The Poconos’ Mahoning drive-in theater is a destination for cult classics

The Mahoning — the esteemed Carbon County drive-in cinema — was dealt a blow last month, with the passing of owner Jeff Mattox. Mattox had worked at the drive-in since 2001, and had managed it since 2014. At 65, he died from complications following a recent hip surgery.

The loss left the cinema’s remaining management grieving, and scrambling, with no clearly delineated plan of succession. After some legal wrangling, the Mahoning’s ownership fell to booker Virgil Cardamone.

“We had to totally reestablish the business,” Cardamone says. “And we had to do it while we were grieving.”

Mattox, who worked as a projectionist in the Air Force, leaves behind a singular cinematic legacy — not only in the Philadelphia region, but in the nation. The Mahoning prides itself on being America’s only drive-in to screen movies almost exclusively on 35 mm prints. It was a decision that Mattox made as manager, bucking the modern shift toward digital projection. “It’s the thing that makes us stand out from the other 275 drive-ins in the country,” Cardamone says. “It has become a mecca. People will travel from literally around the world just to come and pay homage to the place that rebelled against digital.”

In 2009, James Cameron’s blockbuster megahit Avatar, projected on hard drives called DCPs (for digital cinema package), signaled an industrywide shift to digital formats. Theaters-owners were left with the costly task of revamping their in-house hardware, as studios began releasing new films exclusively on DCP. The sticker shock associated with these upgrades (which could reach as much as $70,000 per screen) hit drive-ins especially hard at a time when multiplexes were creeping up across the country.

Under Mattox’s leadership, the Mahoning recommitted to 35 mm. Though they occasionally stoop to digital projection (only when absolutely, positively necessary), the institutional decision to prioritize traditional celluloid formats effectively rebranded the Mahoning as a drive-in exclusively showcasing retro programming.

“We lean into classics and we lean into cult classics,” Cardamone explains. “It’s a real balance of punk rock cinema, rebel cinema, as well as those bubblegum blockbusters that bring families in.”

This year’s slate showcases classics like Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932), and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), programmed alongside deeper cuts like the Vincent Price-starring vintage snooker The House on Haunted Hill (1959), and the 1990 Hong Kong action-comedy Fatal Termination (a movie marketed as “Featuring one of the MOST DANGEROUSLY IRRESPONSIBLE STUNTS ever put to film!”).

Equally key to the Mahoning’s success are its epic, weekend-long movie marathons. In past years, highly caffeinated cinephiles persisted into the wee hours of the morning to watch triple-bills of James Bond movies, or days-long unspooling of various Halloween slasher flicks. This summer, from June 27-30, the drive-in will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Godzilla with a four-day Godzilla-Palooza marathon with diehard titles like the family-friendly Godzilla Vs. Gigan (1972) and Roland Emmerich’s much-maligned 1998 American adaptation, starring Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno.

While the Mahoning’s season officially kicked off last weekend, with one-off screenings of David Lynch’s midnight movie classic Eraserhead (1977) and a Jim Henson double-bill of The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and The Dark Crystal (1982), things really hit full swing with this weekend’s multiday Zombie-Fest event. In the 10th annual installment of the tribute to the walking dead, the Mahoning is paying tribute to the godfather of the genre, George A. Romero.

Programming includes Romero’s classic genre trilogy — Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Day of the Dead (1985) — alongside his somewhat less-classic modern installments. (Both Night and Dawn remain canonical entries in the pantheon of shot-in-Pennsylvania cinema.) In addition to the screenings, Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree will be in attendance, to meet and greet fans. For such marathons, the drive-in offers “overnight passes,” which allow in-and-out access throughout the weekend.

As the Mahoning celebrates its 75th anniversary, Cardamone is confident that the drive-in can maintain the legacy of former owner Mattox. “He’s the reason we’re all here,” says the new owner, who in 2021 led a grassroots campaign that prevented a Connecticut-based green energy company from building a solar-panel farm on the land where the drive-in stands.

“He’s the guy who stuck with 35-millimeter. And he’s the guy who truly championed the creatives that make up the Mahoning now.”

The Mahoning is at 635 Seneca Road, Lehighton, Pa. Screening and ticket information available at mahoningdit.com/.