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ok, so joe bob is back! getting caught up...

Zombie (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) - i don't know if i'd ever seen this or not. some of it seemed familiar, but i've seen moments and scenes so much on posters, soundtracks, etc., over the years that i can't be sure if i had ever seen the entire film. so, i enjoyed watching this. typical fulci quality, meaning yes there is an eye-gouging scene, and yes, there is terrible, poorly overdubbed dialog. but yes, there are also great kills and questionable zombies. some of the dialog/plot is pretty hilarious, and very evidently an italian's impression of what new york would be, specifically new york cops. but massive props for the guerilla film making in NYC, especially the final scene on the brooklyn bridge. as usual, joe bob added a ton of great background and insight. he also had the male lead on as a guest. fabio frizi's band was the "house band" on the new, awful "talk show" format and set. they were clearly miming, not actually playing, but fabio did sit "on the couch" for a good interview. so yeah, i liked the film, and JBB added a lot of enjoyment to it for me.

Witchboard - i remembered loving this film when it came out. i'm sure some of that was informed by nude tawny kitaen. but for some reason, i was mixing this up in my head with warlock, because i thought for sure julian sands was in this. i knew steve from days of our lives was the male lead, and boy is he hilarious. and driving a cobra, for some reason? JBB informs us that was because the director (or producer?) had just purchased it and "lent" it to the film (read: write-off i'm sure). also introducing stretch from road house in her debut as punk rock psychic that gets impaled on a sun dial. the movie itself is pretty awful, but quite amusing because of that. JBB was great, as usual, and we're back to the normal set/format for week 2, thankfully.

should be noted, shudder's app on apple TV still sucks ass. they still haven't fixed the transition from countdown to live, and if you launch a movie from "up next" on the apple tv interface, the audio from two movies will still play simultaneously. still no way to pause or rewind the live feed. now that AMC+ includes the live joe bob, once my subscription to shudder ends, i won't be renewing, will be moving to AMC+ to see if that's any better. it couldn't be any worse.

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Don’t Panic - the first of two Mexican films JBB showed for May 5th. This is one I hadn’t ever seen, so was happy to check it out. Until I actually started watching it. It’s fucking terrible. Zero redeeming qualities. Should be called Don’t Watch. The song (sung by the lead guy) over the ending credits is pretty unintentionally hilarious, so that’s something. But not even JBB could save this pile of shit. So bad. The problem is, it doesn’t know it’s bad, versus something like Things, which very obviously knows its bad, so it’s a far worse sin to me.

The Devil’s Rain - have talked about this film on here before, but it’s such a classic and only gets better with repeated viewings. Yes there are plot holes, which JBB does a great job of explaining why. Joe Bob even had some nuggets of knowledge here that I didn’t know. A great movie with a great host and fantastic background info here. Absolutely check out this episode if nothing else.

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The Babadook - yeah, eight years ago when i first saw it, i felt like something about it went over my head. Last night when watching it, i was having the same thoughts on it that JBB ended up having, which he explained at the end:
that there is no titular monster, it’s something the mother made up to deal with her trauma and guilt for blaming her son for her husband’s death. It’s something she - and by extension, they - have to work through and manage. There are potentially some issues with this analysis - toward the end, when Sam gets “pulled” up the stairs to his bedroom, then repeatedly flung against the wall. How does this happen in that analysis? My response - we’re seeing what she’s seeing, and she’s an unreliable narrator. That’s not actually what happened, but that’s how she saw it. The other issue - her black bile vomit. What is that if not supernatural? I don’t have a great response to this, other than the fact that she hasn’t eaten or slept in many days and her insides are reacting to this.


Still, I think it’s a solid analysis, and makes sense with that ending in a way nothing else does. I still don’t like that ending, but this at least ties things together. Regardless of analysis, it’s a very good movie, and I really, really hate that kid’s character.

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The Beyond - Possibly my favorite Fulci. The thing I've noticed this time is the crazy foley work. Like, the footsteps on any surface are 10x louder than anything else, no matter the context. Crazy movie, which is what I love about it.

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The Mutilator - still feel the same about this as i did here, but once again Joe Bob elevates the viewing experience tremendously. tons of great back story here, although nothing can justify that soundtrack. maybe the second-worst horror soundtrack of all time, and the mixing is atrocious, so it's very in your face and louder than dialog in parts. i will say one thing about that theme song - it fucking sticks in your head. i'm still walking around singing "we're going on a..." one interesting tidbit of info - apparently the original film makers have funded and started (completed?) filming a direct sequel, so that should be interesting.

