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Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In: Multiplex
In 1988, Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In launched onto the fiction scene and left an indelible mark, influencing generations of genre-spanning writers. In honor of this groundbreaking novel, twenty-one of those writers pay tribute to Lansdale with all-new stories and novellas set in the bizarre and terrifying universe created by the champion mojo storyteller hisownself, all those years ago.
In this quintessential anthology, not to be missed, Lansdale returns and the stories are wilder and darker than ever. Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, who cite Lansdale as an integral influence in their careers, have curated an incredible line-up featuring some of the finest storytellers in the field today.
From Mud Creek, Texas, Welcome to The Drive in: Multiplex.
The signed limited edition of just 350 copies is signed by all contributors.
In this quintessential anthology, not to be missed, Lansdale returns and the stories are wilder and darker than ever. Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, who cite Lansdale as an integral influence in their careers, have curated an incredible line-up featuring some of the finest storytellers in the field today.
From Mud Creek, Texas, Welcome to The Drive in: Multiplex.
The signed limited edition of just 350 copies is signed by all contributors.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2023
9 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Golden
771 books3,013 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 26, 2024
In which it is definitively proved that writing like Joe R. Lansdale is a lot harder than just trash-compacting bikers, gore, scatology, and good ol' Texan shitkicking and coming out with a stone classic. An uneven anthology in which a number of lesser stories just footnote the author's already-defined Drive-In Mythos (I guess?) in ways that feel like fan service rather than anything excitingly new. Starting off the collection with the man himself, in a ribald mashup of, at the very least, The Wizard of Oz, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jack the Ripper, Alice in Wonderland, slasher films, and Joe knows what else, sets the bar higher than most of the succeeding entries can meet.
Standouts are Josh Malerman's hilariously mistaken unreliable narrator, Chet Williamson's blues Grand Guignol, Owen King's dryly gonzo adventure, and Norman Partridge's completely unexpected mashup of genres and references. Most exuberantly Lansdale-ian (Lansdalesque?) sentences are by King: "Pretty much anywhere in the world you can get yourself in a real fix if people come upon you naked with a liquidated dog, but that goes double for Texas" and James A. Moore and Charles Rutledge: "'Why?'" Frankensaur said. 'Because they said it couldn't be done. Because they said a man with the head of a dinosaur couldn't be a brilliant neurosurgeon. Because they called me crazy. Do I look crazy to you?'"
Standouts are Josh Malerman's hilariously mistaken unreliable narrator, Chet Williamson's blues Grand Guignol, Owen King's dryly gonzo adventure, and Norman Partridge's completely unexpected mashup of genres and references. Most exuberantly Lansdale-ian (Lansdalesque?) sentences are by King: "Pretty much anywhere in the world you can get yourself in a real fix if people come upon you naked with a liquidated dog, but that goes double for Texas" and James A. Moore and Charles Rutledge: "'Why?'" Frankensaur said. 'Because they said it couldn't be done. Because they said a man with the head of a dinosaur couldn't be a brilliant neurosurgeon. Because they called me crazy. Do I look crazy to you?'"
October 15, 2023
I can't believe I'm about to say this, and I'm sure I'm going to be burned at the stake for saying this, but I didn't enjoy this book all that much. I'm a rabid Lansdale fan, and I loved the first two Drive-In books a lot. I mean, A LOT. Also, I like and respect all the authors involved, so I should have given this ten out of five stars.
(What's that? The third book? No, I didn't like the third book. It's one of the very few Lansdale books that didn't do it for me.)
But this book had one thing going against it from Jump Street, and it's the fact that I don't like tribute anthologies. Tribute anthologies usually contain stories that serve no purpose except to pay homage to the person or thing the anthology is paying tribute to. Almost always, the stories are full of the ol' Shakespeare jazz: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It's almost like fan fiction, and I say that as someone who has written fan fiction, much to the horror of everyone who knows me, and I've done it with a smile.
And this anthology is, sadly, no different. A shocking number of stories go into detail about what's playing at the Orbit instead of what's *happening* at the Orbit. I get that they're trying for verisimilitude, but I've seen these movies. So has just about everyone reading this book. We didn't need that.
Nothing really advances the idea of the Drive-In mythos. From my understanding, there were rules as to what and whom couldn't be written about, so maybe that's not an author failing. I tended to like the stories from the second part of the book, after the Drive-In denizens have escaped into the weird pulpy world beyond the fence. The authors play around a little more and can get a little more creative. But still, all of the authors feel the need to explain the events of the Drive-In and how their characters got there. I don't think that's all that important in most cases. I think the action should take place in the present with little to no flashbacks. But maybe that's just my hang up.
