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, a.k.a. "Barbie", who is forced to partner up with Grace D'Argento, a dangerous femme fatale who has an agenda of her own, as they take part in a death race in which the cars run onhuman blood – the titular Blood Drive, whose master of ceremonies, Julian Slink, 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.
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. Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa.
Reception
Blood Drive received generally favorable reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 76% based on reviews from 21 critics. On Metacritic it has a score of 65 out of 100 based on reviews from 13 critics. 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." 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. 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."
