Shudder is gearing up for a very eventful "Season of Screams" as the streaming platform is set to release a new installment of their V/H/S found footage franchise, along with a combination of new content and classic creepers coming to their ever-growing library.
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However, it's safe to assume that most horror hounds are howling with anticipation for the 200th episode of the hit series The Last Drive-In that stars beloved horror movie host Joe Bob Briggs.
First announced in an exclusive by Variety, this landmark event (titled 'Joe Bob's Splatterween') will air on October 24, and making a special appearance will be none other than the legendary flesh-eating, blood-gushing, extra-terrestrial scumdogs of the universe, GWAR!!!
"Halloween is gonna be messy this year!" the official logline reads. "Joe Bob and Darcy are joined by the interdimensional rock legends of GWAR for SPLATTERWEEN -- a night filled with spew, goo, live music, and of course: two nasty flicks busting at the seams with Splatter Fu!"
As most elders within the Mutant Fam community already know, Joe Bob Briggs started off writing reviews for horror and exploitation movies for local newspapers in his native Texas. His sharp wit, vast knowledge of the genre, and trademark "Drunken Trailer Park Cowboy" persona charmed the chaps right off of readers.
He was hired to host Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater (1986-1996) on the long-forgotten network The Movie Channel, which included a horror double feature with segments in between where Joe Bob gave interesting facts about the films, along with his own humorous brand of commentary.
After a decade of entertaining horror fans who could afford premium cable (or who didn't have a descrambler box), Joe Bob moved his trailer to the TNT network for MonsterVision in 1996, and ran for four seasons before coming to an end in 2000, but this wouldn't be the death of the drive-in.
Shudder resurrected the show in July 2018 for a special 13-movie marathon. However, they underestimated the number of new subscribers who would tune in for it, and their servers crashed during the premiere. This led to two more mini-marathons and then an actual season in 2020. It's the same premise as the previous shows, but with more guests, fewer airtime constraints, and loads of vulgarity from the host compared to the heavily edited version on Turner News Television.
"I obviously had no idea that we would build up a community like this, that has supported this show and our goofy way of doing film criticism and presenting movies." Joe Bob told Variety.
Joining him in this new incarnation is actress, online personality, cosplayer, and former skin flick superstar, Diana Prince (aka Darcy the Mail Girl). She serves as the liaison between Joe Bob and his legion of devoted online fans (aka The Mutant Fam) while the episode is airing. Darcy also tries her best to reel him in when he starts going on a long tangent during breaks in the movie (even if nobody asked her to), and she rocks a new costume for every episode.
"I knew at the beginning Darcy was knowledgeable about horror, because she had a couple of horror websites. She had gone to conventions for years since she was this cosplay person in the horror world, but I didn't realize just how much into horror she was," Briggs said.
"She probably has watched 10 times as much horror as I have, because she led me in a lot of directions that I wouldn't have otherwise gone. Also, she's from a different generation, and when I first started doing horror, there were hardly any women involved in it. It was definitely a male fanbase. The most amazing thing over the last 20 years is the number of women who have embraced horror, and Darcy is one of them. The fanbase is very social media-oriented and very vocal, so I'm happy to have Darcy dealing with them," he continued.
"Joe Bob's Splatterween" will be airing October 24, and The Last Drive-In is currently in its 7 season with a new episode on the first Friday of every month on Shudder, where the drive-in will never die...