Drive-In Delirium: ’60s and ’70s Savagery (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Dec 11, 2017
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
VariousRelease Date(s)
Various (March 10, 2017)Studio(s)
Umbrella Entertainment- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: D+
Review
[Editor’s Note: This is an Australian REGION FREE Blu-ray release]
A popular trend among various home video labels nowadays is to compile a collection of movie trailers and present them on disc as the main feature rather than as an extra. Notable favorites include both the 42nd Street Forever and Trailer Trauma series. Umbrella Entertainment has taken their stab at this extremely niche market with two Drive-In Delirium releases: ’60s and ’70s Savagery and Maximum ’80s Overdrive, the former of which we’re taking a look at today. With a total of 146 trailers, it’s certainly a monumental set of vintage marketing materials to cull through, but if you enjoy watching them, this collection is right up your alley.
Split into two parts with the option of watching everything all at once, there is a pre-show, intermission, and post-show, all of which contain vintage commercials and drive-in advertisements. In Part 1, which contains 41 trailers from the 1960s (all chapter divided), there’s The Pleasure Girls, Peeping Tom, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Mask, Burn, Witch, Burn, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, The Long Hair of Death, Island of Terror, Corruption, The Conqueror Worm (aka Witchfinder General), Eye of the Cat, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Plague of the Zombies, The Devil’s Own (aka The Witches), Quatermass and the Pit, The Mummy’s Shroud, The Devil’s Bride (aka The Devil Rides Out), The Lost Continent, Code 7, Victim 5 (aka Victim 5), The Quiller Memorandum, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, Five Golden Dragons, Deadlier Than the Male, The File of the Golden Goose, The Big Switch, Machine Gun McCain, The Secret Invasion, The Big Gundown, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, Gorgo, Jason and the Argonauts, The First Men in the Moon, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Satan Bug, Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth (aka The Bubble), Thunderbird 6, Barbarella, Latitude Zero, The Bedsitting Room, Wild in the Streets, and Head.
In Part 2, which contains 105 trailers from the 1970’s (all chapter divided), there’s Trouble Man, Black Caesar, Slaughter, Scream Blacula Scream, Sugar Hill, Frogs, Wicked, Wicked, Hannah: Queen of the Vampires, Seizure, Deranged, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Death Trap (aka Eaten Alive), Grizzly, Dogs, Rabid, Audrey Rose, Blue Sunshine, Empire of the Ants, Shock Waves, The Hills Have Eyes, Halloween, Savage Weekend, ’Salem’s Lot, Psychic Killer, Carrie, Jennifer, The Fury, Patrick, Long Weekend, Hatchet for a Honeymoon, Amuck, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, Baron Blood, The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times, Carnal Violence (aka Torso), Andy Warhol’s Dracula (aka Blood for Dracula), Count Dracula’s Great Love, Vampyres, Strip Nude for Your Killer, Zombie (aka Zombi 2), Vampire Circus, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, Hands of the Ripper, Twins of Evil, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Man Who Haunted Himself, Scream and Scream Again, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, 10 Rillington Place, Horror Express, What the Peeper Saw, Don’t Look Now, Tales That Witness Madness, The Mutations, Madhouse, The Flesh and Blood Show, House of Whipcord, Terror, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, The Lickerish Quartet, Salon Kitty, Massage Parlor Hookers, Sugar Cookies, Eskimo Nell, Bloody Mama, Boxcar Bertha, Act of Vengeance (aka Rape Squad), Assault on Precinct 13, Moon (aka Man of Violence), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man, When Eight Bells Toll, Vanishing Point, The Mechanic, Scorpio, McQ, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Killer Force, Vigilante Force, Rolling Thunder, Hardcore, The Warriors, The Man from Hong Kong, Stunt Rock, The Boys from Brazil, The Magnificent Seven Ride, Bite the Bullet, Keoma, Shoot the Sun Down, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, Son of Blob (aka Beware! The Blob), Sleeper, Schlock, Futureworld, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Incredible Melting Man, Damnation Alley, Mad Max, Capricorn One, Star Crash, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Avalanche.
The video and audio quality is much better than what you might expect. While some of the drive-in advertisements are occasionally low grade, all of the trailers have been HD-sourced. They’re not squeaky-clean as they do still contain instances of scratches, speckling, and other types of film damage, they’re quite presentable and stable throughout. The sole audio option for everything is English 2.0 Dolby Digital with no subtitle options. Each trailer’s soundtrack is mostly clean and clear with next to no real interference, other than occasional distortion and light crackle, which comes hand in hand with the quality of the trailers themselves. Two extras are also included: an animated poster gallery and a trailer for the Blu-ray itself (not that any extras were really necessary for a set like this). The inner sleeve is also reversible and contains slightly alternate artwork with a list of all of the trailers.
There’s not much more I can do to recommend this set. It certainly gives you a peek at a lot of different films that you might not otherwise have been aware of, and thanks to Drive-In Delirium, you’re likely to queue up your various streaming devices and Blu-ray and DVD wishlists with new titles to check out. It’s a great collection, and one can only hope that perhaps a ‘90s collection is somewhere on the horizon.
- Tim Salmons