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Tigers Are Not Afraid - had heard good things about this film so was anxious to check it out. once again, have to recommend viewing with JBB, as he adds so much context and color to the experience. it really makes a difference every time, but in particular with this film, which was highly personal to the director (who, we also find out, is a featured director in the upcoming season of True Detective). as JBB said, it combines real-world horror of the reality of collateral damage from the cartels in Mexico with fantastical/traditional horror elements. again as JBB said, it really does feel like a GDT film. the reality is really depressing, and can't say this hyper-reality helps that - it's a sad film - but damn is it very good and well done. i've always been vocal about how i hate the "kid saves the day" trope in horror films, and largely hate kids in horror period (i generally find them annoying and a lazy plot device), but in this film, a group of kids are the stars of the story, so this film without kids simply wouldn't exist. these kids in particular are believable at worst and really, really great actors at best. fascinating to hear how they went about casting and training them, courtesy of JBB. so far my favorite of part 1 of the new season as far as JBB commentary goes (not my favorite film, which would probably be Devil's Rain).

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The Muthers - JB called it “junk food”, it’s more just nonsense. A relic of the late days of “-sploitation” films, it has elements of “blax” but doesn’t really go hard, elements of “women in prison” but doesn’t really go hard, etc. It tries to straddle the line and be incorporate multiple genres but it is just kind of ridiculous. A reasonable amount of laughs, all fully unintentional, however. JBB says it is the first and only film to feature four black female leads, so I guess there’s that, if you’re keeping score. Then we get unintentionally laugh-out-loud lines, like when the two lead pirates arrive at the coffee plantation (don’t ask) to look for one’s sister, the other lead already there asks, “Does she have black, curly hair?” Played totally straight. Later, one shot from a gun completely obliterates an obviously toy ship. JB and Darcy kept saying “half-naked women running through the jungle with guns”, yet the main lead wears a turtleneck for 80% of this film. None of it makes any sense. It’s really dumb.

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Sharknado - JBB returns with this stinker of a film. i mean, it's definitely funny, but probably not how they wanted it to be. i didn't love it 10 years ago, and i liked it less this time. it's just silly but somehow not in a fun way.

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Possession - while my earlier comments still stand, the new 4k transfer is great and really addresses most of the audio issues from the copy i had. also helps having subtitles enabled. not that knowing what was said helps understand the plot. it's a really wild movie. JBB's comments and insights absolutely enhance the viewing experience of this one. i have lots of questions, like what's the story with the guy with pink socks? what's with that bonkers ending? but this is a really good film.

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Yup Possession is a classic. Are you referring to the French 4K release? I've been holding off on this as it lacks HDR and I did hear rumours that another edition may be in the offing soon (anything even tangentially 'horror' seems to get priority treatment when it comes to 4K).

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Yeah, I don't buy that. AMC spends a lot of money on original content, and JBB is the main reason many people (including me) subscribe at all. Plus, the man hasn't really lost a step. Could do without Darcy most of the time, but will continue to sub as long as JBB is on. He should at the very least do a podcast, deep diving into a film each episode. Easy way to avoid the issue of not being able to get the rights to a particular film on Shudder. Similar model to Riff Trax, I guess. If he goes behind a paywall, he could show whatever film he wants. I'd subscribe to that. Most other content on Shudder is shit or available elsewhere, and their app has been horrendous since launch. I have no allegiance to Shudder, but as long as they renew JBB, I'm probably switching to AMC+ which includes Shudder, and now has the ability to show the "live" broadcast on air date of TLDI. If they can him, I'm out.

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I suspect a lot of people feel the same way. I probably never would have even heard of the channel if not for JBB. But the execs running streaming services these days aren't known for making smart choices.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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i took a break from JBB for a while so i have lots of JBB content for the halloween season. started watching again...

Amsterdamned - Kind of a nonsensical plot, and the absolute worst credits song ever, but that first kill dangling over the boat of boy scouts was great, and that boat chase scene - which seemed to go on forever - was incredible. Worth watching if just for that. And as usual, JBB is full of informative facts about the film, and that scene specifically, which greatly adds to the experience. Not a good film really, but very enjoyable watch with JBB.

Dark Night Of The Scarecrow - Watching this, I feel like I must have seen this when it first aired (it was a made for TV movie), because I definitely haven't seen it since it resurfaced in 2011, and some of the scenes felt familiar. Regardless, incredible cast here. Hard to believe they're really doing a horror-lite film. This was clearly the reason Larry Drake got the role of Benny in LA Law - his character is essentially Benny but a few years younger. Wild how many "mentally challenged" roles he's played while absolutely not being "mentally challenged". Kind of surprised he hasn't been "canceled" yet. This is really a way better film than it should have been, and has to be one of the great made for TV horror films (along with Magic and The Deliberate Stranger). Was a great era for made for TV films. Probably the best legit film JBB has shown in a long time. Definitely recommend.

