman in a wheelchair who is taking part in a beauty pageant. She's traveling with her parents and younger brother in an RV. Their RV gets sabotaged so that a wheel comes off, and a tow truck is ready to pick them up....

The young woman is a bit hard to take, but when she's yelling at her family not to do things, she's invariably right. She's a strong character. John Saxon does a good job as the father. The mother and brother don't have much to do.

The hick family is more interesting than I expected. The father is a Christian fanatic who has made up his own code of morality. Upset at the death of his wife at some point in the past for lack of a heart donor, he's recognized a niche that can be filled. Though a hick, he is a mad genius. He's also largely polite and smiling, like Farmer Vincent in Motel Hell.

There's an odd cameo by boxer Evander Holyfield at a carnival where people can try to beat him in the ring while he's blindfolded. Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian, Mr. Hand in Fast TImes at Ridgmont High) also has a small role, but his serves the plot more.

Blood Salvage is a one-of-a-kind in so far as it is the only horror film (to my knowledge) to be produced by a world heavyweight boxing champion: Evander Holyfield (who also has a cameo as himself, taking on opponents in the ring at a fairground). Thematically, however, the film is far less unique, using Tobe Hooper's oft-mimicked Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and his follow up Eaten Alive, for its template, with just a little bit of Motel Hell for good measure.

Lori Birdsong plays pretty teen April Evans, who doesn't let the fact that she is in a wheelchair stop her from entering beauty contests. Returning home from a pageant, the Evans family lose a wheel on their RV, unaware that it has been tampered with by reprehensible redneck Hiram, who forces vehicles off the road so that his father Jake can farm the organs of the injured occupants to sell on the black market (to the deviant Dr. Stone, played by My Favourite Martian star Ray Walston).

No sooner has the RV skidded to a halt, than Jake shows up to offer a helping hand, towing the family to his home where, one by one, he adds them to his organ farm—with the exception of April, who reminds Jake of his dead wife. By injecting April with spinal fluid taken from her younger brother Bobby (Andy Greenway), Jake hopes to make April walk once more, and then make her his wife. Of course, with April's legs functional, escape is possible, but the hicks' massive pet alligator makes matters more difficult…

Director Tucker Johnston wisely aims for a darkly comic tone, and occasionally hits the target—Jake's victims moaning 'help me' in unison as Mr. Evans (John Saxon) makes a bid for freedom is a wonderfully macabre moment—but with the general predictability of the script and not nearly enough in the way of graphic ghoulishness (despite the nature of the film, gore is kept to a minimum), Blood Salvage isn't quite as entertaining as its morbid premise promises.

This is an entertaining film. It's kind of like a cross between Deliverance and Nightmare on Elm Street. It's hard to find but if you're a "B" horror fan you'll dig it. The real treat is the barn and the gadgets that the film makers came up with to illustrate the "salvage" operation. I wish we could see more of that. There's a surprising cameo by Evander Hollyfield (with ear complete - a little ironic given the subject of the film).

I saw this film under the title "Mad Jake".It tells us the story about deranged farmer Jake and his two imbecile sons-they murder tourists for their organs,which are later sold to rich merchants."Blood Salvage" is certainly twisted and grisly,and also very funny.The acting is decent,and there's short cameo by a famous boxer Evander Holyfield,who actually produced this one."Blood Salvage" borrows from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"(1974)and "Eaten Alive"(1976-for example huge alligator as a pet companion of Jake),but it is more slickly made than those two.Recommended,but definitely not for the squeamish.My rating:7 out of 10.

This is one of those obscure horror films made and forgotten. But this movie has all the parts of a classic. Smooth plot, understandable events, blood, it has it all. The interaction between Jake and his 2 sons works, and the way the victims are treated is expected. Watch this movie!