It seems our articles on "Drive-In Horror" and "Drive-In Horror Memories" awoke similar memories in our readers. An example follows concerning...
By TONY GRILLIOT
The articles in HORROR-WOOD about "Drive-in Horror" by Renfield and Dan Sweet have brought back my own fond memories of those glory days of the drive-in. I live just down the road from Dan Sweet in the Dayton, Ohio area and warmly recall the old Southland 75 and Miami Screws-In ... whoops, make that Cruise-In. My introduction to the drive-in came when my parents took me to the Cruise-In to see Bambi in the late Fifties. My favorite scene was when Bambi’s mom was blown away. I knew then that I had a penchant for horror! (Just kidding.)
It was at the local indoor theater, however, that I met my true love…horror movies.
Many a Saturday afternoon was spent immersed in those silly Japanese creature features and the wonderful old Hammer horror films! This was the early- to mid-Sixties when a young adolescent could catch a glimpse of horror mixed with sensuality not usually found in the classics of an earlier age. It was also the time when a ticket purchase bought an all-day movie excursion. You could watch the movies over and over again!
One day, I went with a friend to see Rodan
along with some dippy flick called Leanna, The Jungle
Goddess. The poster pictured a beautiful blonde female
Tarzan character clad in leopard skins. We both agreed that this
would probably be a stupid movie. (More stupid than those
Japanese flicks???) Rodan was just ending as
we felt our way to some seats in that darkened theater. Leanna
began and were we surprised to see bare-breasted African female
natives dancing around! And when Leanna came swinging out of the
trees in only a beaded loincloth, we decided the movie
wasn’t so stupid after all. I don’t know where they dug
up that film but you couldn’t have pried us out of those
seats! After that, we watched Rodan and
decided on another round of Leanna, of
course.
By the late 60’s, the multiplexes at the malls had destroyed the home-town theaters and the Cruise-In was still showing Bambi. Enter the Southland 75 Drive-in to fill the void. We were all getting our drivers' licenses at that time and the Southland was near the new Dayton Mall, so a day of spying out chicks at the Mall, and an evening of the same at the drive-in, was the usual fare. We would always get close to the snack bar, not only to enjoy that wonderful greasy aroma but to get a good look at the ladies. Of course this was not a good plan-of-action if there was someone hidden in the trunk! (The usual banter from the car took place but we never did get up the nerve to actually approach the girls!)
The Southland showed a variety of films, in the early 70’s, but quite often a horror triple-header would come up and, usually, at least one of the movies was worth watching. Usually, it included at least one Hammer film and some other schlock.
Most of the
films were not that memorable but on one such occasion I saw The
Undertaker 
And His Pals.
I was thrilled when Renfield mentioned it. I thought I was the
only one to remember this rare gem of a film. I can never forget
it, not so much because of the film itself but because of the car
parked next to us.
An adult couple was in the front seat and three teenage girls were in the back. As this wonderfully gory film progressed, I could not help noticing looks of disgust on the young girl's faces but they toughed it out for a while. They got through all the limb-hacking and even made it through the scene where a screaming beauty had her face bashed in with chains.
Enter the dinette "surgery scene" where a young babe wakes up in the middle of her own dissection! At this point I checked back on the three girls. Well, enough was enough! Even in the dark, I could see the closest girl to me was ashen white. The middle one had a pillow over her face and the furthest girl was barfing out the window! Moments later, their engine roared to life as they hurriedly spun out of the lot. My buddies and I laughed ourselves to tears! Other films were just films after that scene!
I still wax nostalgic on those good old days…the aroma of two-year-old burgers and hot dogs and rancid Coke still clouds my senses and hangs heavy in my heart. (Sigh!) Oh, one may find classic and newer horror films on cable or video these days but that special ambiance can only be found at the drive-in.
(By the way, I just found a listing, in the yellow pages, for two drive-ins in my area. I sure hope they are still there next spring!)
Great memories, Tony! We just hope those teenage girls got home all right...perhaps it was the drive-in food and not the drive-in movies that caused the queasy tummies! Cheers!
Article copyright Tony Grilliot
