In 1899, the U.S. Glue Company factory in Carrollville was founded to make glue from animal hide remnants. The factory was sold to the Peter Cooper Corporation in the 1930s before being sold in 1976 to Rousselot. During all this time, the factory continued to produce glue until it was ultimately shut down in 1985. Fast forward to 2004, when aspiring filmmaker Drew Rosas stumbled across the glue factory with his friends. Rosas always wanted to make a horror film similar to 1980s slashers, so he picked the factory as his setting. After putting together a 50-page script and an additional month of preproduction, the three months of shooting commenced. On a $7,000 budget, the movie titled initially Rocky Trails was shot mainly around Wisconsin with some LA pick-up shots. Now retitled Blood Junkie, the film premiered in Milwaukee in 2010 before Troma released it on DVD in 2011.
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Rating
Synopsis
It’s Summer 1989, and friends Craig Wilson (Nick Sommer) and Teddy Bender (Mike Johnson) are looking to score. Meanwhile, Laura (Sarah Luther) has to babysit her little brother Andy (Brady Cohen) while their parents are away. She uses her mom’s emergency money to buy booze with her friend Rachel (Emily Treolo) to party all weekend. Laura and Rachel run into Craig and Teddy at the liquor store, who invites them on a camping trip. The girls agree, but Laura has to bring Andy along since she still has to look after him. After a night of booze, drugs, and sex, Laura and Rachel check out the old chemical factory nearby. Little do they know that a mysterious figure in a jumpsuit and gas mask lurks throughout the factory. But this isn’t just your average junkie, as this maniac is a Blood Junkie!
Review
Given how low of a budget they had to work with, it’s impressive that Blood Junkie was even finished. Drew Rosas’ love of 80s horror is on display, from the fashions to the music and even the killer’s look. Admittedly, the killer is a knock-off of the one from My Blood Valentine, but it’s nonetheless creepy. Sadly, the kills are few and far between, and they don’t happen until the movie’s last third. What helps make up for it are the inventive camera angles and the fitting synth wave music. Not only is the score catchy, but the use of synthesizers helps this feel like something out of the 1980s. Not all of the jokes land as a comedy, but a few gags get a hearty chuckle. The movie is a bit of a mess, but you can tell there’s an effort put into this.
Unfortunately, what ultimately hurts this film are the characters, who are unlikable and annoying to the point of frustration. Everyone plays their parts with a very hipstery self-aware attitude, making them less quirky and more obnoxious. Sure, these characters will die, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want to see at least one of them survive. Granted, that could’ve been the filmmakers’ intent to make the characters obnoxious 80s stereotypes, similar to those in TerrorVision. The only difference is that Nicolaou made them endearing, whereas no one in this movie has that quality. Supposedly, this was originally a 30-40 minute short film, and I think it would’ve worked better that way. At 72 minutes, the movie goes by fast, giving off a vibe of trying to rush to the end. Overall, Blood Junkie has some glaring flaws, but the effort put into it almost makes the experience worth it.
Buy Blood Junkie from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3SYOuox.
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