Drive In Memories

I was talking to some co-workers this morning about the demise of the drive-in movie theater. New Jersey was lousy with the things up until about 15 years ago or so, and then, one by one, they closed down to make way for some multiplexes, condos, strip malls and other soulless structures ... happily there is still one functioning drive in in The Garden State that I am aware of, hopefully more will pop up - I feel bad for the generation of kids who never got to experience the unfettered joy of watching films in the front seat of the car, or maybe even coping a feel in the back seat ... how about hiding someone in the trunk and sneaking them in?

In any case, I got to thinking of the last films I saw at the drive in... funny thing is, they were all horror/fantasy or sci fi films; perfect drive in viewing.
I saw Little Shop of Horrors at the now defunct Tacony Palmyra Drive In in Palmyra, NJ. I went with a group of friends and we smuggled in some beer and some decent food (everything you have heard about drive in fare was true, the grub was mostly horrible)...
...if memory serves, The Witches of Eastwick was the second feature that night.
My ex and I caught Pet Sematary at the Super 130 in Beverly, NJ. Man, oh man, that movie blew my mind ... owed, in no small part, to the illicit smoke we were partaking of during the viewing. Needless to say, we braved the snack counter that night and ate hamburgers that were the texture of hockey pucks, and drank soda that was mostly over carbonated and under flavored - and yet, it tasted like ambrosia, I wonder why?
The last movie I ever saw at a drive in was Leviathan, again, my ex and I went, and again we brought some weed. What can I say? It was a simpler time...funny thing, I don't recall much of the movie, but I do remember that we had a great time that night...err, that is...never mind.

*** Year's earlier, I also recall seeing Perfect at the Pennsauken Drive In; no, it was not a horror film, even though Jamie Lee Curtis was in it - this was after her Scream Queen run, a buddy of mine had dragged me out to see this mess and for some reason, only one scene stays with me...

...that would be John Travolta gyrating on a six story screen. Keep in mind this was Travolta long before Scientology, bad food, a fake marriage, and the death of his son took its toll...

Ah, sweet drive-in memories.

Fun with Obamacon.Me

Happy Birthday Ms. Curtis

The Scream Queen turns 50 today - the same age as your humble host of this little blog ...



I still recall that cold December afternoon back in 1979 when I sauntered into a matinee of a little independent horror film called, Halloween, and was instantly mesmerized by the movie's forlorn heroine, Laurie Strode. All floppy hair and knee socks; smarter than her peers, sort of gawky and yet graceful at the same time, and full of silent longing ... Remember that scene while she's walking down the street singing softly, "I wish I had you all to myself"? Yeah, I totally got that.

It might have been about a year later, when I saw The Fog. Granted, Jamie Lee's character, Elizabeth, was not the heroine, but my buddy (who I saw the film with) and I joked that when she takes a ride with the truck driver played by Tom Atkins and talks about her string of bad luck, she should have said something about that lousy baby sitting gig she had a few years back ... No longer, virginal, Jamie Lee's Elizabeth now gets to have sex, and still survive the horrors that befall the seaside community of Antonio Bay.In Prom Night, Jamie Lee played the disco dancing Final Girl, Kim. Sadly, even though I am a gay man, I could not relate as I suffer from terminal white man's syndrome aka: two left feet. Still it was fun to watch Jamie Lee in this goofy thriller. All I remember from Terror Train was that for some strange reason, I thought that David Copperfield was kind of hot.
Bad wig aside, it was great to see Jamie Lee return to Haddonfield for Halloween II. What a shame that the movie, ultimately, was a piece of crap ... her brother? Oh please, then why did they use Mr. Sandman in the soundtrack? Be that as it may, I did enjoy seeing Laurie again, and when she finally came out of her coma-like-phase, she did kick some ass. Everybody knows what happened next: she went legit, she showed her tits ... seriously, Jamie Lee's acting and her Hollywood pedigree paid off ... Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, Blue Steel, True Lies ... and finally, another return to the story that started it all with Halloween H2O; Laurie Strode living as Keri Tate - a woman dealing with post traumatic stress and dealing with it by drinking, taking a lot of prescription drugs and being a control freak. Man, I so loved her in this movie. Especially when she finally faces her fear, grabs that ax and stalks purposefully into the night screaming, "MICHAEL!" Once more, I totally got that.

Yeah, there was that stumble with Halloween: Resurrection, but let's pretend that never happened.

Happy Birthday Ms. Curtis , and many happy returns of the day. Thanks for the screams.