It ’s a situation mostfilmbuffs have found themselves in at one clip or another : You ’re sitting at home , scrolling through the same cyclosis services you ’ve always used , and the same old pic keep pop up at the top of your carte du jour .
But you want something different — something weirder and more provocative than the most recenttrue - criminal offense documentaryorMarvel Cinematic Universerelease . Even though you ’re not quite trusted what it is you ’re looking for , you ’re tired of watching pic according to what the algorithm need to show you . You want the sort of films that are so one - of - a - kind , they could only await good under the cover of darkness .
If it were up toJoe Bob Briggs , legendary film critic and host ofThe Last Drive - In with Joe Bob Briggs , you ’d be tuning into his alive special this Friday , October 21 , at 9 p.m. EST onShudder . “ It ’s calledJoe - Bob ’s Haunted Halloween Hangout , ” Briggs tells Mental Floss . “ It ’s our festivity of the biggest holiday of the year on Shudder . ”
While the moving picture he plans to show during the approaching double - feature article are still being keep under wrap ( as is tradition ) , the one-year event is a luck for cultus movie seekers to strike a picky kind of itch : During last year ’s show , Briggs hosted special client movie maker David Gordon Green and screened one of theHalloween Endsdirector ’s favorite flicks , the 1984 exploitation - thriller , Angel . “ Normally , you would n’t think of that as a Halloween movie , ” Briggs enunciate with a laugh . “ But we did do that . ”
This clock time around , he ’ll be joined by special client Cassandra Peterson , better known to horror buff asElvira , Mistress of the Dark . “ We do this [ show ] every yr , and we attempt to top ourselves every class , ” Briggs says .
But what do you do post - Halloween when you ’re in the mood for a recent - dark flick that ’s off the beat algorithm ( besides charm up on old episodes ofThe Last Drive - In ) ? To help , we chew the fat with Briggs about everything from the phylogeny of midnight film over time to his pick for the most essential to catch , plus what to do if you require to keep pick up more .
Celluloid Madness: From Drive-Ins to Midnight Movies
Whilemidnight moviescreenings are fundamentally a rite of passage now for forward-looking - day film lovers , that was n’t always the case . Prior to the late ‘ 60s , if you wanted to see a flick that had all the housing of a futurecult classic , your best stakes was to guide to the localdrive - in .
“ ram - in picture show started as mom - and - tonic operations , ” Briggs explains . “ They did n’t have the clout nail of the major studios , so they could n’t get those big - budget movies in the ‘ L . ”
Instead , consort to Briggs , drive - in operators relied on “ naughty movies ” like those made by Roger Corman and American International Pictures to fill their lots . focus on controversial radical like jejune willful neglect , sexual urge , and rock n ’ gyre , these “ wild early days - type ” driveway - in moving-picture show were culturally taboo and neglect by mainstream critics , but they replete a certain void , too .
“ They were the movies that your female parent did n’t want you to see , ” Briggs says . “ It ’s movies for people who hate high - supercilium movies and detest critic . ” And because the major studio apartment would n’t make films like this in the first place , it help the drive - in pull in a repute among workings - class audiences as the lieu to go for crowd - pleasing cinema across all the genre — with , Briggs note , one very important caveat : “ [ It was ] the juicy side of the genre . ”
Midnight motion-picture show were middling different , both in terms of how they developed and who they often appealed to . harmonize to Briggs , the midnight movie experience only really amaze pop in the late ‘ sixty as an emergence of the hippie rotation . “ In the early days of the midnight movie , it was kind of part of the drug culture , or at least , part of the counterculture , ” he explicate , citing underground flicks likeReefer Madness(1936)—which was rediscovered in the ‘ 70s , and which Briggs credit as the “ first really successful midnight movie”—andEl Topo(1970 ) as early examples . “ [ Reefer Madness ] was hysterical , and it was still hysterical if you look on it when you were gamy , ” he says .
