Search - Drive-In Classics Collection on DVD

Larry N. from BEALETON, VA
Reviewed on 10/6/2015...

Two Thousand Maniacs - A weak attempt at a horror movie. The pace is very slow and most scenes are predictable. The blood was obviously fake and the gory scenes amateurishly done. Six travelers are "detoured" to Pleasant Valley as "guests of honor" for their 1965 Centennial celebration. This film features June 1963 Playboy Playmate of the Month Connie Mason. I rate this one 2.0 out of 5.

Thunder in Dixie - On-track, off-track rivalry between former racing partners Mickey and Ticker is about who is the better racer... or who is the better lover. Mickey had seduced Ticker's wife and they were in a car accident in which she died. Ticker wants nothing more to do with Mickey. Filmed in black & white, a good script and good acting are wrapped around some good vintage NASCAR racing filmed at Atlanta International Raceway circa 1963. I rate this one a 3.5 out of 5.

Speed Lovers - Bad acting and a poor script don't do this movie any favors. A braggart hot shot, who happens to be the son of racer Fred Lorenzon's crew chief, desperately wants to be a racer, but nobody will give him the chance. He gets conned into trying to get his dad and Fred to join a rival team with the promise that he'll get his chance at a ride. It turns out that this rival team is just a bunch of gangsters trying to fix a race. Filmed in color, there is lots of vintage NASCAR footage in this movie from Daytona and Atlanta circa 1965 plus Fred Lorenzon plays himself. I rate this one a 2.5 out of 5 because of all the vintage footage.

Swamp Country - This movie features Rex Allen, Lyle Waggoner and singer, songwriter, musician Baker Knight. A man and a woman check into a motel about the same time, but unconnected. Just before she is murdered, she screams and that attracted the attention of the man. He goes to her room to check on her. The manager shows up with a shotgun and the sheriff's department just a few seconds later! The manager implicates the man in the murder and the sheriff wants to take him into custody. The man realizes he's being framed and makes a run for it into the swamp. There's a couple more sub-plots, too. The acting and the script were decent. The wild animal attacks were definitely performed by tamed animals! There is a lot of action and the story moves along at a pretty good pace. I rate this one 3.5 out of 5.

Swamp Girl - This movie features country singer Ferlin Husky as a swamp ranger. Basically, the plot is a young woman breaks out of prison with her boyfriend as her accomplice. They run out of gas and head into the swamp attempting to get to Florida. They stumble upon the swamp girl and her "Pa." They force her to lead them to Florida and out of the swamp. Meanwhile, the sheriff and swamp ranger get word of the prison break and conclude that they have run into the swamp girl since she failed to meet the ranger as she had promised. They head into the swamp in search of the woman and man at the same time the woman's parents have hired an illegal posse to go in search of them as well. The movie moves along at a decent pace with the slow parts filled with swamp wildlife and scenery shots. Most of the actors did a decent job, but the guys in the posse were amateurish actors. I rate this one a 3.5 out of 5.

This Stuff'll Kill Ya! - This is probably the worst movie I've ever seen. A very badly scripted and very slow moving movie with mediocre actors. It's about a drinking "church" that raises it's money by selling moonshine. The "preacher" also promotes threatening and black-mailing people, premarital sex, public sex and gang rape. He also tries to put the local liquor store out of business by strong-arming the owner and employees. He has nearly everybody in the town in his back pocket. The only saving graces of this movie was the halfway decent bluegrass music and lots of young ladies in mini-dresses. I rate this a 1.0 out of 5.

The Year of the Yahoo! - Right off, I had a bad feeling about this one because the actor that played the "preacher" from "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" plays the governor in this movie. These movies were his last two roles. This one is about a singer who wants to become a senator. Unbeknownst to him, he hires a crooked campaign manager. I found myself asking what was the point of this movie several times while watching it. I guess it's just a weak attempt at a political drama. I give this one a 1.5 out of 5.

There's a bonus featurette included that is called Swamp Virgin aka Untamed Fury. After watching the 30 minute program I thought it didn't make much sense. Checking on IMDB, I found that it was originally a 60 minute program, so no wonder it didn't make sense with half of it cut out. E. G. Marshall was supposed to have appeared on this program, but he was apparently in the parts that were cut out.

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An amazing assortment of films varying from exploitation to

C. Bennett | 07/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just want to make something clear, this is not one of those cheap box sets full of non-copyrighted films with awful transfers.

This is one of the best box sets I've purchased this year. It's 7 films, all set in the south, three of which are directed by the "Godfather of Gore" HG Lewis.

The 7 films in question are all Something Weird titles. Each of the films has been gracefully remastered and each DVD is packed full of extras.

The stand out of the set is most definitely HG Lewis' 2,000 Maniacs. 2,000 Maniacs centers around a group of Yankee friends who find themselves in a small southern town who happen to be celebrating their Civil War Centennial. One by one northerns are killed off in a gruesome fashion ranging from quartering to dismemberment. One of the more memorable things about the film is the theme song, "yeehaw, the south's gonna rise again."

Next up we have a double feature dvd of two speedsploitation films.
Speed Lovers the story of a kid with zero experience who decides he wants to be a racing champ, and Thunder in Dixie: a revenge fueled classic about a man going head to head with the one who killed his family.

The third DVD in the set is a swamp romp double feature featuing Swamp Girl and Swamp Country. Two some-what unknown films centering around crime in the Bayou.

Finally rounding out the box set is two movies directed by HG Lewis. First up is the Moonshine fueled classic This Stuff'll Kill Ya, next is Year of the Yahoo, a film following a country-western singing who's running for office.

If you're a fan of cult, exploitation, or hicksploitation than this set is for you. 2,000 Maniacs is worth the price of the set alone. Don't be fooled by cheapo drive-in knockoff sets...This is a quality set with 7 great films and over 3 hours of extra features!"