Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This weekend's programming at the drive-in is dedicated to 80's vampire flicks, with The Lost Boys kicking off both Friday and Saturday night, and a second secret vampire film each night. It also saw the return of Tim Cappello who met fans, signed autographs, and played a full concert prior to the start of the movies on both nights.
This weekend's programming at the drive-in is dedicated to 80's vampire flicks, with The Lost Boys kicking off both Friday and Saturday night, and a second secret vampire film each night. It also saw the return of Tim Cappello who met fans, signed autographs, and played a full concert prior to the start of the movies on both nights.
Both nights of Vampyrty: 80's Edition were sellouts, so I spent the preshow hours parking cars on the lot crew and setting up the concert stage that Wes and I started on Thursday night.
There were several vendors on the lot during the weekend. The coolest piece of merch that I saw was this custom made Tim Cappello toy that was created in the style of the old Tonka WWF Wrestling Buddies from the late 80's and early 90's.
Wes and Sara created some awesome props for this weekend's event, including a giant carton of noodles and a projector on their giant VHS tape which showed Andrew Kern's banner art and scenes from the movie on the label of the tape.
Tom brought out some pickle beer that he picked up from Neshaminy Creek. He and I both thought it was pretty damn good!
We got to meet Tim Cappello in the snack bar on Saturday. He signed my VHS copy of The Lost Boys and took a picture with John, Kate, Cary, Tom, Angie, and I.
The first movie on both Friday and Saturday night was the 1987 horror classic The Lost Boys. We already saw this on 35mm at the Mahoning when it was shown as the 2023 season finale. It was pretty cold and wet that night, so I'm glad to see it come back to the drive-in on a nice, warm summer night that we could sit outside and enjoy it.
The second feature on Friday night was the 1986 vampire horror comedy Vamp. It's one of those movies that I saw at rental stores for years, but never brought it home. I finally saw it for the first time last year when it was shown for Joe Bob's Very Violent Valentine. Last night was my second time seeing it, and my first time seeing it on 35mm or on the big screen. It's definitely worth watching - picture a spooky version of Porky's.
The second film on tonight was Kathryn Bigelow's solo directorial debut, the 1987 film Near Dark. If you like vampire movies and you haven't seen this one before, I highly recommend it. The story is similar to The Lost Boys where a teenager is pulled into the vampiric world by an attractive girl and this puts his family in jeopardy. Near Dark gives this story a western setting and a darker and more serious tone in comparison.
