I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Blistering performances.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This oz flick which took over two years to hit video, is hardly worth the wait. In the not too distant future, which by the hardly changed backdrop, unconvincing, really, give two or three years ahead, unemployment is really taken a slump. Dole bludgers, what have you, have made the dreaded mistake of going to the outdoor flicks one too many times, where scores of going nowhere youth, have become prisoner of the drive in, it's fences electrified. In drives our hero Crabsee, (Manning) and his hot date Carmen (McCurry) who tries to defy the odds, and the other youth who've much accepted their fate, for rotting away in this dive of takeaway of crummy movies, courtesy of some of the director's other flicks. Manning is hell bent on getting out, that's his objective, the plot of the whole flick, while even his girlfriend, has accepted her situation. Only Crabsee can't, the antagonist being the owner (a wonderful Peter Whitford, wasted in this trashy junk as is the middle aged woman running the refreshment stand) who he and his outside forces try and hinder his efforts, which Manning is a guy you don't want to get pi..ed, another instance when he realizes his predicament, as he blows off some steam to Whitford, really good in the role, who slyly tries to offer him a partnership. The movie too, takes a stand on race, as when truckloads of Asians enter the dirty gates of this establishment, Crabsee is the only one, sticking by em'. Oh, I didn't mention, Crabsee can fight too, his little fracas with another of the trapped being Wilbur Wide, his uninspiring acting performance, as one can expect. Still this insipid, if original movie with it's weak plot is worth a view, as McCurry's goodies when pashing Crabsee in the back of the panel van. This movie just won't appeal to all tastes. Too imagining the reality of the movie, if you were those unfortunate youth, is enough to bring anyone down, but remember it's just a movie and not a reall good one.

You'all, Yes it was a kind of silly movie...but I was in it!!! I was Shirl the Girl,dispensing contraception in the toilet block. Hey, we had such a hoot making this movie. The explosion scenes were fabulous and the people I worked with were great. My family hasn't seen the film (husband and kids) because I've always been embarrassed by it...but so many people found it so much fun so in that way it was a success albeit cultish. I think I'll try to pick it up on e-bay and try to watch it again after all these years. Thanks to all you international folk for being so adventurous and watching such an obscure flick!!!Nikki McWatters P.S All I remember about Brian Trenchard-Smith was that he kept talking about another actress who he thought was destined for big things - Nicole Kidman! So I guess he had an eye for talent!

