Drive-In Massacre is a late 70’s slasher that has a lot of the charm and feel of low budget slashers like The Mutilator and Blood Rage that would follow in the 80’s. There are two issues that prevent Drive-In Massacre from reaching that pinnacle those later films would eventually achieve – it has a lot less gore and from a technical standpoint it’s quite the mess. When looking at the former that’s a bit of a bummer because I don’t know about you, but I prefer my sleazy slasher trash to be oozing gore and when I look at the latter it’s kind of amazing that movies can be less technically sound than something like Blood Rage. It may sound like I’m throwing around a lot of negatives here, but make no mistake about it, I love me some terrible slashers and because of that Drive-In Massacre holds a special place in my heart.

The film opens with a couple enjoying the drive-in when someone attacks them with a sword. We never see the killer but he does a pretty good number on this couple – chopping off the head of the boyfriend and impaling the girlfriend through her neck. The following day a couple of police detectives – John Koch (Bruce Kimball) & Mike Leary (John F. Goff) visit the drive-in and begin their investigation on the case. They interview Austin Johnson (Robert E. Pearson), the drive-in owner, and Germy (Douglas Gudbye) the strange custodian. Both Austin and Germy come off as suspects. Austin appears to be a mean, evil man willing to kill anyone just because and Germy seems very unstable. Germy does provide a bit of useful information to the detectives however, telling them of a peeping tom that he’s seen at the drive-in the last few nights peering at horny, young couples.

The next night the killer strikes again, killing another couple. This time Germy jots down the license plate of the peeping tom and gives it to the detectives. The plate leads Koch and Leary to a man named Orville Ingleson (Norman Sheridan). After some investigating it’s determined that Orville isn’t a killer and just your standard perv. The detectives decide to take the next step and go undercover at the drive-in with hopes of finally catching this lunatic killer.

Drive-In Massacre starts off with a bang. That first attack is awesome. The effects are cheesy but they’re gory and fun. After that the film slows down, a lot. Almost to a screeching halt. It almost becomes less of a slasher and more of 70’s gritty cop film with really poor detective work. But because of that opening it keeps you interested because you’re hoping to see more of that. Plus it’s incredibly bizarre, so even though it drags it’s oddly interesting – that sounds weird, but I assure you it’s pretty accurate.

This film contains something that you see often in movies but I don’t think it exists in real life – people hanging porn on their walls. When the detectives get to Orville’s house he has porn splatter all over his living room wall. I think this is the first time I’ve seen it on someone’s living room wall, but I know in plenty of movies people have it on their bedroom walls. That’s not a real thing, right? Has anyone ever done that anywhere?

The score of the film is something else. It’s this really cheap sounding synth score. Like the crew picked up a Casio at their local Sears and hammered this out in a couple of minutes. It’s just another strange element this film has. The person (or people) responsible for said music are credited as Lon John Productions. If you checkout the IMDB for Lon John Productions you’ll find the rest of their resume is basically nothing but porn, which should come as no surprise since Drive-In Massacre’s director Stu Segall has had quite the career in adult entertainment. It also would explain the overall cheapness of the production as a whole.

I have nothing interesting to say about this, but the makeup artist on the film goes by the name The Duke of Disguise, so there’s that.

Drive-In Massacre is available on region B Blu-ray from 88 Films. It is a new HD transfer (from 2 sources) but it’s a little rough around the edges. I can’t imagine 88 Films has the best material to work with, but overall this is some low grade shlock that looks much better than it deserves. In fact there are a few moments that look really good.

The film is part of the 88 Films slasher collection so it comes in a sleek red case with reversible artwork (the reverse side contains the original VHS art). The case also contains a booklet with an interview with the film’s star and co-writer John F. Goff.

As far as bonus material goes there’s some fun time here. There’s a TV spot for the film included which I always love. I don’t know if anyone else cares about those, but I can’t get enough of old TV spots. It fascinates me that a movie like Drive-In Massacre even had a TV spot. Two interviews are included, one with Segall and a second with slasher expert Justin Kerswell. Both worth a watch. And there is a 61-minute cut of the film in case the full 74 minutes is too much for you.

It made not sound like it, but I do truly enjoy Drive-In Massacre on some level. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but there’s something fascinating to it that prevents me from completely writing it off. It’s the type of movie that could easily fade off into obscurity to never be heard of again. And despite it’s faults, that should never happen. That’s why I’m thankful for 88 Films and glad to see this odd piece of slasher cinema history makes it’s way to Blu-ray. You may not like it, but I think it’s worth at least a view.

Drive-In Massacre is now available on region B Blu-ray from 88 Films.