I didn't hate the book. I just didn't like it. So enough of the negativity and on to the stories that I did like. Stephen Graham Jones's "The Night We Made It to the Horror Show" plays a little bit with another of Lansdale's infamous stories. Mary SanGiovanni's "The Beach" is a melancholy yet screwed up look at how one might try to escape the entire situation. "The Humpers at the Threshold" by Jonathan Janz made me laugh. I probably shouldn't have. The "Khan" thing was sort of low hanging fruit, but I couldn't help myself. I think "The Castle of Dr. Frankensaur" by James A. Moore and Charles R. Rutledge is probably the closest in feel to Lansdale's work than any other story in the book.
And then there's my favorite story, "Blood Harmony" by Chet Williamson. To say anything about this story to someone who hasn't read it is criminal. With some tweaking, I'm pretty sure this story could stand on its own instead of as a tribute story, which is possibly why I liked it so much. Or maybe it's the Elvis connection. It's probably the Elvis connection.
I honestly don't think I can recommend this book even if you are a diehard Lansdale fan. *I* am a diehard Lansdale fan and didn't get much out of this one. But, as one of the editors, Brian Keene, is fond of saying, "Your mileage may vary."
(What's that? The third book? No, I didn't like the third book. It's one of the very few Lansdale books that didn't do it for me.)
But this book had one thing going against it from Jump Street, and it's the fact that I don't like tribute anthologies. Tribute anthologies usually contain stories that serve no purpose except to pay homage to the person or thing the anthology is paying tribute to. Almost always, the stories are full of the ol' Shakespeare jazz: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It's almost like fan fiction, and I say that as someone who has written fan fiction, much to the horror of everyone who knows me, and I've done it with a smile.
And this anthology is, sadly, no different. A shocking number of stories go into detail about what's playing at the Orbit instead of what's *happening* at the Orbit. I get that they're trying for verisimilitude, but I've seen these movies. So has just about everyone reading this book. We didn't need that.
Nothing really advances the idea of the Drive-In mythos. From my understanding, there were rules as to what and whom couldn't be written about, so maybe that's not an author failing. I tended to like the stories from the second part of the book, after the Drive-In denizens have escaped into the weird pulpy world beyond the fence. The authors play around a little more and can get a little more creative. But still, all of the authors feel the need to explain the events of the Drive-In and how their characters got there. I don't think that's all that important in most cases. I think the action should take place in the present with little to no flashbacks. But maybe that's just my hang up.
I didn't hate the book. I just didn't like it. So enough of the negativity and on to the stories that I did like. Stephen Graham Jones's "The Night We Made It to the Horror Show" plays a little bit with another of Lansdale's infamous stories. Mary SanGiovanni's "The Beach" is a melancholy yet screwed up look at how one might try to escape the entire situation. "The Humpers at the Threshold" by Jonathan Janz made me laugh. I probably shouldn't have. The "Khan" thing was sort of low hanging fruit, but I couldn't help myself. I think "The Castle of Dr. Frankensaur" by James A. Moore and Charles R. Rutledge is probably the closest in feel to Lansdale's work than any other story in the book.
And then there's my favorite story, "Blood Harmony" by Chet Williamson. To say anything about this story to someone who hasn't read it is criminal. With some tweaking, I'm pretty sure this story could stand on its own instead of as a tribute story, which is possibly why I liked it so much. Or maybe it's the Elvis connection. It's probably the Elvis connection.
I honestly don't think I can recommend this book even if you are a diehard Lansdale fan. *I* am a diehard Lansdale fan and didn't get much out of this one. But, as one of the editors, Brian Keene, is fond of saying, "Your mileage may vary."
June 23, 2023
Like most collections, some of these stories were great and others not so much. I have to be honest and say I went into this unprepared as I had not read the original source material, but luckily I am pretty bright and was able to figure thins out quickly. The first story kind of fills the reader in to start.
The first half of this collection was much better than the second half - once the stories left the drive-in, many of them seemed to lack focus.
Some of these stories are very dark and twisted AF - looking at you Elizabeth Massie and Owen King - but their stories stood out for me and will likely stay with me for a long time.
Most of the stories are fun, but again they are dark and disturbing. Some of them feel a bit pulpy, but I suspect that is intentional. This is a great collection that I got from my Night Worms subscription.
This is a collection that is really worth reading is you enjoy dark twisted horror.
