Dead End Drive-In (1986/Region Four/4/PAL Import/Madman DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on machines capable of
playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL format software and can be
ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at the website address
provided at the end of the review. The
cover image is ©1986 Springvale Productions, Ltd. and New South Wales Film
Corp. All Rights Reserved.
One of
the most amusing exploitation films you are likely to have never seen, Brian
Trenchard-Smith’s Dead End Drive-In
(1986), the mastermind behind Oz-Ploitaiton classics Turkey Shoot and The Man From Hong Kong, both reviewed elsewhere on this
site. Besides a great name, it has
another hilarious plot and is the kind of movie they just don’t make anymore
unfortunately.
The world
has semi-annihilated itself and including Australia, which is plastered with
junk, broken down cars, day glow graffiti and much crime. Crabs (Ned Manning) tries to get by and
ignore the idiots and his brother works as a tow truck man helping the
scattered police to survive. One night,
Crabs and his girlfriend go to see a movie at a local drive-in in his minty
1950s Chevy, but they make the mistake of taking the discount price and land up
in the screen that has been converted to a youth prison.
The
gilded cage has all the teen amenities like candy, popcorn, contraception and
Punk music, but you cannot get out no matter what you try. Crabs and his girlfriend Carmen (Natalie
McCurry) do everything to escape, but it will be tougher than they think and
there are plenty of convicts and criminals inside to keep them busy.
When I first heard of this one, I knew I had to see it and
though I knew also to expect plenty of trash moments, Trenchard-Smith delivers the
action and fun once again and when it kicks in, he is as good as any action
director alive. This even made it to the
U.S.,
but has unacceptably faded from that market.
If you have a multi-region player, you should get this and see it at
least once. Sooner or later, it will get
rediscovered.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is shot in 35mm
in an unidentified widescreen scope format and one we believe is a variation of
Super 35mm, so that means no anamorphic lenses were used to create the wide
image. Director of Photography Paul
Murphy (Bliss) does a fine job of
creating cinematic space and the film is a good looking one. However, this transfer is riddled with
problems like ghosting, strobing and aliasing issues it should not have, made
sad by the fact that the print is not bad.
Such a good looking film deserves better. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has very, very weak surrounds and distortion form
being an old Dolby A-type analog theatrical release. A cleaning and remix to 5.1 is much needed.
Extras include feature
length audio commentary by Trenchard-Smith that is fun as usual and the
original theatrical trailer for this and other Madman releases.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
