Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Look at the plot of Dead End Drive-In you pretty much know what you got into is a 80s dystopian movie but to my surprise the movie actually far more deep and somehow go beyond than just a cheesy b-movie.The characters is your typical cliché rebel teenagers so the dialogue not that easy to hear(no offense to Aussie people btw) or interesting but what catch my eyes the most is the world around them and how it work is fascinating to me.It may come out a little bit boring to watch cause the majority of the runtime there nothing really happens so I only recommend this movie to hardcore b-movie fan

Dead-End Drive In (1986) ** (out of 4) Australian cult film takes place in the (then) future as crime, unemployment and various other issues have taken over everywhere. A variety of punks, criminals and lowlifes end up pulling into a drive in to enjoy a movie but little do they know that they'll be trapped there due to it being turned into what's basically a prison camp. DEAD-END DRIVE IN comes with a great title, an interesting concept and a likable lead but unfortunately there's very little else working in the picture. I'm not sure what the budget of this thing was but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that had it featured a bigger budget then perhaps they could have done more with it. As it stands, the film is simply interesting on a few levels but not enough to make it a complete winner or really worth watching unless you're a fan of Australian cinema. The main plot deals with a couple (Ned Manning, Natalie McCurry) entering the drive-in and getting trapped. While Manning wants to find a way out, it seems everyone else is happy with the worthless situation. The biggest problem with the movie is the simple fact that there's really not too much that happens. I'm sure having the setting in one placed helped the budget but there's just not enough going on inside the walls to make it interesting. We see the different types clash, we see Manning wanting to escape and every once in a while we'll get some exploitation in terms of nudity and silly violence but that's it. There's really no way to connect to any of the characters and it's really impossible to care about what happens to them. I thought Manning did a pretty good job in the lead role and he certainly helped keep the film moving. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith handles the material quite well but I'm sure he wishes he had a bit more money. What money was available seemed to go towards one terrific stunt at the very end of the picture, which almost made the entire film worth sitting through.

The opening of 'Dead-End Drive In' quickly sets out its world. There's been a series of disasters that have led to society struggling to survive. A food crisis, a financial crisis, and then an unemployment crisis. And Australia is suffering with the rest of them. Gangs of punks are fighting authority and crashing cars. As an Aussie movie, there's shades of 'Mad Max' to this, but it's given a more populated feel. Instead of empty streets, there's a bunch of people in 'Dead-End Drive In'. Despite the lack of budget for the movie, Brian Trenchard-Smith gives a real sense of lots of people suffering from the consequences of economic failure.The movie follows Crabs and his girlfriend Carmen, who end up stranded in an almost post-apocalyptic drive-in cinema after their tires are stolen by the police. The drive-in cinema has nearly 200 people in a similar situation, lighting fires and glaring at each other. The stranded are given food vouchers to eat takeaway from the on-site greasy restaurant.Crabs is a very engaging character. He wants to become a tough guy, but no matter how much he works out, runs and eats, Crabs is still regarded as a "scrawny b*****d". Yet, as soon as he's stranded in the drive-in, he wants to get away. He wants this so badly, he irritates his girlfriend and also incurs the wrath of people spray painting "Crabs can't get it up" on his car. Carmen, incidentally, is so attractive I spent the movie slightly slack jawed.For a supposedly trashy movie, it's actually very cleverly done. The car crashes are spectacularly choreographed. Don't expect a special-effects laden movie - it's not that - but when effects are used they're used well. Sparks fly up as cars speed through large fires. Bullets ping off the walls and cars with some canny squib effects.Above all, there are some great undercurrents to the movie. The way the drive-in deals with the unemployed seems to ring very true with the concept of ghettos. The controller of the drive-in cinema even provides them with drugs. Crabs becomes even more likable because - like us - he sees the drive-in as a huge prison infested with unfair racial divisions.'Dead-End Drive In' is, naturally, a little rough around the edges. But by limiting the movie to the confines of a drive-in cinema, it creates a well realised world. It's also great to see everyone throwing their all into a movie. Maybe by focusing more on characters and a basic story of "me versus them" it simply doesn't overstretch. It's an enjoyable - and sometimes thought provoking - way to spend 92 minutes of your life.

Crabs and Carmen(Ned Manning and Natalie McCurry)decide to take big bro's fancy Chevy for a little spin and stop at the Star Drive-In. What they don't expect is that the cops steal two wheels from the car and there is no way out. As they come to understand, this place is a concentration camp for punkers, junk-food lovers, and drive-in movie addicts. Crabs is dead-set against remaining in the slums of this prison(which might actually be a dream for those who wish to party endlessly the day and night away, eat burgers, drink down strawberry shakes, and do drugs without a hassle)& will seek a way out while his girlfriend, Carmen, loves her new home and wishes to remain.Set in a economically unstable Australia, undesirables or those deemed as "wastes" of the society have their own place to live with minor allowances and make their place of rest inside their tire-less vehicles. What interrupts their utopia, however, is when the government decides to bring truck-loads of asians and other minorities for drop off. The "White Australia" of the camp wish them gone because they deem them some sort of threat..Carmen is quite compassionate about this as she has become integrated in the atmosphere of the camp. Crabs searches for some way of just leaving and this strains his relationship with Carmen. We often see police trucks circling and they present an ominous authoritarian presence which offers that no one will be able to stray too close to any escape. You have Thompson(Peter Whitford)who operates the place claiming that he's merely an employee following orders, but this doesn't seem to wash with Crabs who spies on him with the police.Interesting curio for lovers of 80's trash cinema. It offers not such an impossible idea..rounding up those deemed inferior to the society as a whole. To get rid of those considered a pain in the neck to morale and comfortable living, just weed them out and put them away. You give them what they want..freedom to screw around not having to worry with following a modicum of rules, while at the same time not having to eat healthy and have the luxury of watching nothing but trash on the big-screen.