Directed by: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Stars: Ned Manning, Natalie McCurry, Peter Whitford
Language: English
Country: Australia
Description: In the near future, a teenage couple is trapped in a drive-in theater which has become a concentration camp for social outcasts. The inmates are treated to drugs, exploitation films, junk food, and new wave music.
Brian Trenchard-Smith is probably not a house-hold name even for B-movie fans, however, this Australian director has created among the wackiest and most original movies ever. While his work may not be of high quality (his two “Leprechaun” films are a good example of this), they are always creative as his wild imagination seems to be set loose every time he sits at the director’s chair. Dead-End Drive In”, probably his best film, is a perfect example of this: writer Peter Carey constructs a very intelligent tale set in an apocalyptic wasteland, and Trenchard-Smith takes fully advantage of the plot to construct one of the best Australian b-movies. A cult-classic.
After the world’s economy collapsed, Australia was turned into a wasteland where the unemployed youth uses the street as a battlefield and the law is forgotten. To fight this, the Government uses a Drive-In to lock them and keep them controlled using fast food and movies. A young man named Crabs (Ned Manning) is trapped in this way, but instead of becoming a conformist member of the nihilistic youth, he decides to fight back and escape no matter the cost.
Hidden under this sci-fi/horror tale of an apocalyptic society is a very well-written plot with social commentary included. “Dead-End Drive In” is a great story against the conformism. Crabs is trapped in an apparent paradise where he can get all the fast food he wants and do nothing but live each day, but instead he chooses to fight back and try to escape from the Drive-In and to return to his family. He knows this “paradise” is false, and that the only thing worth fighting for is real freedom.
Members Only Video
Film information, full movie description, and selected notes are available to all visitors. Screenshot galleries and restored uncut streaming videos are available only for active members.
Already registered? Please log in to watch this movie.
