Horror RECOMMENDATION or WARNING Thread: It's Alive!

"Clues for this week's edition of #TheLastDriveIn: There's a whole lot of slashing going on and in the first movie you always know who the maniac is and in the second movie you never do."

I'm gonna guess Popcorn for one of them, since I just watched it on Shudder last week. 

I like slashers just fine, but honestly I hope we get more classics this season. Herzog's Nosferatu is one of the most haunting films I've ever seen.

I figured we were due for another "normal" week, so a slasher double-bill isn't surprising. I do hope the rest of the season continues to branch out frequently like these first few weeks have.

I ended up guessing Just Before Dawn and Stage Fright, but who knows what it'll actually be. Joe Bob is a scamp, plus I never get these right anyway.

BOG (1979)

Though it has some charms of the “low budget regional horror” variety, it is too often unforgivably dull, and it never rises to the level of properly entertaining schlock. And at a full 85 minutes, it’s way too sluggish (and probably would have still felt that way at 75 minutes). The backwoods/waters of Wisconsin do provide some decent local color at times, but even then, it’s no BLOOD HOOK or GIANT SPIDER INVASION.

Slaughterhouse (1987) is the first movie Joe Bob's showing tonight. A decent slasher, although with the pig hint Darcy gave on Twitter, I was hoping for Motel Hell.

Argento's Tenebrae for movie # 2. Great movie, shit Joe Bob clue.

I initially thought about Motel Hell when she first posted that, but then I remembered that MGM owns it and they almost always say "No" whenever Joe Bob & Darcy request one of their films. It's why I suspect we'll never get to see him host Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Burning, Motel Hell, or any other number of MGM-owned titles.

Unless things change under Amazon ownership, of course.

"Clues for this week's #TheLastDriveIn double feature: We have monsters. First gathering underground in a major international city, later feeding in the emptiness of a beautiful wilderness forest. As usual,
@kinky_horror will break ties and award prizes."

He dropped clues a couple days early this week!

A lot of people are guessing films like Nightbreed and Neon Maniacs for the first one, but neither of those really fit the "major international city" requirement. Particularly Nightbreed, which occurs in the middle of nowhere, as far as the monsters are concerned. Others are guessing Alligator, but that one doesn't fit the "gathering" requirement. I'm inclined to interpret "major international city" simply as "a big non-US city", but I'm not entirely sure what the film might be. Maybe Deadly Eyes?

As for #2, that one could be Dog Soldiers, The Pit, or any number of other choices.

I'm sorta stumped once more, but I guess that's kinda the point.

The Pit would be a good choice for TLDI.

I would love to see The Descent on the show. It's easily the most disturbing movie I've ever seen in a theater and it sort of fits the second clue.

The Descent is certainly a possibility for film #2 as well.

Regardless of what it is, I'm excited for a monster-fueled double-feature this Friday.

Recently I watched Daughters of Darkness (1971) from Joe Bob's 2018 marathon. A newlywed couple stays at a Belgian hotel and are soon preyed upon by a vampiric countess who may or may not be Elizabeth Bathory. Very atmospheric and creepy with one of the most disturbing deaths I've seen on The Last Drive-In. I have a feeling the film influenced American Horror Story: Hotel (The one with Lady Gaga).

More classics like this one, Joe Bob.

I'm thinking movie #1 tonight on The Last Drive-in is The Monster Club (1981). Darcy has been asking people on Twitter to send her videos of them dancing in monster masks and thanked one sender for being part of "our Mutant monster club."

The Monster Club has monsters gathering in an international city (London) and dancing around in goofy masks. It's also not available in Canada, so it seems to check off all of this week's clues.

DASHCAM (2022)

Quite a disappointing follow-up to 2020’s very fun HOST (which was one of that year’s most pleasant surprises). This fails to recapture the unique flavor of that film, nor does it establish its own vibe in an effective or satisfying way. You can feel the movie trying to bring some new tricks from up its sleeve, and there are a couple moments that do land, but they’re few and far between, and even at sub-80 minutes, it feels padded and overlong. Toss in some bizarrely unnecessary, overt, and indecipherable political commentary (whatever its point is, it doesn’t work and adds nothing), and you’ve got a significant letdown.

Good call on The Monster Club!

Joe Bob's clue for this week...

"This week's clues for #TheLastDriveIn: It's Dysfunctional Family Night. We have two movies about families so perverted we're not sure they fit into any Pornhub category."

My money's on Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker for one of them. It's on Shudder and the whole family dynamic in the movie is incredibly fucked up.

I'd love to see TCM2 be one of them, but I'm not expecting it.

So that aside, if I had my druthers, the lineup for this Friday would be SPIDER BABY and BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER. I think they'd be a fun pairing and it'd also keep to JB's penchant for having one older film in the lineup this season on most weeks.

In other news, I finally watched the new Blu release of ALLIGATOR. The film looks beautiful and it is a wonderful as ever. It'd been far too long since I'd seen it and I'd somehow forgotten how many fun character moments there are in it, both for Forster & Riker and also the various supporting players. Just a masterful Jaws riff from start to finish.

I'll probably give ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION a go later in the week. I have very little memory of it, as I only saw it once on VHS as a kid. It has a decidedly less-than-stellar reputation, so my expectations are firmly in check.

You nailed one yet again! Good call on BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER!

This Friday on The Last Drive-In:



From Darcy:

"Bonus clue for the Charles Band
movie we are showing this week: It has my very favorite Jacqueline Lovell nude scene."

It'll either be Hideous! or Head of the Family. I'm hoping for Head, as it's sleazy fun and I had a serious crush on Alexandria Quinn (who plays stacked mutant Ernestina) when I first saw it at the tender age of 13.

Traveling cost me to miss the back half of the Father's Day weekend double and all of last weeks. I am going to have to play catch-up soon.

On the bright side, the show was renewed for another year today, plus the clues for the current season finale arrived...



As vague as ever!

Given that Joe Bob namedropped Bill Lustig last week and Monday is the 4th, I think the iconic hero who becomes a monster is Uncle Sam (1996).

As for clue #2, Puppet Master III, maybe? I think the tagline of that one was "When bad puppets turn good" and seeing an American cowboy (puppet) gunning down Nazis would be pretty patriotic. 

As a bonus, it's got scream queen Michelle Bauer as a Nazi Hooker.

Good call on UNCLE SAM.

NIGHTBREED was a nice to see finally happen for the second film.

I'm bummed the season is over, but I technically still have one and a half episodes to watch that I missed (THE FREAKMAKER, HEAD OF THE FAMILY, and HABIT), so that will tide me over for a bit. Gonna be a long wait until October after that.