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Beyond The Door III - i had never seen this, nor have i seen parts 1 or 2. this film is way more enjoyable than it should be. it's not a straight-forward, low-budget horror flick. it does have great kills and evil, satanic plotlines. but it also has some extremely weird twists and turns, and the directing & cinematography elevate what would otherwise be blah in lesser hands. it's a weird film, and again, better than it should be. JBB of course adds so much to the enjoyment.

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Deadline wrote:‘The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs’ Renewed For “Supersized” Sixth Season At Shudder — Here’s What The Horror Host Has Planned

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Bob is back in town — not that he ever left — as the genre-focused streaming service Shudder has opted not to slash, but to extend his virally popular horror variety series, The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs, bringing it back for a “supersized” sixth season.

Officially kicking off September 15th with a special touting the launch of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which had director, EP and key franchise creative Greg Nicotero as its special guest, the new season will see Briggs host and dissect more than 30 films, which is a new record. The world’s foremost drive-in movie critic, Briggs will next be back for two Halloween-themed specials in October, a holiday special in December, and a Valentine’s Day special in February, before transitioning to a new series format in March 2024.

Whereas Briggs’ signature movie watch parties have thus far been a double-feature experience, and more of this kind of programming can certainly be expected up ahead, he’ll primarily pivot now to spotlighting single titles, streaming every other Friday night. The good news is that over the course of the next year, he’ll have more of a consistent presence on Shudder than he ever has before, having previously appeared in just two blocks of 5-6 episodes streaming from April through midsummer, and on a few other special occasions annually.

Originally taping in Texas before migrating to New Jersey during the pandemic, the show has this season gone on the move again, setting up shop at the Senoia, Georgia studios where the Walking Dead series have filmed, with access to a backlot for the first time.

“As everyone knows, you should never invite me into your home, because I always show up,” joked Briggs in a statement to Deadline. “Shudder has graciously invited me to stick around for a sixth year, and I intend to use that kindness to haunt your phones, laptops and big-screen TVs with the most ghastly examples of perversity in the history of cinema. Plus a few old jokes and some celebrity guests who will still return our phone calls. Put it all together and it spells PARTAY.”

Added AMC Networks’ Executive Vice President of Streaming, Courtney Thomasma, “We’re delighted to bring Joe Bob, Darcy and the rest of The Last Drive-In Team back for our biggest season yet of crazy, scary and crazy-scary movies and specials, with the most entertaining commentary on TV. Joe Bob will be hosting more movie nights than any previous season and we can’t wait to continue the Friday night party with our Shudder family.”

For the uninitiated, The Last Drive-in is a show through which Briggs hosts an eclectic range of horror movies, from the mainstream to the highly obscure, ranting lovingly about their merits, histories and significance to genre cinema, alongside sidekick Darcy the Mail Girl (aka Diana Prince). Hosted segments interspersed throughout the films he’s showcasing feature everything from comedic bits to compelling trivia, as well as sit-downs with creatives whose first-hand knowledge can more directly contextualize what’s being screened.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Briggs joked that before The Last Drive-in debuted in 2018, he’d been “off the air for centuries.” In actuality, it should be stated, the speaker is John Bloom, the veteran movie critic who invented the redneck comedic persona of Joe Bob during his time at the Dallas Times Herald, later writing in his voice for outlets like The New York Times, before inhabiting him on TV.

After hosting the popular variety series Joe Bob’s Drive-in Theater and MonsterVision throughout the ’80s and ’90s for The Movie Channel and TNT, respectively, Bloom had for the most part leaned back into the more ‘serious’ side of his career as an investigative journalist. But nonetheless, about once a year, for many years, he’d be approached by a new producer for another show of some sort. “This is sort of the secret to the revival of my career,” he said with a laugh. “People who watched me when they were kids are now running the networks.” Nothing ever materialized until Troma alum Matt Manjourides introduced him to the team at Shudder — and even then, the project evolved in fits and starts, falling apart before coming back together.

Briggs originally intended to do a Labor Day marathon for the service, “like the old Jerry Lewis telethon where nobody sleeps for three days,” as his “farewell” to hosting, but that opportunity almost disappeared following an internal shakeup at Shudder. “They changed the whole company and cut a lot of stuff back,” Briggs recalled. “They were still sort of ready to do it, and then at the last minute we got this call where they said, ‘We really can’t do this. We don’t want to spend this kind of money.'” He was subsequently offered a budget of $30,000 for a marathon of more limited scope, and was inclined to pass. But then Manjourides came back to him and revealed that Shudder’s crew had agreed to work for free, in order to free up some space in the budget, such that more of the money allotted would show up on screen in the final product. “And I said, ‘Well, f**k you,'” Briggs laughed. “‘Now, I have to do it.'”