The first half of this collection was much better than the second half - once the stories left the drive-in, many of them seemed to lack focus.
Some of these stories are very dark and twisted AF - looking at you Elizabeth Massie and Owen King - but their stories stood out for me and will likely stay with me for a long time.
Most of the stories are fun, but again they are dark and disturbing. Some of them feel a bit pulpy, but I suspect that is intentional. This is a great collection that I got from my Night Worms subscription.
This is a collection that is really worth reading is you enjoy dark twisted horror.
March 8, 2025
3.5 stars
An interesting collection of stories from some of my favorite horror writers. Like many anthologies, there were stories that I thought were fantastic and others that didn't quite work for me. Overall, a fun read.
Standouts were:
Jonathan Janz
Rachel Autumn Deering
Owen King
Stephen Graham Jones
Nancy A. Collins
An interesting collection of stories from some of my favorite horror writers. Like many anthologies, there were stories that I thought were fantastic and others that didn't quite work for me. Overall, a fun read.
Standouts were:
Jonathan Janz
Rachel Autumn Deering
Owen King
Stephen Graham Jones
Nancy A. Collins
July 27, 2025
Not the most even-leveled of anthologies, but then jumping into Master Joe's shoes is a daunting task. Barron's story is very much a Barron and only marginally a Drive-In tale, and I don't really mind ('cause it's more Barron, duh), and then I do ('cause, hey, mind the host!), but a few too many authors on show here were too cowed by the full-on Lansdale madness and didn't exactly exert themselves. Still, there's plenty of goodness inside, go gorge yourselves, you maniacs.
August 5, 2023
I really wanted to love this collection of stories set in the weirdo world created by Joe R. Lansdale's influential Drive-In trilogy, but it didn't work for me overall.
Sure, the high water mark is a wonderfully strange new story from Lansdale - but that somehow isn't enough. And that is tough for me to admit with contributing authors including so many that I just love: Stephen Graham Jones, S.A. Cosby, Josh Malerman, Laird Barron, David J. Schow amongst them.
The level of talented writers here is off the charts - and that is really impressive - but the content is just meh. Yes, Lansdale's original Drive-In was epic strangeness, but the stylistic homages in this collection never took hold. For me.
Your mileage may vary......
Sure, the high water mark is a wonderfully strange new story from Lansdale - but that somehow isn't enough. And that is tough for me to admit with contributing authors including so many that I just love: Stephen Graham Jones, S.A. Cosby, Josh Malerman, Laird Barron, David J. Schow amongst them.
The level of talented writers here is off the charts - and that is really impressive - but the content is just meh. Yes, Lansdale's original Drive-In was epic strangeness, but the stylistic homages in this collection never took hold. For me.
Your mileage may vary......
November 21, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up. As others have said, good but not great. Definitely does not live up to the original The Drive-In books (which I reread just a couple of months prior). I didn't feel it was necessary for so many of the stories in this anthology to rehash the same points from the original book, i.e. the meteor, the Popcorn King, the black sludge, the cowboy losing his arm, the popcorn vomit, the films, etc. Probably 80% or more included these details. Regardless, there are some very good tales here. My favorites were the stories by Chet Williamson, Josh Malerman, and Norman Partridge, with an honorable mention to the David J. Schow piece. Additionally, the story by Joe R. Lansdale (paying tribute to his ownself, I guess) and Keith Lansdale is a right fine piece of bizarro fiction in the spirit of the source material, only ratcheted up a notch. Enjoy!
July 21, 2023
I haven’t read the original that these stories are based on, but I felt like I quickly got up to speed anyway - most of them provide a little context and by the time I’d read a few, I understood. As much as one can understand this story! This is a pulpy, gory, gonzo collection of stories that often feel like the B-movies one might expect to see at a drive in. It gets super weird sometimes, and in the second half I didn’t enjoy it as much because the weirdness was sometimes almost silly and the stories were wider-ranging to the point of feeling less cohesive. But when they worked, they worked very well.
December 4, 2023
This is definitely a book for people who have read (and enjoyed) the original Drive-In novels by Lansdale. A large part of the fun in this books is seeing how other accomplished writers approach the material; whether trying to write like Lansdale, expanding on the world he created, or just using his world as a set-piece for different stories. I think the biggest failures in this stories are among the ones trying to write like Lansdale - imitating his frequently crude language but missing the veracitude and heart behind it. Most of these, though, are quite well done. If you're a fan of the all-night horror movie marathon at the Orbit, check it out.