1990: Following a second catastrophic Wall Street stock market crash and a horrendous bloodbath called "The Great White Massacre," as well as a sudden drastic food shortage, inflation skyrocketing and unemployment hitting an all-time high, society has gone completely down the stinky toilet. The cops are ineffectual, savage hordes of uninhibited youths in souped-up hot rods ("car boys") run amuck on the devastated streets, and the ratings hungry media ghoulishly document the general blood-spilling chaos for every last morbid thrill they can milk from all the anarchy (gee, this bleak future sure seems a lot like the early 21st century, now doesn't it?). Jimmy "Crabs" Rossinni (winningly played by scrawny runt Roger Manning, who makes for a refreshingly unmacho brains over brawn hero), a cocky, blustery, but basically decent and resourceful bloke, and his newfound airhead gal pal Carmen (brunette cutie Natalie McCurry) go to the local outdoor passion pit Star Drive-In in Jimmy's gorgeous '56 Chevy to catch a flick. While Jimmy and Carmen are preoccupied doing just what you think, the cops steal two of Jimmy's wheels, therefor stranding him and Carmen at the drive-in. Jimmy finds out that the authoritarian police are rounding up wild-assed punk kids and dumping them into sprawling concentration camp-like drive-ins which pacify its inhabitants with a mentally stultifying diet of greasy diner food, cheap beer, raucous rock music, and cheesy low-grade exploitation movies (any similarity between this plot synopsis and my real lifestyle is purely coincidental). Jimmy, not one for being submissive to any uptight restrictive establishment, plots to escape from the drive-in's repressive confines so he can live his life the way he wants to again.Smoothly directed by Aussie B-pic specialist Brian Trenchard-Smith (who also did the grim futuristic "The Most Dangerous Game" variant "Turkey Shoot," a clip of which can be glimpsed playing on a drive-in screen), this bang-up little beaut bubbles, burns and blazes brilliantly with a brash, cheeky, waggishly irreverent tone, handsome, dexterous, sun-bleached, neon-hazed cinematography by Paul Murphy, a fantastically catchy and thrashin' New Wave rock'n'roll soundtrack, fresh, dynamic acting from an exuberant no-name cast, a top-drawer lowdown bluesy score by Frank Strangio, a very cool funky-punky look and feel, and several extremely visceral, muscular, gut-rippingly thrilling knock-you-flat-on-your-bum dazzling action sequences (an appropriately brutal hand-to-hand fight scene, a few incendiary shoot-outs, and a couple of explosively frenzied sparks a flyin' and autos going' BOOM! car chases which are topped off with a rousing do-or-die final victory jump). All that above cited stuff certainly smokes, but what really makes "Dead End Drive-In" such an absolute dilly is the surprisingly meaty and provocative thematic substance found in Peter Smalley's wittily right-on script, which ingenuously uses the familiar central premise of a lone stubborn individualist tenaciously refusing to kowtow to an oppressive square system to thoughtfully explore the stimulating topics of independence vs. conformity, assertiveness vs. passivity, racism (when the cops discharge a gaggle of Asian immigrants into the drive-in the white majority immediately takes offense and feels threatened), fascism, and how the strongly felt need to act and think for yourself creates an indomitable iron will that won't buckle regardless of all the fearsome obstacles one has to surmount in order to achieve true freedom in life. The excellent Anchor Bay DVD offers a fine widescreen presentation along with a very enjoyable and informative Brian Trenchard-Smith commentary, the theatrical trailer, and a rather paltry still and poster gallery.

I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and horror movies and have built up quite a tolerance for movies in this genre that are below average. Just as long as they are funny, interesting and exciting to watch they are also worth your time to watch them. Many low-budget movie productions also have nice ideas but not always a budget that can realize them.Well, in Dead End's case it's pretty clear that the producer didn't know what to do with his idea, although he must have had a fair budget since it doesn't look especially cheap. The performances are also quite OK for a movie like this. These parts are good. The bad things are how ridiculous, almost embarrassing crappy à la TV-movie way, the story goes on. I don't know where to start actually. From the first statement by the supervisor that the youngsters are stuck in that place to the laughable car chase and racist inflammatory speech near the end and finally the 'exciting' car jump over the fences... Oh boy! That ramp was perfectly placed there wasn't it?. Why didn't he just drove through the fences at the right moment when he got his tyres and gasoline. Although the fences were electrified it shouldn't had made any difference. In normal cases these trashy peoples would have undoubtedly started a riot and crashed the place. Things like this just make me angry and annoyed, when the director thinks that the audience are dead-panned idiots who can't think for themselves.I know this movie is meant to be somewhat satirical and that these kind of movies shouldn't be taken too seriously, but honestly, it's not even so bad it's funny and that makes this movie a real bummer. That sequence with the 'foreigners' who were driven to this 'camp' is just a cheap excuse to make the movie a little bit longer and has nothing to do with the story. It's just so awkward and unnecessary. Even the picture on the DVD is strange because it makes you falsely believe that that is how the main actor in the movie looks like. This is not the case...Why this movie have got almost the same rating as the cult classic The Wraith, produced the same year, is beyond my belief. That movie was at least funny and had a great soundtrack. Sure, it was lame at parts, but it was exciting and funny. I also can't believe how some people who posted here have the nerve to even compare this piece of crap with Mad Max. They must have been first-time sci-fi viewers.I'm glad I got to view this movie without paying for it before I bought it on DVD. That would have been an even larger disappointment. For God's sake, even the horrendously bad Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie is more fun to watch than this stinker! My advise is, keep away from this piece of garbage and go see The Wraith instead or some other cult classics. Movies like this are meant to stay forgotten...