source: Drive in Massacre

Drive In Massacre

This has to be one of the worst films I have ever seen in any genre. The acting is absolutely pathetic. Are the cops supposed to be clever? Or dim? We may never care. It's probably just bad acting. The story isn't much of a story to begin with. Guy slashes people in a drive in. And I never even understood who the killer was. The timing is completely off- so the director adds a long scene about a shoot out in a warehouse that has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual case. Directing- non existent. There are one or two interesting scenes but that is about it. The whole film has an air of shabbyness and dirtyness about it. You don't really care about anyone because no one is really interesting. One or two attempts at humour fail abysmally. And the soundtrack sounds like John Carpenter on a bad day- a really bad day.

A restless crowd and a cheesy double feature lead to two brutal killings at a drive-in! Detective Koch and O Leary assemble a mixed cast of suspects that would make even Charlie Chan cringe. Is it the deranged knife-thrower the foul-mouthed bigot the projectionist the janitor or the pathetic voyeur? Cold razor-sharp steel slices through warm flesh and hot blood squirts over the screen as patrons are splattered across the hoods of cars and even dismembered at the concession stand! Starring BRUCE KIMBALL ADAM LAWRENCE DOUGLAS GUDBYE and VERKINA FLOWER. Executive Producer ROCHELLE WEISBERG. Story By STU SEGALL Written By GEORGE 'BUCK.

There's somebody who is slashing to death a whole lot of the patrons of a particularly drive-in theater in the Los Angeles area where no doubt films like this are being shown. Before a couple of spoon sharp detectives solve this series of crimes a lot more couples get themselves hacked and slashed. In this no name cast with acting on the level of my junior high school dramatics,the two detectives discover that the land that the drive-in is on was once a carnival and the drive-in employees are all former carnys. You've got knife throwers, sword swallowers and some general all around hard cases working at this drive-in with the various implements ready and available. Drive In Massacre is the kind of film shown at drive ins so people who were there for something else could rest assured they were missing absolutely nothing of any redeeming artistic value

Drive-In Massacre (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Low budget horror film about a maniac cutting people's heads off with a ninja sword at a California drive-in. This certainly isn't a "good" film but it works very well for its type—a B budget drive-in flick of the 70's. There's plenty of violence and gore, including a rather well done decapitation and some wonderful, zany dialogue. The biggest problem is that the film runs a tad bit slow even at 74-minutes. The nice twist ending and warning was also a nice touch. This certainly isn't going to be remembered as anything great but if you like "B" trash then you might enjoy this one.

For the type of movie this is, given when it was made, and a total lack of big name stars ( or small name stars for that matter ) this film is very watchable. The players, none of whom are great at their craft, are worth the effort and make the movie. The special effects aren't bad given '76 standards and low budget. The plot is typical and functional. My favorite part of the whole thing? The cops. They actually come off like cops. Coupled with the premise its like Dragnet does Freddie Kruger. I liked this film. Of course I liked Dragnet and Nightmare on Elm Street too. Its certainly not great art, but thats not what this type of film is meant to be. Its meant to be cheap entertainment, and thats exactly what it is.

The movie is awful, cheesy but kinda fun to watch. It's better than I expected it to be - I thought it might have been a grindhouse style of film but it's not. It's a slasher, bloody but not a lot of that going on... it's main focus is on two cops trying to solve the murders! The best thing about the film are the two cops who could pass as brothers! Really, their facial features look similar to one another and similar build to their bodies.. only real difference is one is slightly shorter than the other!! I could see these two in a spin off 1970s TV show playing the same two cops and still solving murders. LOL! It's not a film to seek out - even for a die-hard horror fan - but it is an OK watch if you happen to catch it on one night or acquire it in a film pack as I did. 3/10