The Devil at the Drive-In
And I will never forget the last thing he said to me.
Lee Highway Drive-in sat up there at the crossroads of Lee Highway and Gallows Road. While it no longer exists, it was an important part of local entertainment back in the day. Drive-ins were as much family friendly as they were epicenters of teenage temptations.
One summer evening in 1973, a group of brash teenagers with six-packs and lawn chairs climbed through a broken gap in the fence at the drive-in. We unfolded our chairs around a cooler full of beer.
Around then the Lee Highway Drive-in catered to 1000 parked cars. Each spot came with a metal post and a speaker on a cable. For us sitting in our lawn chairs, the movie soundtracks echoed from a thousand speakers spread over several paved acres.
It was the perfect environment for a horror movie, especially for half a dozen fearless teenaged boys.
We take a lot of things for granted these days. We have been conditioned and desensitized to the point where we can expose ourselves to shallow images even as we marvel at how profound they are. Or miss the profundity for lack of understanding from wandering attention spans.
The Exorcist exploded that problem.
