Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 20, 2016

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith makes no bones about the cinematic referents of his Dead End Drive-In in the appealing commentary included on this new Blu-ray release. Trenchard-Smith gleefully describes the film as a combination of Mad Max and The Exterminating Angel, though considering Dead End Drive-In’s kind of lo-fi ambience, it might be more accurate to downgrade those antecedents to Fairly Upset Max and The Flyswatting Angel levels. In other ways, Dead End Drive-In is yet another in what might be called Oz-pocalyptic films, end of the world scenarios that take place Down Under and include such disparate entries as the entire Mad Max Anthology , On the Beach, Tank Girl, These Final Hours and The Rover. Dead End Drive-In is considerably cheekier than most of those (with the possible exception of Tank Girl, which it kind of resembles in terms of an overall comic book ambience), positing a future (late eighties, early nineties era) society where economies have collapsed, ecosystems are at their breaking point, and the wise elders of Australia have decided the easiest way to deal with impetuous youth is to imprison them in drive in movie theaters, where the young ‘uns are plied with copious sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (not to mention other Trenchard-Smith films playing on the outdoor screen). It’s an inventive premise, but one which the film struggles to pigeonhole into a more appealing action adventure framework, as even Trenchard-Smith seems to admit in his commentary. The film is rather impressively mounted, at least given its paltry budget and quick shooting schedule, but it never is able to quite attain the allegorical heights it’s obviously aiming for.

Dead End Drive-In begins with a series of text cards that quickly describe the chaos the globe supposedly encountered over the course of several years. That said, as Trenchard-Smith himself notes, the film is not especially strong in the backstory or even context department, which means that the bloodlust for vehicles which is a driving part (sorry) of the story is never really fully explicated. The bottom line is that there are roving gangs in Sydney who are on the hunt for car parts, and similarly there are those who have brilliantly restored older vehicles which have become their pride and joy. This latter group includes a kind of musclebound beefhead named Frank (Ollie Hall), who has both a cherry (and cherry red) 1956 Chevy and a pickup truck which he uses as a tow truck to scavenge for car parts after what appear to be pretty regular accidents. Frank’s little brother Jimmy (Ned Manning), who has the unlikely nickname Crabs, accompanies his brother on one of these missions while also begging his sibling for the chance to take his girlfriend Carmen (Natalie McCurry) out for a drive in the Chevy coupe.

Needless to say, Crabs and Carmen do in fact go for a joy ride which ends at an isolated drive-in movie theater. The film hints at the supposedly top secret aspect of the drive-in after the two go through an entry gate, and it closes, revealing that the entry road is marked “S” for security and that absolutely no pedestrians or other vehicles are allowed. What’s kind of odd about this formulation is that the film seems to waver between wanting the “prison” aspect of the drive-in to be unknown and letting it be a generally understood phenomenon, as evidenced by the fact that it’s later revealed that there are “volunteers” (in a manner of speaking) who actually came to the drive-in knowing what was in store for them. A little more disciplined writing might have helped to smooth over some of these logical gaps.

What’s a bit odd about Dead End Drive-In is that it actually has more on its mind than simple action adventure fare (apocalyptic or otherwise), but it doesn’t seem confident in its own abilities to “hook” the audience with that content. As Trenchard-Smith himself notes, he took it upon himself to “inject” more standard confrontational scenes in the early part of the film, simply to whet the audience’s appetite for the expected showdown that caps the film. But that still leaves a rather long middle section where Crabs and Carmen have to come to terms with the fact that they’re more or less prisoners at the drive-in. This part of the film is understandably talkier and filled with expositional elements, but it gives the film a bit of a roller coaster feeling, with this central section seeming like an overextended “dip” between the high points of the film’s opening battles and the final brouhaha.

Still, Peter Smalley’s screenplay is probably a bit more intelligent than some might expect, and the film’s emphasis on “containing” undesirables through a series of addictive behaviors is interesting and perhaps even more relevant today than it was back in the mid-eighties. The film’s performances are generally a little on the amateurish side, but Trenchard-Smith keeps those contained pretty nicely as well. Dead End Drive-In’s action elements are decidedly more sporadic, but with an understanding that this is not going to be a nonstop 90 minute smackdown of epic proportions, there’s a lot of interesting content being bandied about in this offering, even if some of it fails to fully resonate.

Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dead End Drive-In is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Arrow's typically informative insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered 4K Lasergraphics Director Scanner at Deluxe Burbank. Picture grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve at Pinewood Studios. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed using PFClean software. Overall image stability and instances of density fluctuation were also improved. All restoration work was completed at Pinewood Studios.

With an understanding that this was not exactly a high budget picture, the image quality here is surprisingly robust, with a nicely vivid palette offering often beautifully suffused tones, especially some of the dark reds and purples that the production design team obviously meant to emphasize. A lot of the film plays out in a kind of garish neon or fluorescently lit environment, and at times detail levels are minimally affected (as in some scenes in the drive- in's snack bar). The grain field is pretty gritty looking quite a bit of the time, and occasionally passes over into chunkiness with a few minor compression issues, typically in darker moments (see screenshots 5 and 14). Restorative efforts have largely eliminated any distracting damage issues. Clarity and sharpness are quite good, and the overall look of this transfer is nicely organic.

Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dead End Drive-In features an LPCM 2.0 mono track that was transferred from the 35mm magnetic master reels by Deluxe Audio Services in Los Angeles, and conformed and restored at Pinewood Studios (again, according to the nice Arrow booklet). As Trenchard-Smith details in his commentary, he was able to make a deal with an Australian record label to get "second string" tunes from a variety of Australian bands to use as source cues, and the film has quite a bit of music that is unavoidably "eighties" in sound but which rings clearly and convincingly on the track. Sound effects reverberate with decent if not overwhelming force, and the film's dialogue is also rendered without any problems.

Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Stunt Men (1080i; 48:46) is an Australian television episode directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith devoted to the rather healthy Australian stunt industry. There's some great behind the scenes footage in this piece.


• Hospitals Don't Burn Down! (1080p; 24:10) is another archival Trenchard-Smith public service announcement type feature detailing the repercussions of one man's smoking habit.


• Vladimir Cherepanoff Gallery (1080p) is a kind of cool piece devoted to Sydney's graffiti artists.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:36)


• Audio Commentary features director Brian Trenchard-Smith.

Additionally, the insert booklet contains stills and essays in the usual Arrow fashion.

Dead-End Drive-In Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trenchard-Smith's films often seem to hint at weighty subjects without fully exploiting them, and that's the case with Dead End Drive-In as well. The film obviously has more on its mind than being a simple Mad Max reboot, but a little more attention to detail in the screenplay probably would have provided a more convincing experience. Unfortunately the very structure of the piece means that the action elements are relegated to what amount to bookends. Technical merits are generally strong, and as usual Arrow has assembled a very nice collection of supplements. Recommended.