In between the announcement of the 27-hour marathon and its airing starting Friday, July 13th, 2018, Briggs was taken aback by a flurry of social media activity, with everyone from Stephen King to the everyday ‘mutant’ (as he calls his fans) vowing to tune in. Then, the night of the taping, he crashed Shudder’s servers. “I didn’t understand the significance of that, actually, and I was with Darcy. We’d just done a promotional event the night before, and Darcy says, ‘Hey, the whole Shudder system went down! And a couple of other [AMC-owned] websites went down, too,” Briggs recalled. “I said, ‘Well, that’s disappointing. Because I kind of wanted people to see the show.’ And she said, ‘No! This is the best thing that could ever happen.'”

Cisco Systems worked through the night to get the show back on the air, and when it finally came back online, near midmorning the next day, people were still around, hungry to watch the films he’d helped program. A true labor of love, the marathon was filmed in a borrowed room within the factory used to film the tattoo reality series Ink Master, out in the boonies in New Jersey. But it wouldn’t take long after Briggs’ “big victory” to be granted more resources. And it was this night that sealed his fate as one of Shudder’s most important brand ambassadors, a horror host who is here to stay. The show’s most recent season concluded July 21st, and while specifics as to ratings are kept in a black box, as at other streamers, each new episode trended in the Top 10 nationally on Twitter every Friday night.

When initially asked to do more episodes, Briggs said, “I had just published a book and still kind of had my feet in both worlds, so it was like trying to turn around an aircraft carrier, to switch from serious journalism back into movie hosting.” Still, he admits that his time with the show has been “a fun ride,” even if it’s been a learning curve in more than one sense, as he’s looked to adapt to an ever-evolving culture. “It’s been amazing because when I was young, I was considered sort of the bad boy on TV. I was always getting in trouble,” Briggs recounted. “It’s really strange because when I was first on The Movie Channel starting in the ’80s and then on TNT for years in the ’90s, they would always say, ‘You can’t say this. You can’t do this. You can’t broadcast this because you’re going to offend the older people, Job Bob.’ And then the notes I would get at Shudder are like, ‘You can’t do this. You can’t say that because you’re going to offend the younger people, the millennials and the post-millennials.'”

Notes of this sort left him asking, “Well, what the f**k?” he said, laughing. “Is there no period in history where you can just make jokes about everything?” Also driving his befuddlement, he explained, is that some jokes he would have been scolded for back in the ’80s wouldn’t lead to the batting of an eye today, whereas other remarks he made back in the day that got him in no trouble could now get him cancelled. In any case, his experience at Shudder has been “educational,” and he vows now to “stay away from the danger areas,” as far as his own commentary, after coming to understand “the rules.” And fortunately, “with this incarnation of this show, I don’t understand why, but everybody loves us,” he said. “We don’t get in trouble at all. So I’m a little bit disappointed. Like, did I lose my edge?”

In dissecting the factors leading to The Last Drive-in‘s viral popularity, Briggs pointed to the way he uses films as “a jumping-off place for talking about other things in the culture,” and the refreshingly unpredictable experience he’s able to cultivate for fans, at a time when much of entertainment has become, in his view, either overly formatted or simply stale. The show is a platform for him to guide horror fans, from the less educated through to the most rabid, down roads not traveled in horror — and even, he jokes, “down some of the dark alleys along that road.”

While Briggs teases his movie(s) of the week on social media ahead of each Friday episode, he doesn’t reveal the exact titles he’s examining until the night of, in order to reenforce the understanding that his show is not about any particular destination, but about the journey. Longtime Shudder team member Sam Zimmerman, who serves as VP, Programming, kicks off the curation process each season, sussing out which films from yesteryear are available for licensing at a reasonable price tag, while scouring festivals for the latest and greatest in contemporary horror. Briggs also presents his wish list to Zimmerman, and once it’s clear which films will be viable for the streamer to pursue, selections are made as a team.

Some episodes hinge, Briggs noted, on “so-called ‘lost films from the ‘80s,'” which isn’t meant to reference titles of poor quality, but rather ones that nobody watched at the time, and few have watched since. One of the more satisfying aspects of the work he’s done with The Last Drive-in is the opportunity it’s afforded him to resurrect some of these films, and thereby influence culture at large. “What’s interesting is, sometimes we’ll have one of those on, and then I’ll see six months later, it’ll be on all the midnight shows at the Alamo Drafthouse and various theaters across the country,” Briggs said. “One of them we did like that was Demon Wind. The audience was not clamoring for Demon Wind, but we showed it anyway.”

