Dante got his start working for Roger Corman, the king of the B-movies, and many of them were horror movies. He was also an unabashed fan of both the classic horror movies and the B-movies from William Castle and the Hammer Studios. MATINEE may not be autobiographical in this regard, but it certainly shows Dante's fondness for these movies, and is good on its own.
The movie is set in 1962 in the Florida Keys. It's told through the eyes of Gene (Simon Fenton), a 15-year old Navy brat, who has two major events to deal with. On the bad side, aside from being the new kid and not knowing anybody, the Cuban Missile Crisis hits early on, and Gene's father is in one of the ships blockading Cuba. On the good side, Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman), the king of B-horror movies (he's modeled on Castle, with a little Hitchcock thrown in for good measure) is coming to town with his latest release, MANT - "half man, half ant!" scream the ads. Some worry whether this is the right time to be coming to town with a horror movie - and Herb (Dick Miller) and Bob (John Sayles) are two "concerned citizens" who think Woolsey's movies are too indecent to be shown any time (though they're not what they seem) - Woolsey figures his is the perfect movie to take people's minds off their troubles. And Gene, an unabashed fan (he's seen all the movies, and reads all the magazines), is eager to help.
Of course, this isn't the only thing going on in Gene's life. He's got his little brother Dennis (Jesse Lee) to take care of, and he has to help his mom (Lucinda Jenney). There's also young love, as he meets Sandra (Lisa Jakub), an outspoken classmate (when she gets in trouble for protesting against a missile drill she shrugs, "They put away Gandhi for a year," and Gene replies he doesn't know too many people at school). His new friend Stan (Omri Katz), who's also a fan of monster movies, meanwhile lusts after Sherry (Kellie Martin), the popular girl whose ex-boyfriend Harvey Starkweather (James Villemaire) is a juvenile delinquent and is none too happy seeing Stan around Sherry (Sherry mentions doctors called Harvey an animal and smirks, "I could have told them that").
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