Episode Details
Back to Episodes
HORROR BUSINESS Episode 78: DEAD END DRIVE-IN & NEON MANIACS
Description
Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys. In this episode we’re talking about 1986’s Dead End Drive in and Neon Maniacs.
First and foremost, we want to give a shoutout to our sponsors over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Also, thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally grateful for that support. Thanks!
We start by briefly discussing what we’ve done lately involving horror. Liam talks about watching Z and a few of the films from director Brian Trenchard-Smith. Justin talks about watching the films Skyquake, Radius, The Neon Dead, Nine Miles Down, and We’ve Forgotten More Than We’ll Ever Know.

Up first is Dead End Drive In. We begin with Liam explaining why he chose the film, why he enjoys it, and how he believes it should be a more widely known film. Justin talks about how the film feels almost like a dream, in that it had a subtle un-logic too it.

We discuss the film as a metaphor for both concentration camps and Palestine, and how the film has a very Australian look to it. We talk more about Trenchard-Smith’s filmography, and how impressive the film looks for being made so cheaply. We talk about the weird paradox of the film never being widely received in America, despite being quite good and coming out at a time when America was obsessed with Australian culture.

The film’s depiction of the phenomenon in Australia in which East Asians are singled out for a particularly venomous strain of racism and the history of racial violence in Australia. We touch upon the films use of the protagonist as a very effective audience surrogate and the paradox o