{"id":2666,"date":"2024-08-22T03:31:16","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T03:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2666"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:53:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:53:58","slug":"drive-in-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/22\/drive-in-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Drive-In Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> (1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dimension Pictures\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 74 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (graphic violence, brief nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Stu Segall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Goff and Buck Flowers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lon John Productions\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kenneth Lloyd Gibb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 7, 1977 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jake Barnes, Adam Lawrence, Douglas Gudbye, Verkina Flowers, Newton Naushaus, Catherine Barkley, Norman Sherlock, Frank Hollowell, Valdesta, Michael Alden, Marty Gatsby, Patricia James, Tiffany Jones, Myron Griffith, George \u201cBuck\u201d Flower (uncredited).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Body Count: 9<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Before I get into Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> itself, I\u2019d like to talk about a couple of cool things on the poster. One, it\u2019s advertised as \u201cbeing filmed entirely in bloodcurdling GORE-COLOR\u201d. I\u2019m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds neat. Two, there\u2019s a special warning for people with \u201csevere emotional disorders or chronic coronary dysfunction\u201d to \u201cNOT see this movie\u201d because \u201can independent film board\u201d has deemed it \u201ctoo terrifying for viewing by the average theater patron\u201d. I don\u2019t know about all that, but it\u2019s a sweet hook. I LOVE stuff like this. Both of these things would have made me buy a ticket had I been old enough to see Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> at the time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As for the actual movie, it\u2019s not bad as far as cheap slasher movies go. The title Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> is fairly self-explanatory. It\u2019s about a killer slashing his way through the patrons of a California drive-in theater starting with a couple about to make out. Well, she wants to fool around; he wants to watch the movie. Now there\u2019s a switch! The killer solves the argument by beheading the man and skewering his girlfriend through the neck with a sword, his preferred instrument of death. His murder spree continues over the next few nights with another decapitation, a slit throat and a couple impaled by his sword.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Two overweight detectives, Leary (Barnes, Gas Pump Girls) and Koch (Alden, Malibu Beach), are assigned the case. They interview the drive-in\u2019s ill-tempered manager (Naushaus, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens) and oddball custodian (Gudbye, C.B. Hustlers). The latter tells them about a weirdo customer (Sherlock, Alice Goodbody) who cruises the joint on the lookout for couples doing exactly what you\u2019d expect them to be doing in an R-rated slasher flick. It sounds like they have a prime suspect with this one which can only mean he\u2019s likely NOT their guy. At one point, the detectives do a little undercover work with one of them dressed in drag. Uh, YIKES!<\/p>\n

\u00a0SPOILER ALERT! <\/strong>I\u2019d be doing Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> a great disservice if I didn\u2019t talk about the ending or non-ending if you prefer. It\u2019s the other cool thing about the movie. If you really don\u2019t want the surprise ending (?) spoiled, STOP READING NOW! You\u2019ve been duly warned. At a certain point, the movie just stops and titles come up informing viewers that similar bloodbaths are occurring at drive-ins throughout the country and the still unidentified killer remains at large- \u201cThe killer could strike again. Anywhere… Anytime… who will be next?\u201d Then a man identifying himself as \u201cthe manager\u201d announces that a murderer is loose in the theater and viewers shouldn\u2019t panic (\u201cDo not panic. I repeat, do not panic.\u201d as \u201cpolice are on the way\u201d). This is like something out of an old William Castle movie. I can see where some are frustrated by such open-ended endings, but I think it\u2019s cool. It\u2019s a fun way to cap things off.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I remember renting Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> from West Coast Video after school one day in spring \u201986, but I guess my mind wasn\u2019t really on it when I watched it. I couldn\u2019t recall a single detail as I sat to rewatch it earlier today. One of the first things that struck me when I was writing the header for this review was the unusual number of actors using pseudonyms. According to IMDb, it\u2019s because Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> was made non-union and cast members didn\u2019t want trouble with the SAG (Screen Actors Guild). I never knew that. I guess you do learn something new every day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, the movie itself isn\u2019t especially great. The screenplay is a perfect exercise in minimalism. It gives us absolutely nothing in the way of character development. The only real backstory we get is the frequent mentioning of the manager and custodian formerly working for a carnival (as sword-swallowers no less) operated by the theater\u2019s absentee owner. The plot is paper-thin to the point where the makers throw in a random bit near the end about another possible suspect holding a young girl hostage with a machete to her throat just to pad out the running time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting, for the most part, is rather wooden. Naushaus plays up the nasty as the manager described as a \u201cperfect a**hole\u201d and \u201cbald-headed garbage can\u201d by the dim cops. He gets the choicest lines like his warning to a cop about to eat a ham sandwich, \u201cYou better watch it, you might be eating your father.\u201d Gudbye camps it up as a guy with obvious mental problems. He\u2019s the biggest red herring in a movie that has enough to fill a tank at Sea World. Naturally, Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> is filled with dumb dialogue and idiotic behavior on the part of the not-too-bright characters. It also has a score so generic, it\u2019s not even credited to any one composer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To its credit, Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> has a few decent kill scenes and some gore. Obviously, I wish it had more of both. Movies with the word \u201cmassacre\u201d in the title should be legally obligated to provide a high body count (at least in the double digits) and a river of blood. The effects are cheesy, but since we\u2019re talking about a low budget horror flick, it\u2019s to be expected.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the end, Drive-In Massacre<\/strong> scores higher for presentation than quality. I love its blatant attempts to lure in viewers with the promise of a truly terrifying experience. That it\u2019s a false promise is completely beside the point.<\/p>\n

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LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01 Sized3000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Drive-In Massacre (1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dimension Pictures\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 74 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (graphic violence, brief nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Stu Segall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Goff and Buck Flowers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lon John Productions\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Kenneth Lloyd Gibb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 7, 1977 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jake Barnes, Adam Lawrence, Douglas Gudbye, Verkina Flowers, Newton Naushaus, Catherine Barkley, Norman Sherlock, Frank Hollowell, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Drive-In-Massacre-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions\/3580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}