But as the popularity of midnight movies grew throughout the seventies thanks to film likeThe Rocky Horror Picture Show(1975 ) andEraserhead(1977 ) , hearing predilection grew and changed as well . “ In general , the midnight movie had to be extremely far-out . It had to be so weird that it was almost one - of - a - kind . And it had to be a film that was better when watched with a crowd — the crowd involution was a big part of that experience , ” Briggs state .
Drive - in picture up until then had been all about appealing to the masses , but with many early midnight movies , mass prayer was never on purpose part of the plan . “ I ’m gon na use the big Holy Scripture that everyone uses now , ” Briggs says with a laugh . “ [ A midnight movie ] has to be slightly , or it has to be more than slightly , transgressive , [ in that ] it has to go against the culture in one style or another . ”
And as different as they all are , almost every midnight picture does subvert mainstream cultivation in some way or another . They were n’t really intend to be populist in the way that the furore films of the ‘ fifty - era drive - Immigration and Naturalization Service were , even though some — like the horror - comedyBasket Case(1982)—could technically count as both .
“ Basket Caseis a repugnance pic that you could show at a drive - in . It ’s more of a midnight movie , even though I hosted the cosmos premiere of it at a driving force - in , ” Briggs says . “ It ’s believably because there ’s no other horror movie like it . If it had a bigger budget , it would n’t have trifle as a midnight moving picture . It had to be that rough - hewn for succeed , and that ’s the essential difference . ”
Another thing that sets midnight moving-picture show apart and speak to their soda water - culture longevity is watchability . “ [ Midnight movies are ] movies that can be watch over and over again , ” Briggs explain . “ It has to have all of [ the matter I ’ve mentioned ] , but it has to have its own unequaled account . Your midnight movie might not be my midnight moving picture , but it ’s unique for its craze . ” And within the follow itself , Briggs enjoin there ’s a kind ofwe’re cooler than youfactor for “ getting ” the photographic film in the first place that can play into its overall ingathering .
A High Bar For Poor Taste: The Most Essential Midnight Movies
Whether they were first shown at a drive - in or as part of a midnight screening , cult films , by their very nature , do n’t always appeal to everyone , and that ’s the point . Yet in some pillowcase — like with Paul Verhoeven’sShowgirls(1995 ) , a “ box - federal agency [ failure ] that [ was ] pay off ” as a midnight movie , according to Briggs — a picture show ’s following might come to treasure it for reasons that go beyond what the film maker primitively mean .
“ If a bad movie becomes a cult movie , it has to be because it was done with the utmost serious intentions . Otherwise , it wo n’t be entertaining , ” he aver .
Over clip , some cinema can riff the other mode , too . “ You know , for a while , Evil Dead IIwas a cult picture show , ” Briggs points out . “ Partly because it ’s better than [ The Evil Dead ] . ” But these days , he considers Don Coscarelli’sBubba Ho - Tep(2002 ) the dear excursion for Bruce Campbell fans in the mood for something to take in at midnight , because “ it ’s indie , it ’s eldritch , ” and it never get the all-encompassing distribution that it probably should have , which means there ’s a good opportunity you still have n’t seen it .
When it comes to other cult photographic film that have successfully made it on the late - night circuit , Briggs considersRocky Horror“probably the power of all midnight motion-picture show , because it ’s been run for so many age in so many places . ” Aside from classic likeEl Topo , Eraserhead , andBasket Case , he also considers Ken Russell’sAltered States(1980 ) andJohn Waters’sPink Flamingos(1972 ) among the most indispensable midnight flick ever free .
