Reviews by Robert Freese
INVASION of the DRIVE-IN HORROR FLICKS
The snack bar is now open
The snack bar is now open
Have you ever tried to guess the title of a film from a review? If the answer to that question is what we think it is, it's probably because it never crossed your mind, right?
Any review will work, but if you really want to have some fun, try it with a few that don't take themselves too seriously.
To help you out, we've compiled them in alphabetical order according to the title. So, if the answer to question 4 is Slumber Party Massacre, the answer to question 5 isn't going to be Cannibal Holocaust. Comprende?
Any review will work, but if you really want to have some fun, try it with a few that don't take themselves too seriously.
To help you out, we've compiled them in alphabetical order according to the title. So, if the answer to question 4 is Slumber Party Massacre, the answer to question 5 isn't going to be Cannibal Holocaust. Comprende?
Enough with the formalities. Let's get on with the show.
Want more? We know you do.
Visit Rob's website at
www.robertfreese.com
All reviews copyright 1999
An Atomic Drive-In Publication
Visit Rob's website at
www.robertfreese.com
All reviews copyright 1999
An Atomic Drive-In Publication
Wellfleet Drive-In Theater © Chris Seufert
Answers
1. Alone in the Dark 2. The Beyond 3. Dead and Buried 4. Don't Look in the Basement 5. Mausoleum
6. Pieces 7. Sleepaway Camp 8. Tenebre 9. Waxwork 10. Zombie
6. Pieces 7. Sleepaway Camp 8. Tenebre 9. Waxwork 10. Zombie
It's Saturday night at the Galaxy Vue Drive-in movie theater.
The slasher movie double feature is playing on the big screen. Unknown to the moviegoers and theater staff, a madman with an insatiable bloodlust prowls the passion pits for victims.
Who will be the next?
The slasher movie double feature is playing on the big screen. Unknown to the moviegoers and theater staff, a madman with an insatiable bloodlust prowls the passion pits for victims.
Who will be the next?
Superior thriller revolves around a pack of psychos who have escaped their asylum lock-up and stalk their new doctor. The harrowing last twenty minutes, when the psychos lay siege on the new doctor's family, will have you chewing your nails down to the nubs. Great psycho rantings from Jack Palance and Martin Landau and a twisted climax where the TV saves the day! With Donald Pleasance. A thinking-man's slasher flick.
2. Underneath a hotel in Louisiana the dead rise and no one is safe in Fulci's zombie classic. A surreal, nightmarishly effective flick, the dead boogie and attack our heroes as they attempt to shut the doorways leading to Hell. With eye gouging, throat ripping, spider attacking, acid to the face and a creepy little red-headed undead girl who gets a hole blasted through her skull so wide you could put your fist through it! A must see for genre fanciers. Originally released theatrically in the US as THE SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH.
3. Superior zombie/gore/mystery story has a weird, nightmarish quality to it that makes it all the more disturbing. Sheriff James Farentino has a rash of unexplained, ultra-violent crimes on his hands but no suspect. Little by little the pieces to the mystery fall into place, climaxing in a pulse-pounding confrontation between the Sheriff and the local mortician (Jack Albertson). Absolutely Grade-A terror stuff. The incredible make-up effects by Stan Winston include a guy getting acid shot up his nose and another luckless victim getting a hypodermic needle plunged into his eye. The novelization by Chelsa Quinn Yarbro is also highly recommended. Do not miss this one.
4. After the head doctor at the "experimental" asylum is hacked up into a pile of kibble by an inmate, a new nurse arrives to help the nurse in charge run the facility. There is a weird sense that something is seriously amiss throughout the film as the crazies slowly take over the asylum. This is a good old fashioned '70s drive-in mental-meltdown scare show that delivers plenty of shocks and nastiness. When the crazies attack at the end, you might wonder if Bill Lustig wasn't inspired by this film for the climax of his pic MANIAC. With Bill McGee and Jessie Lee Fulton. DON'T MISS THIS FLICK!
5. Scream Queen Bobbie Bresee plays a woman possessed by a demon (one of those family curse deals) and goes about in an un-social manner, snuffing her friends and loved ones. Flick attained cult status, due mostly to the fact that Bresee kept her breasts bare through most of the running time. (They're on screen so much I would have thought they would have each deserved an end credit.) The gore and monster effects are abundant, courtesy John Buechler. Also worth noting is the incredible performance of La Wanda Page as the jive talking, fast walking maid who splits the horror scene with the war cry of "Good goobely-woobely!" when the spooks attack. Dumb drive-in movie fun. With Marjoe Gortner.
2. Underneath a hotel in Louisiana the dead rise and no one is safe in Fulci's zombie classic. A surreal, nightmarishly effective flick, the dead boogie and attack our heroes as they attempt to shut the doorways leading to Hell. With eye gouging, throat ripping, spider attacking, acid to the face and a creepy little red-headed undead girl who gets a hole blasted through her skull so wide you could put your fist through it! A must see for genre fanciers. Originally released theatrically in the US as THE SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH.
3. Superior zombie/gore/mystery story has a weird, nightmarish quality to it that makes it all the more disturbing. Sheriff James Farentino has a rash of unexplained, ultra-violent crimes on his hands but no suspect. Little by little the pieces to the mystery fall into place, climaxing in a pulse-pounding confrontation between the Sheriff and the local mortician (Jack Albertson). Absolutely Grade-A terror stuff. The incredible make-up effects by Stan Winston include a guy getting acid shot up his nose and another luckless victim getting a hypodermic needle plunged into his eye. The novelization by Chelsa Quinn Yarbro is also highly recommended. Do not miss this one.
