An Interview with Joe Bob Briggs: Indie Film, Horror, and “The Last Drive In”

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Felix Vasquez

Art by Justin Osbourn.

If you grew up in the nineties and had cable television, the odds are you were at one time introduced to Joe Bob Briggs and TNT’s Monstervision. With his assortment of movie trivia, gift of gab, and great jokes, “Monstervision” was a weekend treat that fans savored until its unceremonious end in 2000. Though Joe Bob has been a welcome presence in the horror and film world since then, fans have often clamored for his return to television. Wait no more. This Friday the 13th at 9pm ET, Joe Bob Briggs returns for one last hurrah, to bring his legions of fans a marathon of horror movies, exclusively to Shudder TV.

It’s twenty four hours, thirteen uncut horror movies, Joe Bob’s Drive-In Totals, and a brand new mail girl to boot. Joe Bob took time out of his hectic press storm to answer some our questions and suffice to say it was a thrill.

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Attack of Moaning for “Monstervision”

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

In 1993, Monstervision on Turner Network Television in America was mostly a program that aired old horror movies and science fiction with the occasional hosting from magicians Penn and Teller. During the early nineties, many cable channels hadn’t yet solidified their formats, so a lot of the time slots were used on syndicated programs and adult programming, with the occasional time slot devoted to a rare original program here and there. Mainly though, the original appeal of cable television was watching old movies and television shows you couldn’t find on network television. To break up the monotony of airing the same movies over and over, they enlisted hosts to riff during commercial breaks.

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VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media (2016) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

It’s important that we look back on the history of physical media, since the beginning of physical media for movie collectors was never Hollywood’s biggest plan. Since the creation of the home reel projector, studios have been working hard to fight the appeal of physical media, and now with its decline, we’re reverting to digital copies of films that can be monitored. With its introduction, comes the potential decline of honest independent filmmaking, and filmmakers that have an even playing field with Hollywood. That becomes an uphill battle as the physical media that does exist is nothing but overstocked Hollywood dribble, with stores openly refusing to stock independent cinema.

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13 Random Things about Friday the 13th

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Happy Friday the 13^th. If you’re the superstitious kind, you might want to avoid this list entirely, as I list thirteen random facts about “Friday the 13^th.” Perhaps you might learn something new about your friendly neighborhood movie critic.

You might also be surprised to see how much of an influence “Friday the 13^th” and Jason Voorhees has had on my life.

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VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media (2016)

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

For other documentaries about the VHS resurgence and the nearing end of physical media, a lot of directors have spent their time trying to figure out where it all began and celebrate the idea of the VHS boom of the modern era. “VHS Massacre” seems to be standing in ground zero of the end of physical media and trying to figure out where it’s all going, rather than where it all began. For many of us that have reveled in the new wave of VHS appreciation, we all know how it began. VHS won over Beta, despite the latter have more quality simply because VHS had more appeal to its product. It cost less, the tapes stored more footage, and porn became almost exclusive to the format. But with the rise of digital media, VHS has gone the way of the dodo, now relegated to good will bins and mom and pop stores deep in small towns and counties.

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Joe Bob Briggs: Dead in Concert (1985)

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

“Dead in Concert” is one of the rare comedy specials starring John Bloom as his iconic character Joe Bob Briggs. Briggs himself is a politically incorrect character who revels in embracing stereotypes for the purpose of ironically mocking them. He mocks religion, race, gender, politics, and even speaks about growing up in a small town where dirt was a way of life. Briggs is not one to shy away from being offensive and has a good time making his audience squirm and laugh at some of the most inappropriate jokes. In one instance he royally pisses of an audience member who gazes at him angrily.

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