After Sunset: The Life & Times of the Drive-In Theater (1997 Video) User Reviews

Less Road Trip, More Drive-In please!

[Schlockmeister · 28 May 2001]

From this documentary's title you expect a history of the drive-in theatre. You just get a little bit of that, mostly old drive in pictures that I am sure they got off of John (Joe Bob Briggs) Bloom's office walls. A few interviews with drive-in owners flesh out what it must be like to run a modern drive-in. John Carpenter is interviewed although by the time his career began the heyday of the drive-in was already passed, so why is here there? They would have done much better interviewing AIP's Samuel Z. Arkoff, film auteur David Friedman or Pop historian Johnny Legend. I have to conclude that the interview they got ( beside perhaps John Bloom ) were with people they knew or had easy connections with. They claim to have been on this 4000+ mile road trip looking for drive-ins. I have to ask where is the movie that accounts for all that mileage? They should have found a lot more interesting people beside gnarly gas station attendants and taking a break to watch one of the film-maker try to eat a 4lb steak. In a short movie like this, this kind of stuff takes up way too much valuable time. The film-makers would have come off looking better if they had attempted to simply make a movie about Roadside Attractions or Route 66, with Drive-ins as a sidenote. As it is, you are bound to be disappointed by scenes of abandoned drive-ins and college boys driving around with a jerky camera. There are over 900 operating drive-ins in the US, a better movie could have been made. Recommended if you are into the Drive-In subculture, but do not expect much.

End Of An Era...

[azathothpwiggins · 15 July 2021]

Four men take a cross-country trip to a big drive-in theater celebration. Along the way they encounter some interesting people with stories about the subject, as well as having a few side adventures of their own.

This is intercut with segments featuring Director John Carpenter; movie critic, Joe Bob Briggs; and others giving their take on the drive-in saga.

Anyone who grew up on the movies, the gravel, the car door speakers, the snack bar, etc., will feel a pang of nostalgia while watching this film. AFTER SUNSET: THE LIFE & TIMES OF THE DRIVE-IN THEATER is a poignant story that has something to say about the changes in American society.

Educational and entertaining...