4. After the head doctor at the "experimental" asylum is hacked up into a pile of kibble by an inmate, a new nurse arrives to help the nurse in charge run the facility. There is a weird sense that something is seriously amiss throughout the film as the crazies slowly take over the asylum. This is a good old fashioned '70s drive-in mental-meltdown scare show that delivers plenty of shocks and nastiness. When the crazies attack at the end, you might wonder if Bill Lustig wasn't inspired by this film for the climax of his pic MANIAC. With Bill McGee and Jessie Lee Fulton. DON'T MISS THIS FLICK!
5. Scream Queen Bobbie Bresee plays a woman possessed by a demon (one of those family curse deals) and goes about in an un-social manner, snuffing her friends and loved ones. Flick attained cult status, due mostly to the fact that Bresee kept her breasts bare through most of the running time. (They're on screen so much I would have thought they would have each deserved an end credit.) The gore and monster effects are abundant, courtesy John Buechler. Also worth noting is the incredible performance of La Wanda Page as the jive talking, fast walking maid who splits the horror scene with the war cry of "Good goobely-woobely!" when the spooks attack. Dumb drive-in movie fun. With Marjoe Gortner.
6. The poster for this flick shows a patchwork female body lying underneath a giant, gleaming chainsaw with the tag line: "You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre." Do I need to say more? Kiss logic and reason goodbye as a Boston college is terrorized by a killer who is dismembering the student body with his smoking 'saw. Over the top gore scenes may be too much for some viewers but as a party tape it really delivers. Incoherent plot may cause delirium in certain viewers. With Christopher George, Linda Day George and Paul Smith.
7. Depraved, sleazy summer camp stab-a-rama set at Camp Arawak in upstate New York where a killer is snuffing campers as well as the camp's perverted staff. This is sick stuff yet oddly watchable for slasher school scholars. Before long the camp is a teenage wasteland of chopped up and dismembered bodies. I figure Hiltzik must have gotten his butt whupped pretty good one year at camp and this was his way of working through the painful memory. The shock ending will either have you gagging on your popcorn or shooting soda out your nose because you're laughing so hard. Two equally depraved sequels, by another director, followed.
8. Argento's flick may very well be one of the best splatter/slasher/gialli ever produced! A tense plot follows horror author Peter Neal to Rome where he's promoting his new book but becomes the target for a crazed hacker who is basing his murders on scenes from Neal's books. Contains some of the most brutal ax and straight razor attacks ever put on screen. The intriguing plot will have you guessing to the killer's identity all the way to the end. Recommended.
9. A bizarre wax museum appears and a group of rich teens are fed to the displays so pure evil can soon rule the world. Nifty "warp" horror story has each teen enter an exhibit only to have the exhibit come to life and play out a violent scene. When the teen dies in the scene, he or she becomes a permanent fixture in the museum. (Most all the scenes that play out are from classic horror films.) Hickox stated that this effort was his homage to the Hammer films of his youth, but he also gives a tip of the hat to such films as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, IT'S ALIVE and THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, among many others. Great cast keeps the proceedings alive and fun. Was followed by a weak sequel.
10. Terrific living dead romp by the man who has spilled more blood, brains and internal organs than even George Romero, Maestro Fulci. On a tropical island a virus is bringing the dead back to life and news reporter Ian McCulloch and Tisa Farrow head to the Caribbean to investigate. They arrive as the dead attack and help a handful of island survivors battle the undead legions. Flick is famous for its scene of a long splinter going into a woman's eye in unflinching, nauseating gory close-up. Also includes a great underwater wrestling scene between an irritated shark and a hungry zombie. A must see- considered a true drive-in classick!
7. Depraved, sleazy summer camp stab-a-rama set at Camp Arawak in upstate New York where a killer is snuffing campers as well as the camp's perverted staff. This is sick stuff yet oddly watchable for slasher school scholars. Before long the camp is a teenage wasteland of chopped up and dismembered bodies. I figure Hiltzik must have gotten his butt whupped pretty good one year at camp and this was his way of working through the painful memory. The shock ending will either have you gagging on your popcorn or shooting soda out your nose because you're laughing so hard. Two equally depraved sequels, by another director, followed.
8. Argento's flick may very well be one of the best splatter/slasher/gialli ever produced! A tense plot follows horror author Peter Neal to Rome where he's promoting his new book but becomes the target for a crazed hacker who is basing his murders on scenes from Neal's books. Contains some of the most brutal ax and straight razor attacks ever put on screen. The intriguing plot will have you guessing to the killer's identity all the way to the end. Recommended.
9. A bizarre wax museum appears and a group of rich teens are fed to the displays so pure evil can soon rule the world. Nifty "warp" horror story has each teen enter an exhibit only to have the exhibit come to life and play out a violent scene. When the teen dies in the scene, he or she becomes a permanent fixture in the museum. (Most all the scenes that play out are from classic horror films.) Hickox stated that this effort was his homage to the Hammer films of his youth, but he also gives a tip of the hat to such films as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, IT'S ALIVE and THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, among many others. Great cast keeps the proceedings alive and fun. Was followed by a weak sequel.
10. Terrific living dead romp by the man who has spilled more blood, brains and internal organs than even George Romero, Maestro Fulci. On a tropical island a virus is bringing the dead back to life and news reporter Ian McCulloch and Tisa Farrow head to the Caribbean to investigate. They arrive as the dead attack and help a handful of island survivors battle the undead legions. Flick is famous for its scene of a long splinter going into a woman's eye in unflinching, nauseating gory close-up. Also includes a great underwater wrestling scene between an irritated shark and a hungry zombie. A must see- considered a true drive-in classick!
Think you've "Scene It" all in your "Pursuit" of Movie Trivia?