Another mainstay isThe Warriors(1979 ): “ I plausibly would not have said that 10 years ago , but there ’s just been a huge interest in [ it ] , ” Briggs say . Back when he originally showed it onMonsterVision — the assortment series that he host from 1996 to 2000 on TNT — it was “ kind of a offbeat , grow - in - popularity motion picture . ” But in late year , it ’s inspired everything fromcast reunionsto cosplay andboard games , “ so I would call that a good midnight picture . ”
Although Briggs take that he did n’t quite “ buy into the religious cult ” surround Tommy Wiseau ’s 2003 dramaThe Room , he considers it another midnight movie deserving hold out . “ The ineptness of it , and yet the total commitment to it , make it to become a cult film , ” he says . “ So I understand how it materialise . ”
Then , there are the midnight jewel that even some of the most veteran cognoscente might have missed , like Damien Leone’sTerrifier(2016 ) or the 2005 slasher - comedySanta ’s Slay , star grappler Bill Goldberg as a deranged Santa Claus out to spread a little blood and guts to whoever ’s next on the naughty list . “ It should really be one of the standard Christmas horror films , ” Briggs says , “ decently up there withChristmas EvilandSilent Night , Deadly Night . ”
Under Cover of Darkness: Where to Find More Midnight Movies
So much of the midnight movie experience involves being part of a crowd . you may spread out on the couch to look out a flick likeDonnie Darko(2001 ) for the first sentence , but chances are , you ’ll have more fun if you do it in a dramaturgy , where audience reactions are a giving part of the legerdemain .
“ We live in this world of menus , where all the streaming service just have menus . But you ca n’t believe the menus , because they ’re either in alphabetical order , or they ’re design to dupe you into watch whatever movie that streaming service has seat the most money in . So you got ta go to conservator . You have to find curators that you commit , ” Briggs says . find “ good , good film critic ” that can take you to other work by the same artist is part of the package , too .
Most significantly , you have to be willing to seek these types of motion picture out for yourself , because in many cases , they ’re not so gentle to find . OnThe Last crusade - In , Briggs regularly show both older and new cult films , like the 2017 horror - comedyMayhemand the 2021 occult - revulsion movieHellbender .
But another means that fans can discover more on their own is by heading to established repertory theater like theMusic Box Theatrein Chicago ; theHollywood Theatrein Portland , Oregon ; theCoolidge Corner Theatrein Brookline , Massachusetts ; theSun - Ray Cinemain Jacksonville , Florida ; or theTexas Theatrein Dallas . Briggs also recommends theAmerican Genre Film Archive(AGFA ) , a non - net income base in Austin , Texas . “ They restitute and re - release a lot of old exploitation picture show , and they ’re proficient . They ’re also in effect curators . you may hope them , ” he says .
When the COVID-19 pandemic first started , Briggs include he worry it might “ down a lot of that , ” but he ’s in reality found that the opposite is rightful . “ The show I have done this year have all been sold out , ” he says , including his roaming roadshowJoe Bob ’s Indoor Drive - In Geek - Out , a quislingism with the AGFA . ForCerebellum Night , the first computer program for theIndoor Drive - In Geek Out , he testify a duple feature ofThe Brain(1988 ) and Frank Henenlotter’sBrain Damage(1988 ) . “ We sold outThe Brain , you recognise . I ’m not sure we would ’ve sell outThe Brainin 2019 . ”
But in his view , what COVID-19 did was build up a hunger in people to return to see films in a more communal means . For that reason , Briggs believes that the midnight movie experience will delay with us for a long clip . “ There is something about watching a movie in close propinquity to other hoi polloi that is especial and elevates the whole experience , ” he says . “ And I desire we keep doing that — whether you ’re mellow or not , it still works . ”
Be sure to catchJoe - Bob ’s preoccupied Halloween Hangoutwhen it premieres live on Shudder tv set at 9 p.m. EST this Friday , October 21 . And if you miss the alive provender , you could contain it out on need onShudder(or through theAMC+ bundledeal ) starting Sunday , October 23 .
Looking for a new movie to see , or at least a pic that ’s new to you ? Mental Floss ’s newfangled book , The Curious Movie Buff : A Miscellany of Fantastic Films from the Past 50 Years , offers behind - the - scenes particular and awing facts about some of the greatest movies of the past half - C . And it ’s usable now at your favorite station to corrupt Good Book , or onlineright here .
