Dead End Drive-in

What we wouldn't give to see this movie at an actual drive-in! It's not the best of the Ozploitation but if we ever get to schedule a line up at a drive-in, this is on our list to play last! The social commentary juxtaposed with the new-wave/punk elements mostly make up for the go-nowhere plot and lack of pre-climax action and the final car stunt is pretty epic, which is a pretty good recipe for brainless fun.

The plot unfolds something like this: With crime waves sweeping the city, police have teamed up with local drive-in owners to convert their theaters into prison camps. Social misfits, petty criminals, and unemployed youth are loured in with the promise of food, shelter, and entertainment, but the catch is, they're never allowed to leave. Local health nut Crabs apparently has no knowledge of the new direction the drive-ins are taking, he just remembers the fun hangout of his youth and wants to take his new girlfriend Carmen on a trip down memory lane. If only they knew this trip was one way...

Totally a youth, not a 35 year old: The lead in this film, Ned Manning, allegedly informed filmmakers he was 24 to get the part. In actuality he was 36.

Possible modern throw back: Mad Max: Fury Road has a few nods to other Ozploitation movies (The Cars That Ate Paris for instance) and that leads me to wonder if the Fury Road "Warboys" get their name from the Dead End Drive-in "Carboys".

Expensive car stunts: It would hardly be an Ozploitation movie without a car crash, the final stunt of this flick was both costly and record setting. At the end of the film stunt man Guy Norris jumps a truck an impressive 162 feet, through a twentyish foot neon sign, giving the stunt with a price tag of $75,000.