What It’s About: In the near future (well, in the near future of 1986, anyways) a series of global catastrophes and wars leads a resource strapped Australia to do the only thing it can to deal with its unwanted surplus population of rebellious teenagers:  lure them into drive-ins, steal their tires, and keep them happy with sleazy drive-in movies (seemingly exclusively from the oeuvre of director Brian Trenchard-Smith) and food vouchers good at the concession stand.  Crabs (Ned Manning), on the make with a runaway in a beautiful vintage Chevy he “borrowed” from his brother can’t  call for help when he finds his tires stolen at the Galaxy Drive-In.  He can’t reason or talk his way out of the drive-in, but he refuses to accept the situation as others have.  How far will he go to escape?

Why Watch it Today?:  Dead End Drive-In opens with a list of events that lead to the situation in the film, one of which was the “2nd Great Wall Street Crash”, forecast for this day in 1990.  Dead End Drive-In isn’t exactly successful, but it is a unique take on a dystopian future.