As previously alluded to, Briggs has had an unusually versatile career, writing about everything from B-movies to America’s casinos, sex and the Iridium satellite constellation. Interestingly, he also co-wrote the 1984 book Evidence of Love: The Candy Montgomery Story, which has been adapted into an Emmy-winning CBS TV movie, starring Barbara Hershey, as well as multiple series. The latest, Max’s miniseries Love & Death, starred Elizabeth Olsen as axe murderer Montgomery and just a few months ago landed Jesse Plemons an Emmy nom for his supporting role as Candy’s adulterous husband, Allan. (“I think of the [adaptations], the Max version is the closest to the book,” he said, “which means I like it the best.”)

Looking ahead, Briggs hopes to reprint his books that have been out of circulation, after seeing them skyrocket to sales in the hundreds of dollars from just a buck following his own personal resurrection on Shudder. But that aside, he’s primarily focused on continuing to “try to perfect” the show he’s already doing. He’s already checked off many of the movies on his ‘too grizzly for cable’ list following his transition to hosting in the strange new world of streaming, where he can let his freak flag fly. And he hopes to one day soon return with another marathon. “Today, it would cost a lot more than $30,000. I’ll just leave it at that,” laughed Briggs. “But I do wish that one of these years, on the anniversary of the marathon, we can do another marathon. Maybe we can’t do 13 movies, maybe we can do six or something. But I would love to do that again.”

Created for Shudder by Briggs, Austin Jennings, and Manjourides, The Last Drive-in is produced by Manjourides and Justin Martell and directed by Austin Jennings.

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Mad God - Phil Tippet’s magnum opus, 30 years in the making, is the featured film, with episode guest Phil Tippet. If you watched the ILM doc, you’ll be happy to know that Phil is still the same cantankerous, grump old dude, who doesn’t seem like he’s ever had an ounce of fun in his life (although i know he has). He can barely bring himself to talk about his own movie. Anyway, the film is fucking crazy. From an artistic standpoint, it’s incredible in every sense of the word. The stop-motion is extremely well done and intricate - well, “intricate” is such a small word for what some of these sets are. It’s insane what was accomplished here. One thing Phil did detail is that one of the sets took 3 years to construct - for a total of four seconds of screen time (it was slightly more than that, but not much) if that gives you an idea. From a story standpoint, it’s a mess, as you would expect when something was put together over three decades. I’m sure somewhere in that noggin of his was a rough idea of what this movie was going to be, but he did the full-on artist thing and followed where the work took him, which I completely get and respect, but when you do that over 12 solid years of production, things get a little disjointed and distanced from where you were going. Although, really - something like this is probably mostly viewed by people on hallucinogenic drugs, where maybe it all makes sense. I really enjoyed watching it, but couldn’t tell you what was going on plot-wise, even after watching Phil discuss it for some time and JBB’s attempt to describe the plot.

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Perfect Blue - pretty much what i said when i watched it not too long ago, except heightened by JBB facts. i still feel like this is ripe for a live action remake (even though, according to joe bob, this started out as being a live action pitch). it's a great movie, was better the second time - not sure if just better the second time, or because of JBB, or both.

Aligator - another "better than it should be" film here, mostly because of the absolutely insane cast roster. like i can't believe so many name actors are in this, led by Robert Forster. this is also Sue Lyon's last film. yes the plot is dumb and there are hole, and it's a huge Jaws ripoff, but it's still good because of the cast. enjoyable first-time watch for me, as something i never would have watched without it being on JBB.

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Grizzly - just top-level cheese here in this Jaws ripoff. Some hilarious special effects, sure, but the real comedy is in the writing. Best part is everyone involved takes everything very seriously. Also, all of the women in this case seemingly vanish halfway through the film lol. I had never seen this, but bravo for making me, Joe Bob. This was very amusing. And I guess there was a sequel in 1983, with Laura Dern, John-Rys Davies, Louise Fletcher, Charlie Sheen, George Clooney??? But it never officially got released until 2020. Apparently it’s just real bad. I kind of want to see it.

The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue - interesting film here, part giallo, part zombie movie. Apparently one of the many titles it has had over the years is Zombi 3 lol. Lots going on in this British film. Lead guy kind of reminds me of a young Malcolm McDowell. It’s just ok for me. JBB full of facts and history was the best part, of course.