''Drive-In Massacre'' is a 1976 American

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a ...

written and directed by Stu Segall, and co-written by John F. Goff and

George Buck Flower George Albert "Buck" Flower (October 28, 1937 – June 18, 2004) was an American actor, writer, producer, assistant director, production manager, and casting director. He was sometimes credited as Ernest Wall, Buck Flower, George "Buck" Flower ...

Plot

A couple go to a

drive-in theater A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers ...

in a rural

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

town, and are butchered by an unseen assailant, who uses a sword to decapitate the man, and skewer the woman through the neck. Investigating this dual homicide are police detectives Mike Leary and John Koch, who interview the drive-in's boorish manager, Austin Johnson, and the odd

custodian Custodian may refer to: Occupations * Janitor, a person who cleans and maintains buildings * Goalkeeper, in association football * Fullback, in rugby, also called a sweeper * Legal guardian or conservator, who may be called a custodian in some ...

, Germy. Germy mentions that a

peeping tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly reme ...

likes to cruise the area to watch couples and lone girls, and he is told to try and write down the voyeur's license plate number the next time he sees him. That night, the killer strikes again, impaling two lovers while they are making out in their vehicle, and leaving a sword behind. To see if the sword belongs to the missing drive-in owner, Germy is brought in to the police station identify it. Germy states that the sword is not a part of the owner's private collection, and tells the detectives that the voyeur was at the drive-in around the time of the latest double murder, and that he managed to write down the man's license plate number. The plate number is connected to Orville Ingleson, whose home the detectives visit. Orville denies any connection to the deaths, but when a bloody cloth is found in his car, he panics, and tries to make a run for it. Orville is caught, and claims the blood was just from a dog he accidentally ran over, which is confirmed by further analysis, forcing the police to let him go. That evening, the detectives (one of them disguised as a woman) go to a screening at the drive-in, and spot Orville there, even though he had promised to stay away from it. After a customer who had stormed off when his girlfriend refused his advances returns to his car, he discovers that his girlfriend has been beheaded. Leary and Koch rush to Orville's car, and find him dead from a slit throat. Austin and Germy are brought in the station for questioning, and Austin antagonizes the detectives, refusing to close the drive-in without a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...

, and firing Germy. The following evening, Leary and Koch get a call about a

machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...

-wielding man who has just murdered two people being cornered in a warehouse, with a little girl he has taken hostage. The detectives go to the warehouse, and after a chase and stand off, shoot the man dead, learning afterward that he was a mental patient who had escaped only a few hours ago, and thus he cannot be the

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. At the drive-in, Germy collects his things, and goes to the projection booth to confront Austin about which one of them gets to keep the owner's sword collection, and about money he is owed. As soon as Germy enters the booth, the silhouette of Austin being killed with a sword is projected onto the drive-in's screen while a Wild West movie is being featured. Leary and Koch (who want to talk to Austin) arrive just in time to see this, and break into the booth, where they find both Austin and Germy hacked to pieces and the killer gone with no trace. The film suddenly comes to an abrupt end where an on-screen text states that other drive-ins throughout the country are now being plagued by similar bloodbaths, and that the killer's identity is still unknown. A fake

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

then announces that a psychopath is loose in the viewer's own drive-in theater, and urges the audience not to panic, as the police are on their way.

Cast

* John F. Goff as Police Detective Mike Leary * Steve Vincent as Police Psychologist * Douglas Gudbye as Charlie "Germy" Garmey * Verkina Flower as Girl in Warehouse * Robert E. Pearson as Austin Johnson * Catherine Barkley as Kathy * Norman Sheridan as Orville Ingleson * John Alderman as Jim * Jacqueline Giroux as Arlene * Bruce Kimball as Police Detective John Koch * Marty Gatsby as David * Sandy Carey as Lori *

Janus Blythe Janus Blythe (born January 29, 1951) is an American actress and scream queen known for her roles in horror films. She played major roles in films by Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and other major horror film directors during the latter half of the twen ...

as Alan's Date * Myron Griffith as Alan *

as Guy with Machete

Reception

A score of two out of four was given by

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

, which wrote "Obviously inspired by

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on R ...

's masterful ''

Targets ''Targets'' is a 1968 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, produced by Roger Corman, and written by Polly Platt and Bogdanovich, with cinematography by László Kovács.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster' ...

'', ''Drive-In Massacre'' has none of its predecessor's insight, intelligence, or craft. Instead, it's an ultracheap slice-and-dice effort that even boasts the tired 'They're coming to get you!' ending designed to make drive-in audiences uncomfortable. Needless to say, the effect is greatly diminished on home video". Oh, the Horror! said the film was "a technical nightmare on all levels" and concluded "Aside from a great opening double death sequence, there really isn't enough happening in the film to recommend it. It's an oddity, but one not worth much more than a single curious glance".

References

External links

* * * {{Internet Archive film, id=PhantasmagoriaTheater-DriveInMassacre1977746, name=Drive-In Massacre
Drive-In Massacre
complete film on YouTube 1970s slasher films 1976 films American slasher films 1976 horror films Adultery in films American serial killer films American police detective films Films set in a movie theatre Films set in California American independent films Films shot in Los Angeles American exploitation films 1976 independent films Dimension Pictures films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films