DEAD-END DRIVE-IN
"A man whose car stalls at the Star Drive-In finds himself trapped in a bizarre and terrifying situation."
In the dystopian future of 1990, the world-wide economy has collapsed, gangs of drug-crazed criminals roam the streets looking to get their kicks at the expense of innocent civilians, and lunatics with power tools dry-hump utility poles because they've got nothing better to do with their copious free time. In order to clean up the streets and rid themselves of all manner of "undesirables", the Australian government has come up with a rather novel solution...
That solution? Transforming drive-in theaters into concentration camps. That's what this movie is about. All the worthless, dope-smoking, carjacking, pierced and tattooed youths love going to the drive-in! They watch trashy movies and rub on each other in the dark while shoving greasy food down their throats with reckless abandon, because the world is a flaming ball of shit, and who gives a damn what happens tomorrow?
So while the burn-outs are distracted by their throbbing genitalia, police officers slink around under cover of darkness and sabotage all of their surely-stolen cars, trapping them at the drive-in. When they try to leave, they are informed that unless they can drive out on their own, they can't ever leave, because it's illegal to walk on the road leading out of the drive-in, and no buses or taxicabs are allowed in or out. And if they try to climb the 20-foot-high fence, they'll receive a fatal electric shock, so that's not an option. Then they're handed a fistful of meal tickets and told to fend for themselves in this brave new world.
That's what happens to our hero, Jimmy, and his girlfriend Carmen, as they head to the Star Drive-In in search of a night of libidinous entertainment. Jimmy wants to be like his big brother Frank, a big burly man's man who drives a tow truck and drives a gorgeously restored 1956 Chevrolet. Convincing Frank to let him borrow the vintage ride, Jimmy takes his best gal Carmen to the Star Drive-In to have a little fun. After Jimmy witnesses a pair of police officers stealing the wheels off Frank's car, he finds himself trapped in this strange, isolated little universe populated with apathetic assholes who would rather get drunk and watch the same terrible old movie on a dilapidated big screen every night, living in their old, rusted-out automobile shantytown than even entertain the thought of escaping into the world beyond the wall. Even Carmen seems to adapt to life at the drive-in with a disturbing ease, making fast friends with the local girls and getting very comfortable with the idea of calling this waking nightmare "home".
The cops even ship in a truck-load of Asian folks as a distraction to polarize the predominantly white community of weirdoes, who immediately take to blaming these "outsiders" for all of their troubles, despite the fact that these poor people are merely prisoners, just like all the others. So there's your social commentary right there, ladies and germs!
Eventually, Jimmy gets fed up with the shit sandwich he's being fed and decides it's time to blow this popsicle stand. So he steals a tow truck and gets in a... let's say medium-speed chase with a bunch of coppers around the drive-in, before utilizing a suspiciously convenient ramp to jump the wall and escape to freedom, leaving the Star Drive-In (and his indoctrinated girlfriend) behind forever. I guess.
So Dead-End Drive-In, directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith (who also directed Night Of The Demons 2, which I heartily recommend), is a pretty decent movie. Smith and his cinematographer Paul Murphy know how to shoot a motion picture. There's plenty of creativity on display in the anamorphic widescreen frame, with the production design using every penny of a miniscule budget creating a believably dirty, sleazy world that looks very inhospitable. I felt like I needed a tetanus shot just watching this movie.
The performances are quite good, with everybody involved acquitting themselves quite well. Although I couldn't help but notice how lead actor Ned Manning, who I rather enjoyed in the film, looked so much older than the other young actors. His character is supposed to be in his late teen years, or perhaps his very early twenties, but I thought the actor looked well over thirty, and I found it distracting at times. And I've only now learned that the actor was in fact 36 years old during filming. Huh. That's worse than a 30-year-old Dustin Hoffman playing a 20-year-old in The Graduate. At least Hoffman still looked young for his age. Manning looked 36 going on 50. But that's a small gripe, really just nitpicking.
There's no real graphic violence in the film, and only a few brief glimpses of nudity, so Dead-End Drive-In earns its R-rating primarily through "adult language", which still certainly isn't anywhere near Scarface levels of ludicrousness. The film exists under the "Ozploitation" banner, but don't look here for any over-the-top, Mad Max-esque action sequences. Aside from the relatively small-scale chase sequence at the film's climax, the only other real action beat of note is a pretty short one-on-one fight scene in the middle of the film, involving our hero Jimmy and some asshole with a cricket bat. So if you're looking for balls-to-the-wall action, look elsewhere.
Overall, I liked Dead-End Drive-In. The premise is utterly ridiculous, but I can always roll with the ridiculous if it's presented well, and this movie definitely does that much right. I've learned in the last few hours since watching the film that this film is apparently pretty well regarded, and not nearly as obscure as I assumed it was after discovering it on Netflix. Hell, Quentin Tarantino adores it, naming it as his favorite of Brian Threnchard-Smith's films. Let's be honest, though, looking at his filmography on IMDB, that's not saying much. Megiddo: The Omega Code 2? Leprechaun 4: In Space? Unless Tarantino is a huge fan of Atomic Dog, I don't think he has an overabundance of choices, there. Although I'd still choose Night Of The Demons 2 over Dead-End Drive-In. It's just more fun.
I chose to watch Dead-End Drive-In because it was called Dead-End Drive-In. I was hoping it was something a bit like Lamberto Bava's Demons, and it would feature some sort of supernatural presence knocking people off at an old drive-in theater, or perhaps something more akin to The Video Dead, where evil creatures from an old movie step off the screen to kill folks in the real world. What I got instead was neither of those things, more of an Aussie cousin to Mark Lester's Class Of 1984, but with fewer exploitation elements. A good movie. Not a great one, and I'll likely never desire to view it again, but I had a fine time watching Dead-End Drive-In on a lazy afternoon. And I'm perfectly okay with that.
YOUR TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
FUCK YOU
ReplyDelete