capone666 Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow The worst part of haunting the highway is all the distracted drivers crowding your curve. Fortunately, this horror-comedy occurs when drag racing produced the most road ghosts. When a gang of teenage hot rodders are evicted from their soda shop hangout and forced to find new digs, lead foot member Lois (Jody Fair) volunteers her rich aunt's (Dorothy Neumann) estate as their new clubhouse. Her aunt agrees only if they evict the ghost haunting it. To exercise it, they hold a rocking costume party that culminates in a girl-on-girl drag race to the death. A sequel to 1958's Hot Rod Gang, this Halloween themed follow-up released a year later is light on actual drag races - and is missing the rockabilly interludes that made the original really swing - but what it does have is twice the zaniness. Luckily, most people who become ghosts nowadays have serving and DJing skills. Yellow Light

blankenshipdk At first glance, a seemingly typical 50's style entertainment b-movie aimed at the youth crowd featuring hopped up jalopies with a rock n' roll soundtrack. The kids that comprise the characters of the story are of course members of a west coast hot rod club in search of a permanent pad for their roadsters which invariably leads to a vacant haunted mansion providing a platform for ensuing adventures. However, the genre gets turned on its head when the biggest gear heads and racing rivals that provide much of the dramatic tension are female, namely Lois ( Jody Fair ) and Anita ( Nancy Anderson ). These two femme fatales start the flick with an illegal race in the L. A. River bed, continuing the rivalry throughout the narrative until sanctioned by male figures in the form of a boyfriend, a father and a policeman. This is pure 50's American pop culture cinema where the radical concept of women being the biggest competitors in a traditionally male avocation is seamlessly woven into the story making the film function simultaneously as a vanguard of social subversion. Meanwhile, fresh faced speedster Tommy Ivo talks over your head about the engineering principles behind his new dragster while his bud waxes figuratively and literally on the metaphysics of chrome machinery. Actually some of the best dialog belongs to Alfonso the parrot with quips like " Yipes, those threads are for buryin " and " That was a blast, somebody bring a mop ". Paul Blaisdell reprises and references his roles in previous American International features as the monster who gets exposed in the spooky manse during the course of a macabre housewarming party which includes a tune sung by Jimmy Maddin, who gained fame for a fifties style of sax playing known as " honking " and was self described as one of the inventors of rock n' roll. Cool black and white cinematography graphically underscores a flick that, despite its limitations, reminds us that sometimes less is more, at least in terms of retro entertainment value.

zetes Any person who spouts the hoary maxim "they don't make them like they used to" has never bothered to delve into the really bad movies of the past. Yet a movie so silly is hard to hate. I mean, this was basically made to show in drive-ins. The teenagers in the audience probably weren't going there for the movie anyway. Actually a sequel to a movie called Hot Rod Gang, the movie attempted to appeal to kids with the promise of drag racing and ghosts. It delivers very little on those promises. There's a race right at the beginning. Another occurs near the end - off screen. The ghost is a Scoobie-Doo like guy who wants to scare the teenage protagonists away from their new gearhead clubhouse (the plot makes no sense whatsoever). The teens are the squarest imaginable. They don't want to break the law by drag racing - it happens sometimes, though. There's a lot of bopping to sub-par rock and roll. The chicks are cute - especially the really tall, nerdy one with glasses (dating the nerd, of course). They dance around in their nighties at one point. There is also a talking parrot, a talking car and a goofy spinster aunt. This is actually pretty high up on the list of the worst movies I've ever seen, but, like I said, it's so embarrassing that I can't help but have a bit of affection toward it.

mlraymond A very loose sequel to AIP's 1958 Hot Rod Gang, which was marginally more serious, this movie is just sheer goofiness from start to finish. For a hot rod movie, there's not much in the way of drag racing action, but there are plenty of dance numbers with assorted leggy girls rocking and rolling in a way guaranteed to raise the average male's blood pressure. ( Check out the slumber party sequence with the young ladies dancing in short nighties).A lot of the humor is pretty feeble, but it's an engaging little movie in its own right. Anyone who likes the AIP teen flicks of the Fifties will probably enjoy this.