King of the Drive-in

I don't remember how I ever came across MonsterVision, but I'm glad I did. While I usually don't like watching movies that have been edited on network television, one thing made MonsterVision worthwhile: host Joe Bob Briggs. You always read of horror fans who talk about growing up watching monster movies on television, usually on a weekend block hosted by a character -- an idea put to use in the 1985 movie Fright Night, where a teen horror fan enlists his favorite horror host to help him kill a vampire. Joe Bob Briggs is the Peter Vincent for horror fans in my age range.

On the surface, Joe Bob's humor might seem simple or absurdist, but he has a bullseye delivery, a sharpness and wit. He can provide spot-on critiques of movies or defend its flaws and make you appreciate or enjoy the movie anyway. He has such a giddiness about horror and genre movies that doesn't seem artificial or doesn't seem to condescend to the material or its fans. You never get the sense from Joe Bob that he thinks he's above everything, looking down on these movies from a distance of snobby irony; the persona is used to point out the hypocrisy of film critics who dismiss movies like these or movies that are made to entertain the moviegoing public. His enthusiasm is genuine and he made MonsterVision a blast to watch, even if the horror movies were butchered for TV or something sucky like Wishmaster 15. (I'm still bummed out about not winning a MonsterVision shirt.)

While TNT did everything it could to chip away MonsterVision's identity, forcing on barely-qualifying movies like Malice (even if it produced the memorable Drive-In Total "fire-extinguisher fu"), Joe Bob still delivered. He still delivered even when TNT, after a shopping spree at the DVD bargain bin at Wal-Mart, turned MonsterVision into "Joe Bob's Saturday Night," where he was stuck hosting a night of movies from every genre BUT horror. (Movies like Adventures in Babysitting.) But it didn't matter -- Joe Bob was still hilarious and still provided fun facts about the movies. And that's something that should be appreciated -- Joe Bob's massive knowledge about these movies. Before DVD featurettes, before Google, before Wikipedia, horror fans had Joe Bob Briggs. (Joe Bob's a trouper when it comes to the fans, because God knows I've pestered him with a bunch of emails.)

One of Joe Bob's greatest recurring bits is the Drive-In Totals, the tallying of all of the various outrageousness found in a movie. I still try to come up with Drive-In Totals for ANY movie I watch, and I still often think of a lot of Joe Bob's bits when watching horror movies. (Check out the special features of Jason X for some great Friday the 13th stuff by Joe Bob. I think Joe Bob should be an interviewee for every DVD release.) Joe Bob's a superstar of horror, and the name of this blog is in honor of him and his always great Drive-in Totals.

Now, why can't AMC get him to host their Halloween horror marathons -- or even a new variation of MonsterVision?