Rock! Shock! Pop! - Drive-In Delirium: Maximum 80's Overdrive

Released by: Umbrella Entertainment
Released on: March 1st, 2017.
Director: Various
Cast: Various
Year: Various
Purchase From Diabolik DVD

The Movie:

Umbrella Entertainment’s Drive-In Delirium series gets a high definition facelift with the release of Maximum 80’s Overdrive, two hundred and twenty seven minutes of trailers from the neon washed decade of breakdancing and Reagan. The trailers on this disc are split up into two sections, though you are given a ‘play all’ option if you want to really commit. Here’s what you find after a pre-show advertisement sets the mood for the drive-in style fun to come.

Part One - The Crackdown:

Shogun Assassin / Raw Force / Chained Heat / 9 Deaths Of The Ninja / Stripped To Kill / To Live And Die In L.A. / Code Of Silence / Invasion U.S.A. / Black Moon Rising / Biggles / Used Cars / Wacko / Up The Creek / Dressed To Kill / Road Games / Blow Out / Blood Simple / 52 Pick-Up / Crimes Of Passion / The Exterminator / Ms. 45 / Death Wish II / Class Of 1984 / Vigilante / Escape From The Bronx / The New Barbarians / Dead End Drive-In / Metalstorm: The Destruction Of Jared-Syn / The Dungeonmaster / Zone Troopers / The Eliminators / Sorceress / Saturn 3 / The Thing / Space Raiders / The Terminator / Ice Pirates / Robocop / Miracle Mile / They Live / Gnaw: Food Of The Gods 2 / Breakin’ / Zombie Holocaust / Nightmare City / Cannibal Holocaust / Contamination / The Beyond / The Black Cat / The New York Ripper /Demons / Demons 2

This first chunk starts off as a pretty solid array of eighties action epics, covering all the bases – Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, ninjas – but from there it gets weirder, throwing in comedies, then segueing into thrillers, then heading back into action movie territory before going off on a strange sci-fi binge and then closing it all out with a nice array of Italian horror titles. Good stuff. Some of this stuff we’ve seen on other trailer comps before, but some of it we haven’t and there’s a nice flow here.

And if that weren’t enough, when it’s all over there are a few public service announcements, the most amazing of these being a piece where Clint Eastwood shows up on camera to discourage people from using crack! This is basically worth the price of admission alone.

Part Two - Stalk N’ Slash:

Maniac / The Children / Friday The 13th / Friday The 13th Part 2 / Friday The 13th Part 3 3-D / King Cobra / Prom Night / Terror Train / To All A Goodnight / Christmas Evil / Don’t Answer The Phone / Don’t Go In The Woods / Just Before Dawn / Schizoid / Mother’s Day / Graduation Day / My Bloody Valentine / Halloween II / Nightmare / The Burning / Madman / Pieces / The Final Terror / Curtains / Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 / Sorority House Massacre / Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers / Nightmare Weekend / Chopping Mall / Blood Diner / The Stepfather / Venom / Macabra / Mutant / Creepshow 2 / Evil Dead 2 - Dead By Dawn / The Blob / Day Of The Dead / The Monster Club / Fright Night / Return Of The Living Dead / Night Of The Creeps / Night Of The Demons / Monster Squad / Bride Of Re-Animator / Death Ship / The Fog / The Nesting / Deadly Blessing / Scanners / Halloween III: Season Of The Witch / Christine / The Horror Star / Amityville 3-D / Children Of The Corn / Cat’s Eye / Night Train To Terror / Nomads / Prison / Bad Dreams / Child’s Play / Phantasm II / Waxwork / Death Spa / Shocker

This second chunk of trailers clearly focuses on American horror pictures of the eighties and while it isn’t as comprehensive as Trailer Trauma 3, it’s still pretty great. We cover some of the franchise titles with a few Friday The 13^th entries, the TCM sequel and a few others but so too do we get plenty of lesser known entries in the eighties horror cannon. And again, the way that the trailers are lined up flows nicely, getting us into a nice groove for a night’s viewing.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Drive-In Delirium: Maximum 80’s Overdrive arrives on a 50GB Blu-ray disc and not surprisingly, the aspect ratio changes depending on the aspect ratio of the respective trailer that’s playing. While there’s some light DNR here and there, for the most part this is a pretty solid presentation. The trailers were clearly in very nice shape, they’re all much cleaner looking than you’d expect if you’ve watched other trailer compilations that have hit the market over the years, and color reproduction looks spot on as well. There are no issues with compression artifacts or edge enhancement and detail and clarity are pretty good here. No complains, this is a nice presentation.

Audio chores are handled by an English language Dolby Digital Mono track, there are no subtitles or closed captioning options provided. Despite the absence of a lossless track, the audio here is more or less problem free. The levels are well balanced and there aren’t any serious problems with any hiss or distortion.

Extras include a still gallery, a promo spot for the feature, menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

Drive-In Delirium: Maximum 80’s Overdrive is a complete blast – a perfect mix of action, horror and everything in between! Have some friends over, grab a case of beer and sit back to enjoy four hours of thrills, chills and spills!

Click on the image below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!