Russ Streiner Movies
At the peak of their popularity, there were nearly seven thousand drive-in movie theaters operating in the United States, where families could see a show in the great outdoors complete with popcorn and teenagers could park for a few hours without being bothered. While many drive-ins showed traditional Hollywood fare, the majority tended to screen exploitation movies -- horror, science fiction, biker flicks, soft-core sex -- especially in the Sixties and Seventies as they primarily became a center for young people. Rising land values and a decline in attendance has caused most drive-in theaters to close, but if they're largely gone they're not forgotten, and this documentary pays homage both to America's drive-ins and the sort of movies that often played there. Drive-In Madness includes trailers for dozens of vintage exploitation films as well as classic snack shop commercials and intermission "countdowns." In addition, a number of noted figures in exploitation film history talk about their work and their place in drive-in history; interview subjects include scream queens Linnea Quigley and Bobbie Bresee, Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero, gore effects wiz Tom Savini, veteran distributor Sam Sherman, and Famous Monsters of Filmland editor and horror movie expert Forrest J. Ackerman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Makeup wizard Tom Savini's color remake of George A. Romero's 1968 classic follows the original almost shot-for-shot, so quality comparisons are somewhat pointless. The film was clearly made for younger viewers who refuse to watch black-and-white films, no matter how good they may be. The result is passable, but the very fact that the original was made 22 years before makes this version seem almost dated in its restraint. By the time of its release, Romero had already geometrically raised the gore quotient with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), so Savini's starting back at square one further lessened the impact of this pointless retread. If this version has anything to offer, it is Patricia Tallman's engaging lead performance as a gun-toting independent woman, one of this film's few elements not lifted wholesale from Romero. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, (more)
Majorettes and cheerleaders of a high school are being killed with their own batons by a mystery murderer in this low-budget horror film. Vicky (Terrie Godfrey) is the next targeted victim because she stands to inherit $500,000. Soon her grandmother Helga (Denise Hout) and the crooked local sheriff (Mark V. Jevicky) are the focus of the investigation and are later suspects in the murders. Helga is the nurse of a wealthy employer who stands to gain from his demise. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kindlin, Terrie Godfrey, (more)
Middle-aged family man Frank (Jim Karen) trains teenaged Freddy (Thom Matthews) for his new job at a medical supply warehouse. In an effort to impress and frighten his young charge, practical joker Frank reveals that the warehouse basement contains a cannister full of a mysterious chemical capable of bringing the dead back to life. It seems that the cannister fell off the back of an army truck during an accidental outbreak of zombiedom. Frank and Freddy unwittingly inhale the chemical and release it into the warehouse. Turning to the operator of a nearby crematorium for help in destroying the suddenly undead specimens that surround them, they unwittingly awaken the residents of a nearby cemetary just as Freddy's pals arrive to party amidst the headstones and wait for their friend's shift to end. Meanwhile, Col. Glover (Jonathan Terry) waits for the call that his missing chemical weapon has been unleashed. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clu Gulager, James Karen, (more)
- 1972
- R
Incredibly, this romantic melodrama was directed by the same man who brought The Night of the Living Dead to the screen. The story concerns a recently discharged young army veteran (Ray Laine), who doesn't want a regular job but wants to drift around and enjoy things for a while. He finds a girlfriend with a good job (Judith Streiner) who is willing to support him while he pretends to be writing a novel, and they have a good time for a while. Eventually she tries to get him to take a regular job. He does, but quickly gives it up. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she goes through a lot of soul-searching about it without telling him. At first she plans to have an abortion but then decides to return to her hometown and marry a childhood sweetheart who is comfortable with her having a baby. Landing on his feet, the army veteran decides to take up his father's offer of a job and a place to live after all. His father consoles him with the aphorism that when other "flavors" of life pall, "there's always vanilla." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
When unexpected radiation raises the dead, a microcosm of Average America has to battle flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's landmark cheapie horror film. Siblings Johnny (Russ Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O'Dea) whine and pout their way through a graveside visit in a small Pennsylvania town, but it all takes a turn for the worse when a zombie kills Johnny. Barbara flees to an isolated farmhouse where a group of people are already holed up. Bickering and panic ensue as the group tries to figure out how best to escape, while hoards of undead converge on the house; news reports reveal that fire wards them off, while a local sheriff-led posse discovers that if you "kill the brain, you kill the ghoul." After a night of immolation and parricide, one survivor is left in the house.... Romero's grainy black-and-white cinematography and casting of locals emphasize the terror lurking in ordinary life; as in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), Romero's victims are not attacked because they did anything wrong, and the randomness makes the attacks all the more horrifying. Nothing holds the key to salvation, either, whether it's family, love, or law. Topping off the existential dread is Romero's then-extreme use of gore, as zombies nibble on limbs and viscera. Initially distributed by a Manhattan theater chain owner, Night, made for about 100,000 dollars, was dismissed as exploitation, but after a 1969 re-release, it began to attract favorable attention for scarily tapping into Vietnam-era uncertainty and nihilistic anxiety. By 1979, it had grossed over 12 million, inspired a cycle of apocalyptic splatter films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and set the standard for finding horror in the mundane. However cheesy the film may look, few horror movies reach a conclusion as desolately unsettling. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judith O'Dea, Russ Streiner, (more)
