Season 1 • Episode 10
LatestAfter being a passenger in a hit-and-run, Donna Patterson is sent to reform school, taking the rap for the driver, bad boy Vince. Inside, she makes friends and self-discoveries while trying to save her little sister from their abusive uncle.
Rebel Highway is a 1994 revival of American International Pictures, created and produced by Lou Arkoff, the son of Samuel Z. Arkoff, and Debra Hill for the Showtime network. The concept was a ten-week series of 1950s "drive-in classic" B-movies remade "with a '90s edge". Each episode shares a title with a late 1950s-early 1960s-era AIP film. However, they are not remakes; each installment is a different story from that which they are titled. The impetus for the series, according to Arkoff was, 'what it would be like if you made Rebel Without a Cause today. It would be more lurid, sexier, and much more dangerous, and you definitely would have had Natalie Wood's top off'.
Production
Genuine AIP legacy with deliberate grindhouse sleaze
Direction
Debra Hill's final producing credit, horror royalty involved
Writing
Ten different 'what if 50s but horny' premises
Creators
Debra Hill, Lou Arkoff
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Debra Hill co-wrote Halloween and produced most of John Carpenter's classics; this was her final project before her 2005 death.
The series exemplifies 1990s 'remake culture' and cable's race toward premium content through exploitation nostalgia.
US
