Book Review: The Drive-In: A “B” Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas

The Drive-In: A “B” Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas by Joe R. Lansdale
Published: 1988
Publisher: Bantam Books
Audience: Mature
Pages 176
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 5/5








Book Synopsis:
Friday night at the Orbit Drive-in: a circus of noise, sex, teenage hormones, B-movie blood, and popcorn. On a cool, crisp summer night, with the Texas stars shining down like rattlesnake eyes, movie-goers for the All-Night Horror Show are trapped in the drive-in by a demonic-looking comet. Then the fun begins. If the movie-goers try to leave, their bodies dissolve into goo. Cowboys are reduced to tears. Lovers quarrel. Bikini-clad women let their stomachs’ sag, having lost the ambition to hold them in. The world outside the six monstrous screens fades to black while the movie-goers spiral into base humanity, resorting to fighting, murdering, crucifying, and cannibalizing to survive.

Review:
If Amazon's summary doesn't have you clicking the 'add to cart' button, I don't know what will. Close to 200 pages, The Drive-In is a quick read and is a lot of fun. My brother tends to come across an eclectic variety of novels and loaned this to me and I read it in one sitting. The book, starting off like a coming of age story, quickly turns for the worse as the main characters, journeying to a huge drive-in, become trapped there with the rest of the patrons. Many theories are suggested but soon become moot as the people trapped in the drive-in slowly go insane. However, mere mortals are the least of the main characters worries as the people in the drive-in begin to worship a being called 'The Popcorn King'. Faced with dangers on all sides, the main characters must not only think of a way to escape the drive-in, but the Popcorn King and it's followers.

This book can appeal to the 'check your brain at the door' readers who want a good rollercoaster ride, but the book at times does explore the depth of human depravity and the quickness with which the thin veneer of society is rubbed away. Violent, funny, mad maxian, with monstrous creatures and possibly some aliens, this book is truly an homage to the 1950s scifi flick, monster movie, and slasher flick....and a coming of age for our main characters.

My brother only had the first novel in the trilogy and for his birthday I noticed on amazon that, to my surprise and pleasure, that the series had been compiled into one treasure replete with concept art for the now defunct movie of the book, and good forewords and introductions. So, I picked it up. Highly recommended. I plan to read the other two books in the trilogy soon.