No more double feature picture shows at the DeAnza Drive-In
by Cherlyn Gardner Strong on Oct. 04, 2009, under General Paranormal, Life“The Others”, “Jeeper Creepers”, “Last House on the Left”, “Creepshow”, “Child’s Play”, “A Nightmare On Elm Street”, “Drag Me to Hell”
The De Anza Drive-In
These are just a few of the horror movies that I first saw at the DeAnza Drive-in. Horror is my preferred film genre. My preferred place to watch these films was the DeAnza Drive-In.
On Friday night, I saw my last horror film at the DeAnza. It was the critically panned “Halloween 2”, which I knew was going to be horrible in every sense of the word. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t really paying attention to the screen anyway. In my mind, I was replaying my past visits to The DeAnza over the years.
The best double features were always the horror movies. I remember when I was single and dating. Many a date took me to the DeAnza. My dates would choose horror movies at the DeAnza, hoping that I would shield my eyes from the screen and find solace in their arms. They were hoping for “Paradise by The Dashboard Lights” to quote Meat Loaf.
If I was uninterested in my date AND the movie, then I could focus on snack bar offerings, or even count the stray cats on the property when truly bored.
Even after I got married, the DeAnza remained a “date night” destination for me and my husband. This was the only place, besides home, that my husband and I could watch movies together. My husband is the King of Plot Spoiling, which he loves to do within the first few minutes of any movie. He also tends to talk throughout any film. since the movie has been ruined for the both of us. So, since I got married, if I was truly interested in a film showing at the drive-in, I would take my sister. I should note that my husband did pay very close attention to Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse”, which is our combined favorite memory of the DeAnza.
Final Showings at the DeAnza
I decided that I would rather not attend the final night last night. As I mentioned earlier, I went on Friday night. I saw the double-feature of Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds”, paired with Rob Zombie’s “Halloween 2” on that evening. I realized in a synchronistic twist of fate, that my favorite memory of the DeAnza from years past, involved both Quentin Tarantino and Rob Zombie. During Zombie’s “Halloween 2”, I remembered that Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” incorporated a fake movie trailer into the film, directed by none other than Rob Zombie. To make things even stranger for me, I recalled that the fake movie trailer incorporated into Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” was the Zombie contribution of “Werewolf Women of the SS”, about Nazis. Well, that’s what “Inglorious Basterds” was about: Nazis. Yes, I think way too much. All this contemplation took place during the horribly awful “Halloween 2” film.
The only good thing about “Halloween 2” was the part of the movie where the main characters dressed up like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” movie characters. Of course, it was at that moment that the Rocky Horror theme song “Science Fiction Double Feature Picture Show” popped into my head. It hasn’t stopped playing ever since. Now that the De Anza is gone, all I have left are memories – and a song stuck in my head:
“I wanna go, oh oh oh oh, to the late night, double feature, picture show”
