Jul '18
On the night of Friday, July 13th, the marathon of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs began airing on Shudder TV, the live stream portion of Shudder's service. Running for a little over 24 hours, it consisted of 13 movies:
Tourist Trap
Sleepaway Camp
Rabid
The Prowler
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
Daughters of Darkness
Blood Feast
Basket Case
Re-Animator
Demons
The Legend of Boggycreek
Hellraiser
Pieces
I didn't watch live because I'm far past my days of staying awake 24 hours, but I'm watching now that the movies are available to watch individually. With Joe Bob's segments, each movie runs between about 100 and 130 minutes. It's a damn fine feeling to see him again. Everything you'd expect from him is there, including Drive-In Totals and a mail girl.
It's implied that this will be Job Bob's final outing as a movie host. That hasn't stopped people from begging Joe Bob and Shudder to turn this into a weekly show. Considering that it was enough of a success for Shudder that the traffic surge when the marathon began caused technical difficulties, maybe there will be more. If not a weekly show, then maybe another marathon.
Did anyone here watch the marathon? Are you watching or planning to watch the movies individually? Are you interested in watching at all or is the idea of a redneck interrupting your movie every 20 minutes or so for his commentary unappealing?
Tourist TrapSleepaway Camp
Rabid
The Prowler
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
Daughters of Darkness
Blood Feast
Basket Case
Re-Animator
Demons
The Legend of Boggycreek
Hellraiser
Pieces
I didn't watch live because I'm far past my days of staying awake 24 hours, but I'm watching now that the movies are available to watch individually. With Joe Bob's segments, each movie runs between about 100 and 130 minutes. It's a damn fine feeling to see him again. Everything you'd expect from him is there, including Drive-In Totals and a mail girl.
It's implied that this will be Job Bob's final outing as a movie host. That hasn't stopped people from begging Joe Bob and Shudder to turn this into a weekly show. Considering that it was enough of a success for Shudder that the traffic surge when the marathon began caused technical difficulties, maybe there will be more. If not a weekly show, then maybe another marathon.
Did anyone here watch the marathon? Are you watching or planning to watch the movies individually? Are you interested in watching at all or is the idea of a redneck interrupting your movie every 20 minutes or so for his commentary unappealing?
I don't have Shudder, or plan to anytime soon, so I'll probably never see this. I think it's great Job Bob is giving his commentary about movies again, in whatever capacity.
That said, because of the times we live in with the near limitless resources we have, the appeal of something like this in 2018 isn't quite the same as the appeal of it in 1995 when he was doing Monster Vision.
Why? Well, its kinda hard to explain, but I guess for the most part it boils down to the fact that, in those days, we didn't have a choice. We watched what TV dictated us to watch, commercials, editing, and all.
Yes, it's better nowadays because we have a choice. We also have the knowledge and insight we didn't once have. We know better now. But I also don't see the great appeal in watching Joe Bob give his commentary during a film simply because we have so many alternative choices at our disposal now. It's kinda like a double-edged sword in a sense.
When Monster Vision aired ___________ in 1990-whatever, it was special. For many reasons. When _______ was playing, it was an event, unless you owned the VHS tape. Maybe youd never even heard of it. You wouldn't have known about it if Monster Vision hadn't decided to air it. You were at the right place and right time and now you were watching it. Job Bob and his encyclopedic knowledge and witticism was something to behold, and the show's lo-fi tongue-in-cheek nature was refreshing in comparison to the crap youd find on other stations.
Maybe I'm being cynical or nostalgic (both, actually.) Perhaps a '90s-version-of-me-kid living in 2018 would enjoy this more than actual me, so for that, it's a great thing.