September 11, 2025
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-in: Multiplex, Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, (Ed.) [Pandi Press, 2023].
…The Drive-in: Multiplex is an anthology of stories inspired by Joe R. Lansdale’s 1988 horror-sci fi cult classic The Drive In: A B-Movie With Blood and Popcorn Made in Texas. Contributors include Joe R. Lansdale and Keith Lansdale, Owen King, Nancy A. Collins, S.A. Cosby, and Chet Williamson. Overall, a fun collection that also contains nods to The Wizard of Oz, The Doors, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft.
***
Christopher Golden and Brian Keene are editors of the recent collection The End of the World As We Know It, stories inspired by Stephen King’s The Stand.
…The Drive-in: Multiplex is an anthology of stories inspired by Joe R. Lansdale’s 1988 horror-sci fi cult classic The Drive In: A B-Movie With Blood and Popcorn Made in Texas. Contributors include Joe R. Lansdale and Keith Lansdale, Owen King, Nancy A. Collins, S.A. Cosby, and Chet Williamson. Overall, a fun collection that also contains nods to The Wizard of Oz, The Doors, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft.
***
Christopher Golden and Brian Keene are editors of the recent collection The End of the World As We Know It, stories inspired by Stephen King’s The Stand.
July 12, 2024
3.5 rounded up. Utterly batsh*t. I’ve never read something so unhinged and wild, anthology or otherwise. Be prepared. For what, exactly? Honestly I can’t even explain, because I don’t know know wth I just read 😂
August 4, 2023
A couple stories were great. A few of them I hated. The rest were ok. These stories take place in the universe created by Joe R Lansdale’s The Drive-In.
May 31, 2024
Really enjoyed going back into the world of The Drive-In. Liked every story by all the authors
July 9, 2024
Whew. I just narrowly avoided having to sell my signed Centipede Press edition of The Drive In. I don't think I ever woulda been the same again.
An entertaining homage collection. Weird and wild.
An entertaining homage collection. Weird and wild.
May 5, 2024
This book would not have been on my radar without coming in the June Nightworms package. One that I almost skipped, as I’m not -usually- the biggest fan of anthologies and the fact I had never heard of Mr. Landsdale before.
I actually liked these more that I thought I would and couldn’t be happier that I didn’t skip.
🍿This anthology collects stories from some of the best of today’s horror writers including Stephen Graham Jones, SA Cosby, Josh Malerman, Owen King, David J Schow & many more.
Each one telling the tale of a certain person(s) that gets trapped that fateful night at the Orbit drive-in. Little slices of the larger whole.
Although, I did feel like I came into this collection slightly ill-equipped since I haven’t read the source material, I was able to pick up on things decently quickly through little details peppered throughout the stories.
The opening was weird and the first story by Joe Lansdale & Keith Lansdale even stranger, but also so much fun.
I think the first half of this collection is a little bit tighter but I think that’s mostly due to it centering completely at the Orbit where as the second half was the world beyond and after the comet. I did enjoy most of those later stories tho.
Of course some stories I liked more than others, like in any collection.
And some of them certainly had me asking wtf did I just read?!
But overall, this collection was so much fun to read.
(😳 Give Me Your Leather, 🫠The Humpers at the Threshold, 🫢Bloody Harmony,
🥺Orphans of the Drive-in, 😬An Ill Wind)
I actually liked these more that I thought I would and couldn’t be happier that I didn’t skip.
🍿This anthology collects stories from some of the best of today’s horror writers including Stephen Graham Jones, SA Cosby, Josh Malerman, Owen King, David J Schow & many more.
Each one telling the tale of a certain person(s) that gets trapped that fateful night at the Orbit drive-in. Little slices of the larger whole.
Although, I did feel like I came into this collection slightly ill-equipped since I haven’t read the source material, I was able to pick up on things decently quickly through little details peppered throughout the stories.
The opening was weird and the first story by Joe Lansdale & Keith Lansdale even stranger, but also so much fun.
I think the first half of this collection is a little bit tighter but I think that’s mostly due to it centering completely at the Orbit where as the second half was the world beyond and after the comet. I did enjoy most of those later stories tho.
Of course some stories I liked more than others, like in any collection.
And some of them certainly had me asking wtf did I just read?!
But overall, this collection was so much fun to read.
(😳 Give Me Your Leather, 🫠The Humpers at the Threshold, 🫢Bloody Harmony,
🥺Orphans of the Drive-in, 😬An Ill Wind)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews