Original subtitles

-You know, there's a lot of people in America

right now telling other people what they can do,

what they can say,

what they can't do, what they can't say,

more than I've ever seen it in my lifetime.

And that has been a long lifetime.

People telling us, "You're not allowed to be yourself,

or else we'll mess you up."

So, fortunately, we're movie nerds,

so we've seen too many movies.

We've heard Mel Gibson give the "Braveheart" speech.

We remember when Harry Dean Stanton said,

"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees" in "Repo Man."

Remember when Jack Nicholson said, "They'll talk to you

about individual freedom,

but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em"

in "Easy Rider."

Remember Marlon Brando in "Guys and Dolls" saying,

"It is my understanding that the Constitution

of the United States allows everybody the free choice

between cheesecake and strudel."

And of course, we remember the words

of Halle Berry as Catwoman -- "Freedom is power.

To live a life untamed and unafraid is the gift

that I've been given."

And so we've been given a gift, as well.

It's called the drive-in.

It's the place where all of us go

to celebrate the philosophy of "Malcolm in the Middle" --

You're not the boss of me now.

And sometimes we alter that slightly --

"You're not the boss of us, so shut the fuck up."

Hit it, John!

♪ Hey, everybody, have you heard the news? ♪

♪ Joe Bob is back in town ♪

♪ He's over at the Drive-In, hanging around ♪

♪ Watching crazy movies, so come on down to ♪

♪ Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show ♪

♪ Blood, beasties, boobies, and mo' ♪

♪ Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show

♪ It's a spooky good time with monsters and ghosts ♪

♪ Crazy, kooky fun with the world's greatest host ♪

♪ Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show ♪

♪ It's gonna be legendary! ♪

♪ Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show ♪

♪ It's gonna be very scary ♪

♪ Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show, yeah ♪

Let's go!

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Joe Bob Briggs!

Hey!

Oh!

Thank you, guys.

I want you to raise your right hand...

-Yeah!

-...and repeat after me.

-We are Drive-In Mutants. -We are Drive-In Mutants.

-We are not like other people. -We are not like other people.

-We are sick. -We are sick.

-We are disgusting. -We are disgusting.

-We believe in blood... -We believe in blood...

-...in breasts... -...in breasts...

-...and in beasts. -...and in beasts.

-If life had a vomit meter... -If life had a vomit meter...

-...we'd be off the scale. -...we'd be off the scale.

-We believe in kung fu city. -We believe in kung fu city.

-As long as one drive-in remains...

-As long as one drive-in remains...

-...on the planet Earth... -...on the planet Earth...

-...we will party like jungle animals.

-...we will party like jungle animals.

-We will boogie till we puke. -We will boogie till we puke.

-The drive-in will never die. -The drive-in will never die!

-Amen. -Amen!

Alright.

Wow.

Remember that night? -Of course.

-I think that was the night it first hit me of what we had created here.

-It was well advanced by then, I'd say.

-That was the first World Drive-In Jamboree

at the Mahoning Drive-In in Pennsylvania.

The Drive-In Woodstock.

And it was muddy and wet and crowded,

just like the real Woodstock.

And I have never felt anything like what I felt when,

Austin, you went and ripped the sides off the tent

that was covering the stage.

So a couple hundred people could rush up onto the soggy grass

and take the Drive-In oath and get that thing started.

And the mutants had come out during the COVID year

to celebrate with us, and

you forgot to give me any kind of signal

to start the show, though.

I think you were transfixed by the spectacle.

And so I just sat there like an idiot,

wondering what was going on,

and this wave of people were yelling encouragement.

Just kind of washed over the whole valley there

in the Appalachian foothills.

So I wanted to show that clip again,

as we all gather virtually tonight

for another chapter of Mutant History.

The last regularly scheduled episode of "The Last Drive In,"

and we are gonna party like jungle animals, Darcy.

-Hell yeah we are.

-Because the joy we have had in creating this show,

I think it's fair to say it's a one-of-a-kind show.

-I think that's fair. -The format of it,

the way we put it together,

the way we directly relate to the fans of it,

so that just about every fan

who has ever gotten in touch with us

has become a production assistant,

or in some cases, an associate producer.

You guys have no idea how much energy and material

we get from your closeness to the show.

But the joy that we've had in creating this show

makes it feel like a special privilege.

It has truly been a life-changing experience.

Um, now, for those who haven't gotten the memo yet,

the end of "The Last Drive-In"

does not mean the end of what we do.

We'll be back later this year

for four double-feature specials on Shudder,

and the live shows we have scheduled are bigger than ever

as we hit the road to revisit all the theaters

that have hosted us before, and we've added a few new ones.

And if you haven't partied with us in person,

you're gonna want to show up at some of those events.

But for our final regular show here at Shudder,

I wanted to go out doing what we do best,

and that is diving deep into the movies we love.

And the two we're showing tonight

are kind of symbolic of the sweet spot

we've been inhabiting for seven seasons.

The first one is from the '70s.

The second one is from the '80s.

And I'm gonna pontificate a little bit.

-Please do, sir.

-Pontificate is normally a bad word for the intro,

but I'm gonna explain why we've chosen to dig

around so much in the history of the '70s and the '80s, Darcy.

Because it's fun, first of all.

Yes, both movies are fun, in my opinion -- -If you say so.

-But both movies are also textbook examples

of forgotten gems.

Movies that don't get talked about enough...

-Are they? -...don't get enough respect.

And so that's why we show 'em,

and we try to insert them back into the culture.

-Let's go for it, man. -Okay.

-All right. -Part one -- the '70s.

You know how we talk about how the reason

we watch horror is that it's an exorcism.

Everything we're dreading or fearing in the world

gets worked out in movies.

We get released from the real world

by watching the horror of a fictional world.

So that's why so many great horror movies

were made in the early '70s.

It was a time of maximum nervousness.

'Cause first of all, you got Vietnam

and nobody had ever seen a war like that.

It was the first fully televised war

with body bags in close-up every day.

So you get "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 1974.

Mutilation and chaos.

You get "Last House on the Left" in 1972.

Atrocities like the My Lai massacre.

You get Bob Clark's "Deathdream" in 1974.

Soldiers returned from Vietnam as literal zombies.

So there are very few horror movies in the 1970s

that don't owe some debt to the Vietnam War.

Then you got the total breakdown of institutions

because of all the political assassinations from the '60s.

So, JFK gets killed, Robert Kennedy gets killed,

Martin Luther King gets killed.

Make people start feeling like nothing is permanent.

So you get "The Parallax View," 1974. Total paranoia.

"The Omen," 1976. Corruption at the highest levels

of government and the church.

Then you get the birth of the slasher.

Well, that didn't come out of nowhere.

You had serial killers all over the lot --

the Zodiac, Son of Sam,

Ted Bundy, the Manson Family murders,

creating a kind of terror

that was exploited in "Halloween," 1978.

"Black Christmas," 1974.

I could go into other stuff that was happening in the late '60s

and early '70s. But it was no accident

that horror started flourishing during this period.

People were scared.

And I'm gonna do one more, though.

Fear of feminism. "Carrie," 1976.

"The Stepford Wives," 1975.

"I Spit on Your Grave," 1978.

Suddenly, we have the country split

yet another way, into genders.

Okay, so all of these things are in the movie

that we're starting with tonight --

"Messiah of Evil."

And, oh, I should add one more that affected it --

the rise of weird religious movements,

culminating in 1979 with Jim Jones and the 900 people

who drank that Kool-Aid in Jonestown.

So you had "Race with the Devil" in 1975 all about cult paranoia,

"The Wicker Man" in 1973 about a pagan cult.

And even though it's not clear just who the Messiah is

in "Messiah of Evil" and what he stands for,

this is probably the best of the '70s films

about the fear of what religion has become.

Plus, Darcy, this movie is fun.

-Is it? Is it really?

-I know -- I know what you're gonna say about it,

that's why I'm giving you a hard time. -I'm glad you like it.

-I'm just trying to explain what's going on

when we show movies like "The Baby."

-Well, that's fun.

-And "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker."

Society was messed up, with no idea where things were going.

And Hollywood was messed up

'cause the studio system had died,

and they had no idea what kind of movies to make.

And maybe why --

Maybe, that's probably why this movie failed.

Somebody put up the money to make it,

but then nobody knew what to do with it after it was made.

So 10 years later,

they're still trying to re-title it and get it seen.

So, let's go.

You don't know your '70s horror

unless you have seen "Messiah of Evil" --

the sensitive story of a young woman

in an insane asylum telling the story of her search

for her father, an artist who has disappeared

from a small town on the California coast

that has been taken over by ghoulish, emotionless,

meat-eating senior citizens who don't understand

the younger generation of free love wanderers

searching for meaning.

Actually, both generations are searching for meaning

in the sea, the sky, the bodies of one another.

And if you're open to the images in this movie,

your skin is gonna crawl all the way

from here to Pittsburgh and back,

as you wonder what might be lurking

around the quiet corners of this strange little village.

Sure, we've seen it before,

but have we seen it with a cannibalistic feast

in a Ralphs supermarket?

I think not.

So let's look at those Drive-In totals and get started.

We have 11 dead bodies, 0 breasts --

Half point deduction for that

'cause there were plenty of opportunities.

Butcher knife to the arm,

scissors to the chest,

Blue Man Group face-splashing,

1 tongue spider, with cockroach puking,

maggot puking, and lizard puking,

bleeding tear ducts,

grocery store cat-and-mouse with flesh eating,

movie theater cat-and-mouse with flesh devouring,

raw-meat gobbling,

beach rat consumption,

car-lift body dangling,

throat slashing,

1 blood-red moon,

gratuitous Sammy Davis Jr. cameo,

flaming log fu,

dark stranger fu,

Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Elisha Cook Jr.

as the town drunk for saying, "You got to burn him,

you gotta put fire to his body."

Bennie Robinson as the albino trucker for saying,

"I eat 'em. That's what I do with 'em."

Joy Bang as the second teen girlfriend for saying,

"What are we doing in this shitty place?"

Anitra Ford as the alpha girlfriend for saying,

"Thom gets so clever when he's trying

to get into somebody's pants."

Michael Greer as the too cool for school sex tourist

for saying, "You don't just unzip a man and say good night."

Royal Dano as the tortured artist for saying,

"I think of death, always of death."

And Marianna Hill as the girl in search of a movie for shrieking,

"They'll take you one by one and no one will hear you scream!"

Three and a half stars. Joe Bob says check it out.

This is one of those movies where a guy travels

with two girlfriends, which was a French thing.

You had that a lot in French movies,

but not so much in American movies.

But the filmmakers, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz,

they were a married couple.

They were big admirers of French filmmakers.

But that was rare, even in French films.

What was not rare is where you had a woman

with two boyfriends in France, like "Jules and Jim."

Um, which would you say is more common, Darcy?

Guy with two girls or girl with two guys?

-In real life? -Yeah.

-Oh, um, a guy with two girls, probably.

-Really? -Yeah.

-There was that Stanley Kramer movie,

"Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice"

where they would have sex in all different combinations.

Tell you the truth, I don't even remember the movie.

It was a musical chairs thing.

You know, the main thing I remember about the movie

is Jack Nicholson's slideshow, "Ball Busters on Parade."

But apparently, we were in a period

where people were experimenting with sexual multitasking.

-Like polyamory. Right?

-Polyamory -- I think that's when you

sleep with anything that moves.

-I don't -- I don't think that's what that means, actually.

-No? I guess that never goes away.

I practice golly-amory.

-What's golly-amory?

-That's where I say, "Golly!

Somebody would have sex with me?"

-Oh.

-They say that nightmares are dreams perverted.

I've told them here, it wasn't a nightmare.

But they don't believe me.

They nod and make little notes in my file.

And they watch me now,

waiting for me to scar my breasts.

To eat insects, maybe.

Or to lift my dress like some crazy old woman

and urinate on the floor.

But there's so little time left.

You've got to listen.

Not far from here, there's a small town on the coast.

They used to call it New Bethlehem,

but they changed the name to Point Dune

after the moon turned blood red.

Point Dune doesn't look any different

than a thousand other neon stucco towns.

But what happened there -- what they did to me --

what they're doing now --

they're coming here.

They're waiting at the edge of the city.

They're peering around buildings at night,

and they're waiting.

They're waiting for you.

And they'll take you one by one, and no one will hear you scream.

No one will hear you scream!

I went there looking for my father.

He used to spend winters in Point Dune, painting.

Then, after my mother died, he stayed,

and his letters became our only contact.

Until recently,

when his letters became more and more bizarre

and finally stopped.

-Father: "I have little time now.

I can't write again.

But you mustn't worry.

And please, you must promise not to follow me.

I'm afraid to see people anymore.

It's better that I wait alone for it to come."

-Fill 'er up? -Yes, please.

-Dogs. Stray dogs.

-Doesn't sound like dogs.

-Has to be. Has to be dogs.

I've hunted in them woods out there.

Nothing but quail and rabbits.

Rabbits don't make that sound.

-That's Point Dune ahead, isn't it?

-Why do you want to go to Point Dune?

-I'm visiting somebody there.

-I can't understand why anybody would want to go to Point Dune, visiting.

I mean, it's just a piss poor little town.

It's deader than hell.

-You forgot...

-Hello, there.

Fill 'er up?

-$2. No knock.

-Yes, sir.

-You forgot.

-The machine's broke, lady. Don't you have any cash?

-Well, no, but this is -- -That's all right, forget it.

-Oh -- -Get out!

Get your, uh, your stamps?

Aah!

-Father?

Father?

Father?

Father: "June 30th.

For three nights now I haven't slept.

I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.

The visions are coming from areas of my mind that

I don't understand.

July 2nd.

These grotesque images keep crowding in on me.

At night I find myself wandering alone in town,

catching glimpses of horrid animals I --

I know can't be there.

And along the dark beach, faces haunt me.

Pale women with sleepless eyes

and shadowy figures staring toward the black water.

-Woman: He didn't return that night.

I walked along the beach in the morning,

as I'm sure he must have,

coming out of the nightmares he spoke of...

...back into the daylight.

I drove into town later.

It was hot already.

I saw an art gallery and I thought they might know my father.

The art dealer was blind.

Her fingers moved like a pale spider over my face.

-Joseph Lang? Do I know who he is?

We do get magazines in Point Dune,

which some of us can even read.

-Well, I meant -- I'm looking for him,

and I thought maybe you knew him personally.

-Point Dune isn't an artist colony.

I heard he did take people out there.

Mostly women , but they weren't from Point Dune.

Uh, there were some people in this morning

looking for your father.

Which means some people do like his brand of art.

-Who were they?

-I don't know. Strangers.

I think they're staying at the Seven Seas.

-I'm as old as the hills.

Mama delivered me herself.

She took me from between her legs.

Bloody little mess.

She was about to feed me to the chickens.

And Daddy said, "Maybe we could use a boy, Lottie."

That's how I came into the world.

-Excuse me.

They said at the gallery that you were looking for Joseph Lang.

He's my father, and I just --

-Just come in and close the door.

-All I want to know is if you knew --

-Close the door.

Go ahead, Charlie.

-It's hard to remember back on things, but I...

...I remember the red moon my Daddy told me about only once.

Mama gave him a bad look when he talked about it.

He was only a boy himself then.

He called it the Blood Moon.

He said that was the night that he lost religion.

He learned that man could do --

could do horrible things.

Like animals.

-I'm really hungry.

I've got the munchies.

-Shut up. Go ahead, Charlie.

What about the moon?

-A hundred years ago,

the moon started turning red up in the sky and --

things began to happen.

It was like the red of the moon got up there

because the people were being jerked toward hell.

Why, the people started bleeding out of control.

They found children eating raw meat.

It was like the town was festering with a -- an open sore.

Until the night that they...

...'til the night they came down out of the canyon, and...

-Who came down, Charlie?

-I gotta go.

-Charlie.

Take the wine, Charlie.

-Well, thanks for your kindly hospitality.

-I'm looking for my father.

Do you know him?

-I know of him.

-They told me at the gallery, I --

-We drove by the gallery this morning.

I happened to see one of your father's works in the window.

I didn't know that he lived here.

-They didn't have any of his paintings there.

-Well, that's popularity.

Because they did this morning.

I offered to buy one and the old woman said they weren't for sale.

As a matter of fact, it was a portrait of you.

-Thom likes to collect things.

-Like old drunks?

-Old fashioned retort.

-What's a retort?

-Toni, you're half girl, half child and half wit.

-Sit on it, sister.

-Don't be afraid.

I'm an ugly old man, but I'm harmless.

It's about your daddy.

They mustn't hear me. I got 'em fooled.

I get drunk, sleep on the sidewalk like a dog,

and they let me be.

But I ain't crazy.

Hello, Charlie.

-What about my father?

-You have to kill him.

-You're crazy.

-You can't bury him.

Don't put him in the ground.

You gotta burn him.

You gotta put fire to his body.

-Elisha Cook Jr. as the town drunk voice of doom.

We were just talking about him

when we showed "The House on Haunted Hill."

"You can't bury him. You gotta burn him.

You gotta put fire to his body."

And as I pointed out before, Elisha Cook,

he was the go-to guy for six decades when you needed

an oddball in your movie.

And he certainly delivers here.

This movie is beautiful, beautifully photographed,

beautifully art directed by a very young Jack Fisk.

This was a very low budget movie,

but Jack Fisk would go on to be the favorite production designer

of both David Lynch and Terrence Malick.

And in fact, Jack Fisk met his wife, Sissy Spacek,

on the set of the Terrence Malick movie "Badlands."

Jack Fisk would design the visuals for "Phantom of the Paradise,"

"Eraserhead," "Death Game,"

"Days of Heaven," "Killers of the Flower Moon,"

and dozens more big budget flicks.

But for this, the main thing he did

is he created that house of Arletty's missing father,

a house so full of art you can never figure out its geography.

And sometimes the figures in the paintings

seem to cross over into reality,

and sometimes the actors in the movie

seem to disappear into the paintings.

So the very first thing you see is a sweaty,

terrified man running through the streets

thinking he finds refuge next to a swimming pool

and then having his throat slashed

by that expressionless young woman.

That man is Walter Hill,

who was still two years away from becoming a director,

although he had already written "The Getaway" for Sam Peckinpah.

He was one of many young filmmakers

who worked on this film for free

as favors to the creators Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz.

Another friend of theirs who came by to help was Morgan Fisher,

who plays the art dealer.

Morgan Fisher was a college classmate of Huyck and Katz,

who became one of those filmmakers who's so avant-garde

that they only show his movies in museums.

But Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz had met in film school

at the University of Southern California in 1967.

They actually met at a screening of Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels,"

and then they got married in 1969,

and they always wrote screenplays as a team,

with occasional forays into producing and directing.

This was their first ever project, though,

and they would later disavow it

because they said it was taken away from 'em

and edited without their approval,

even before they had shot all the scenes

that they wanted to shoot.

But their second and third projects

would make 'em famous for the rest of their lives

because they wrote "American Graffiti"

and then they followed that up with

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

But the magic couldn't last for Willard and Gloria,

and I will talk about that later.

Right now, let's follow Arletty as she continues

wandering around the world's creepiest town.

So, roll the movie.

The makers of "Messiah of Evil" admit that they were young

and pretentious when they wrote this movie.

And so the art in Joseph Lang's house

is based on the styles of various famous artists

who exhibited their work at the trendy Ferus Gallery,

which was a gallery in L.A.

that was the first gallery on the West Coast

to endorse Andy Warhol.

And it was the only real modern art pop culture gallery

in Los Angeles,

and was kind of known as the hub of Los Angeles art.

And, um, there was an artist associated with Ferus

named Edward Ruscha.

And he did a book called "26 Gasoline Stations."

And it was just black and white photos of gas stations

on Route 66 between L.A. and his hometown of Oklahoma City.

And everybody knew that book.

And so if you look at the gas stations

that were featured in films around this time,

they all indicate somebody had peeked into Ed Ruscha's book

before they did their production design.

And the gas station was the symbol of what was talked about

at the time as overlooked architecture,

in other words, architecture that you didn't really notice

and so things could be hidden from you there.

And so I don't think it's hard for you to see

how art directors of horror films would love that idea,

but L.A. is the world capital of overlooked architecture.

-Do you think the gas station

in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is one of those?

-It was not, but it would not surprise me

if Tobe Hooper had not looked into

"26 Gasoline Stations," 'cause he created one

of the most sinister gas stations in cinema history.

-I know. And now it's a tourist attraction.

-Now it is a tourist attraction.

And I forgot to mention, but the pickup truck

that drives up to the gas station in this movie,

with the strange dudes and the dead bodies riding in the back --

that truck actually belonged to Jack Fisk.

That was his truck, the production designer.

If you or I pulled into that gas station,

we would know not to go to Point Dune, right?

-Oh, no, we would totally go.

We would. -It's true.

Just for the Instagram photos, right?

-For the Gram! Whoo!

-We're delighted to have you with us.

And we extend a cordial welcome to you.

-Welcome, folks, to "The Last Drive-In."

♪ We are Drive-In Mutants ♪

Raise your right hand and repeat after me.

After all these years,

somebody somewhere is still keeping the punk spirit alive. -Yeah!

-They're always politically incorrect.

The format of choice is VHS tape.

Crocodile!

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

-Darcy, you ruined your own cake!

-I got one.

-Monsters do have their place.

-Clean and jerk this, stud boy.

-The Battle for the Black Glove!

Who was responsible for the giallo craze in Italy?

♪ Breasts and beasts ♪

♪ We believe in ♪

-Oh, my God! Darcy's going full Sybil Danning!

♪ We believe in blood and breasts and beasts ♪

-Stop!

-Your continued patronage

is very, very welcome.

-Arletty: I spent the afternoon in town asking about my father.

The reaction was always the same.

People would only stare...

...or shake their heads and back away.

Joseph: "July 6th.

Arletty called this morning.

I listened to her,

but couldn't let her know I was here.

My voice would have terrified her.

At times, I make noises which don't seem human

and my mind is letting go.

I try to remember the past, my daughter,

but I can't.

Instead I -- I think of death.

Always death.

-What are you doing here?

-You looked so comfortable, I didn't want to wake you.

You're very pretty when you sleep.

-Mmm, I'm gonna take a nap.

Want to come?

-Later.

-But you can't stay here.

-Just for the night. I'm willing to pay.

We had a little trouble at the motel.

You remember the old gentleman who was telling us the story?

-Of course I do.

He was mad. -Perhaps.

But when they found him this afternoon, he was dead.

The police came and questioned us.

Needless to say, they weren't very understanding,

what with me and my two...

traveling companions.

And then, suddenly, every other motel

locked and shuttered its windows.

You're the only other person we know.

-What happened to the old man?

-They found his body in the alley.

He must have passed out or something.

The police theorized that it must have been dogs.

Well, they found his body half eaten.

Arletty: I let them stay.

I never understood why.

It was as if I'd come into a foreign town

where I didn't speak the language,

and was sharing a house with people

I'd have never met in my other life.

-Would you like some more?

-Yes, thank you.

This wind is...strange.

-Mmm. -It's like the Sirocco.

It blows across the Mediterranean from Africa.

I was born in Portugal.

In a castle.

-I thought it was a villa in Spain.

-My mother was a Portuguese -- aristocrat.

My father was rich and American.

I have a castle that stands above the sea.

One of our legends tells us --

-Thom, what are we doing in this shitty place?

-I don't know, really.

As I was saying, every race has their legends.

The Romans, the Greeks,

even the folk here in Point Dune have their stories.

I'm interested in the story about the Blood Moon.

What was your father doing here?

-He didn't know anybody here.

He could paint.

-Has your father been painting long?

-Laura's quite the art critic.

She used to model. Photographers, mostly.

She specialized in exotic poses with snakes.

-Oh, Thom just gets so clever

when he's trying to get into somebody's pants.

Listen, when you go to bed with him tonight,

why don't you let him --

-Laura, I am tired of having to apologize for you.

- Yuck! - This stuff is shitty tasting.

-You're not supposed to eat the fuzz.

-Arletty: He said he was a collector of old legends.

He thought my father knew something

of the legend of Point Dune.

I told him my father wasn't here.

He said they could wait.

-Are you lost?

-No.

I've been walking.

Have you seen the fires on the beach?

-No, I haven't.

Good night.

-There is something you could do for me.

-What?

-My zipper is stuck.

On my vest.

-I'm sure one of your traveling companions could help.

-Oh, they're very angry with me.

They get jealous when I'm around strange women.

-How awkward.

-Really.

So if you'd just, uh...

That wasn't very hard.

-No. I'm sure you could have done it yourself.

Good night.

-Well, you don't just unzip a man and say good night.

You are tired, aren't you?

So am I.

Good... night.

-Going out tonight?

-I'm splitting.

Oh.

-For how long? -Forever.

-That's a long time.

Why? -Because I'm tired.

I'm tired of him.

I'm tired of this place.

He didn't get lost, you know.

He came here on purpose.

I mean, why the hell Point Dune?

-Don't you like the beach?

Maybe you could learn to bodysurf.

He's just farting around with her.

-Yeah, well, let him fart around. I'm going to San Francisco.

Mickey'll take me in.

-Who's Mickey?

-He's a drummer.

-What about me?

-You're just a kid.

You'll be alright.

He's giving me too many lines.

-Hey, Laura?

Leave me some dope, huh?

-Want a ride?

-What the hell?

-Oh, hey, thanks.

-You coming back from the wedding?

-The what?

-The wedding at the beach.

-Uh-uh.

-Do you like Wagner?

-Oh, yeah, sure.

Super.

You can, um...

...let me off in town.

You guys must have been, uh, working late.

-Moonlighting.

-Moonlighting?

-Everybody was out there tonight.

Even the little creatures.

I found a lot of them.

-A lot of what?

-Beach rats.

What's wrong?

-Nothing.

What do you do with them?

-Do with them?

I eat them, that's what I do with them.

I've got another, if you'd like.

-No -- no, no. Thank you. I, uh --

I-I'm just gonna get out right here.

-You don't want it?

-No. No, no, no, uh...

It's a very nice night to walk, really.

Jesus.

-Hello.

Hello.

-Hey!

Hey.

Hey!

Hey!

-No!

No!

-And so Laura is devoured by obvious non-vegans, Darcy.

-That's what happens when you eat that much meat.

-Laura was played by Anitra Ford,

who was a model on "The Price Is Right"

when this movie was made, she was one of Barker's Beauties.

She also played the revolutionary inmate

in the Women in Prison classic "The Big Birdcage,"

and she was in "Invasion of the Bee Girls." -Darcy: Nice.

-And of course, she was the hot girl on "Mannix."

-They were all the hot girl on "Mannix," apparently.

-The casting director on "Mannix"

obviously found every hot girl in L.A.,

but as I said before,

the early '70s were this time in Hollywood

when the studio system was falling apart,

the studios were still trying to make epics and musicals,

and all of them were failing.

"Doctor Dolittle" with Rex Harrison, huge failure.

"Star" with Julie Andrews, major flop.

"Paint Your Wagon," the one where Clint Eastwood actually sings -- disaster.

Uh, Barbra Streisand in "Hello, Dolly!"

Nobody came.

The movie that became a symbol

of just how out of touch Hollywood was

was "Darling Lili," starring Julie Andrews.

It cost $25 million, which was a huge amount at the time,

but the box office was 5 million.

Hollywood was going broke.

And so the executives started looking at the film schools

for the first time ever,

the main film school being

the University of Southern California,

because graduates of film schools were cheap

and they could work with low budgets.

So George Lucas breaks into the business with "THX 1138."

Francis Coppola breaks in with "Dementia 13."

Steven Spielberg breaks in with "Duel."

Peter Bogdanovich breaks in with "Targets."

Jonathan Demme goes to the Philippines,

makes movies for Roger Corman.

Uh, Willard Huyck, the director of this movie,

was actually a script reader

at American International Pictures at the time.

All the filmmakers we now regard as quote "Names"

were working in the low budget world,

including Martin Scorsese,

who was hired to direct "The Honeymoon Killers"

on the basis of his Harvey Keitel cheapie

"Who's That Knocking at My Door?"

But he was fired from "The Honeymoon Killers"

after his first week,

and it would take him four years to get another assignment --

"Boxcar Bertha" for Roger Corman.

My point is that the world was changing

and the film world was changing faster than the real world.

And so, ironically,

Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz

were working on the script for "American Graffiti."

They stopped working on that script

so they could make this movie.

Um, a producer said, "Here's $100,000.

Do you have a horror script?" And they answered, "No,

but give us a couple of weeks and we will."

And "Messiah of Evil" was born.

And since they were recent film school graduates,

nobody questioned them when they said,

we want to do the landscapes like Antonioni,

you know, as Willard Huyck would later admit,

"We watched "L'Avventura" just one time too many.

So for those of you

who don't remember "L'Avvetura" from film class,

it's the one where the girl disappears and is never found

and her disappearance is never explained.

-Darcy: Uh-oh. -Yeah.

-I know. -I know, but stick with me.

They're going to make it work here.

But anyway, back to the movie.

Roll it, roll the movie.

One thing I never understood. Why did they call it --

"L'Av --" have apostrophe, you know, "L'Avventura"

when it's one of the few Italian movie titles

that's really simple to translate.

It just means "The Adventure."

So why confuse people?

-So it sounds more exotic and fancy.

-More exotic. Like they can speak Italian

'cause they can say that one word in Italian?

-Yes, exactly.

-Antonioni's films -- oh, boy.

They're about emptiness and alienation

and the inability to communicate.

His films are all, "Here's some sad people

who are gonna fuck up more than they've already fucked up."

So not exactly made for the drive-in.

-And this is the guy they admire

when they made "Messiah of Evil"?

-Yeah. -'Kay.

That is an awesome choice for our last show.

I know.

-It's okay. -I stand by it.

Joseph: "July 17th.

I dread the nights coming on now.

The fires on the beach are more numerous,

and more of them are coming out at night from the town.

It's more horrifying than I expected.

A crazy old man told me a story today,

about Point Dune a century ago.

And a "dark stranger" arriving.

And the monstrous things that happened to people when he came.

I thought I was going mad. But worse now,

I think the hideous things I'm seeing are not imaginary."

-What are you doing?

-This is bullshit. I can't get any stations in.

-Laura didn't say anything else?

Give a girl a pair of shoes and she walks out on you.

...on WUVI, Radio 94, in Ludlow, the voice of Idaho.

-Idaho? Idaho?

Where are all the stations here? Why are they all out?

There are no stations in this town.

You can't hear anything.

Can't we go, Thom?

It's not that I care.

It's just that I'm scared.

-Of what?

-I don't know.

Arletty: I tried to sleep...

...and I fell in and out of half dreams.

I remember my father saying that you're about to awaken

when you dream that you're dreaming.

-Thom?

Father?

-Arletty: I felt like I was losing control.

Joseph: "Losing control.

It's not nightmares any longer,

but something like a sickness

that's still there with the sunrise.

I think my body is being taken over by some unspeakable evil

it's turning me into..."

-Arletty?

What's wrong?

-I don't know.

The light was on in his studio.

I thought maybe he...

I thought someone was in there.

-Come on.

Come on. It's all right.

-There was a painting.

-Come on. You've been having a bad dream.

Come on, get in.

-Arletty: I don't know what else to do.

Nobody in town knows him.

I don't know where else he'd go.

-Arletty, I think you should leave here.

-That's a great idea!

Why don't you both leave?

Then maybe I could get a little sleep!

-Hello?

Yes, it is.

What?

I don't...

Where?

The police said it must have been a mental problem.

They had picked up my father twice in town.

He was found wandering around before dawn.

He never knew where he was,

what he was doing in the dark streets.

And then people reported seeing him on the beach,

building a huge sculpture.

The tide must have collapsed it on top of him.

-After this is over and we get through with some paperwork,

I think you should take the young lady out of town.

We're not really a tourist town,

and strangers only bring problems.

-Michael Greer does a great job as Thom

because we don't know what he is.

Is he friend or foe?

Is he in the town for nefarious reasons?

He describes himself as a quote, "collector of legends,"

born into the Portuguese aristocracy, raised in a castle.

But of course, all of that sounds like nonsense.

And Laura and Toni both kind of indicate

that his story changes from time to time.

He's apparently attracted to the town

by the cult of the Blood Moon,

which is never explained very well,

other than a stranger from a hundred years ago

is gonna rise from the sea.

And there's a tiny bit of backstory somewhere in the movie

that suggests a survivor of the Donner Party

started a cult of cannibals and brought 'em to Point Dune.

Which raises another question, which is what exactly are these people supposed to be?

They wear suits.

They're older than the main cast.

They could be ghouls. they could be zombies.

They could be vampires, I guess.

But the suits kind of identify 'em as the older generation

at a time when the battle cry was don't trust anyone over 30.

Um, Michael Greer had kind of a cursed career, though.

He had started out at the famous nightclub

The Purple Onion in San Francisco,

doing an openly gay comedy act as early as 1967.

And then there was a famous play about life in prison

called "Fortune and Men's Eyes"

that ran for a long time at Actors Playhouse in New York.

And Michael Greer played Queenie,

the most flamboyantly gay inmate in the prison.

So then he goes to Hollywood and he gets all the gay parts,

including a 1969 comedy called "The Gay Deceivers,"

about two guys pretending to be gay so they can avoid the draft.

After he made that movie,

he was typecast and blacklisted from both directions.

He didn't get traditional male parts

because he was so openly gay,

but the gay community turned against him because, they said,

by playing flamboyant characters,

he was cementing gay stereotypes.

Anyway, "Messiah of Evil" was one of the few times

where his sexuality did not penalize him in any way.

And after this movie, he went back to cabaret work

and the occasional TV series guest role.

But it's especially ironic that he proved just

how heterosexual he could be in the Roger Corman cheapie

"Summer School Teachers" in 1974,

he played the chauvinistic football coach.

He was very funny in that.

Still didn't get credit for his talent.

And he died early.

He died at the age of 59, in 2002.

The other actor people wonder about

when they watch this movie for the first time

is the albino trucker,

who seems to be kind of the leader of the ghouls.

That actor is Bennie Robinson,

and, um, everybody is out of luck

'cause he did this one role and vanished.

Alright, let's get back to the movie.

Roll it. -Maybe something'll actually happen this time.

-All kinds of things are happening, Darcy.

But it's a slow burn.

-And you know how I feel about slow burns.

-It has -- I read this in a review of it.

It has performative alienation.

-And what is that? -I have no idea.

But it has it. It has performative alienation. -If you say so.

-Two or three years ago, somebody got in touch with me

and said they had this,

the only existing print of a Michael Greer movie,

and did I want to present it at Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn.

And so I did. It was a movie called

"The Secret Garden of Stanley Sweetheart"

from 1970, and it was actually,

it was the first role of Don Johnson.

And Michael Greer is the best thing in the movie

as a gay friend of Johnson.

And the theater was about half full,

even though we had one of the co-stars there

and I thought, "Wow, this is a movie" --

How often does this happen?

A movie that hasn't been available for 53 years,

and nobody is even slightly curious about seeing it.

And as I'm leaving,

I hear the unmistakable voice of Bill Lustig,

the director of "Maniac" and "Maniac Cop,"

and he's going, "Joe Bob, Joe Bob," and Bill says,

"I've seen every movie ever made in New York City.

So I had to come and see this."

And I said, "Well, what do you think of Michael Greer?"

And he says, "Good actor."

And I said, "What do you think of the movie?"

And he says, "Crap."

So "The Secret Garden of Stanley Sweetheart"

will not be coming out on Blue Underground, which Bill owns,

or any other blu-ray distributor,

'cause Bill was the only distributor in attendance there.

Um, so yet another Michael Greer performance lost to history.

-Aw, that's so sad.

-Surely it'll turn up somewhere

everything turns up these days.

Surely it's gonna turn up on one of those so-called fast channels

where they interrupt the movie every ten minutes

with vacuum cleaner ads?

-We can only hope.

-Michael deserves that much.

Or rare coin ads, you know, for a limited time,

you can get the Indian head double eagle nickel.

- Ooh, yes you can. - Yay!

-Now we'll go back to that parachute stunt

that we cut away from

just as he jumped out of the plane,

because we had to tell you about the Indian head

double eagle nickel.

It's limited!

-Ladies and gentlemen, Roger and Julie Corman.

Well, welcome to the only film festival

that celebrates the drive-in movie

and the drive-in moviegoers of America and the world.

And you may remember this, but 40 years ago,

at the Gemini Drive-In, in Dallas,

we stood together on the roof of the concession stand,

and I gave you a Lifetime Achievement Award

engraved on a Chevy hubcap.

Do you remember that?

-I remember it. I still have the hubcap.

Okay.

So, what -- what you should probably get tonight

for your More than a Lifetime Achievement Award

is an engraved Lamborghini hubcap,

or maybe an engraved Ferrari hubcap.

But we don't recognize foreign cars at American drive-ins.

So the best we can do is an engraved Cadillac hubcap,

which, Darcy, bring the Cadillac hubcap because...

-Oh, that's great.

-Great.

I love it. -Yeah.

And, actually, we have one for you, too, Julie,

because you're a producer in your own right.

You deserve your own Academy Award.

But, Roger, I wanted to say this to you, at last.

I know that you have been honored

by many prestigious film organizations,

but we like to think that the pulsing heart

of your core audience over the years was here at the drive-in,

and we wanted this opportunity to salute you in our own way

for making the movies that, in 1955 and in 1965

and in 1975 and in 1985

might not have been that important

to the Motion Picture Academy

and might not have been that important

to the British Film Institute,

but they were always important to us and the drive-in audience.

Thank you for caring about the populist film audience

for all of those years.

-Thank you.

-We love you! We love you! We love you!

-Whoo!

Joseph: "July 20th.

If the cities of the world were destroyed tomorrow,

they would all be rebuilt to look like Point Dune.

Entirely normal. Quiet, silent, though,

because of the shared horror in common.

I know what's hiding now beneath its stucco skin."

♪ Amazing grace ♪

♪ How sweet the sound ♪

♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪

♪ I once was lost, but now ♪

How is she?

I remember the night my father died.

He was coming home from work, drunk.

-He started bleeding out of control.

They found children eating raw meat.

And it was like the town was festering with an open sore,

until the night that they...

-We're never gonna leave this place, are we?

-Till the night they came down out of the canyon and...

-Somebody came while you were gone.

-Who? -I don't know.

I heard this noise at the other end of the house.

Sounded like somebody crying.

I looked all over, but I didn't see nobody.

I'm bored.

-Why don't you, uh, go to a film?

-A what?

-A movie. -Oh, a show.

Great. I get to take the car.

Then you two can be alone together.

-I sat in my father's chair.

The mundane scenes around me were of Point Dune.

They were slightly distorted and foreboding,

as if they were hiding some message.

Just as I knew now, the town was hiding some dark fear.

Joseph: "July 21st.

My body temperature has dropped to 85.

This morning, I passed blood again.

It's as if the thing that's taking over my body

no longer needs human blood."

-Arletty, what's wrong?

What is it?

Oh!

-Your hand!

-Thom, I didn't feel it.

Why didn't I feel it, Thom?

-I don't know.

-Joseph: "It's as if the thing that's taking over my body

no longer needs human blood."

-My father had beautiful hands.

They were fine, long, almost feminine fingers.

He was ashamed of them, in a way.

He used to laugh and say that after the revolution,

he'd be shot.

That pale hands were the mark of a decadent life.

That's how I knew.

Thom, why did they lie to me?

Those weren't his hands.

They were coarse and large.

That wasn't my father.

-Are you sure?

-Yes!

-God...

Toni.

You can't take all three of us.

-Wrong.

-♪ Life isn't always milk and honey ♪

♪ Free and without care ♪

♪ Life isn't always fair and sunny ♪

♪ Life isn't always ♪

-Dandy!

Hey!

-Your good little tin marshal.

-Bart has got to be paid for his tune.

Not just with money.

Aah!

Please!

No!

No!

No! Please!

-Wow! What an unlucky guy.

Two girlfriends eaten alive in one night.

The movie-theater sequence and the supermarket sequence

are both famous in horror circles.

Masterpieces of terror.

And I think I have to agree with that.

Um, by the way,

that's screenwriter Gloria Katz as the ticket taker

at the movie house.

She puts the "closed" sign up.

And that's Joy Bang as Toni, the victim.

She'd been in the Corman film "Night of the Cobra Woman,"

not to mention being the nymphomaniac

in Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam."

But she quit the business after this movie.

She went to nursing school.

This film has all the ideas

that were later fleshed out in "Dawn of the Dead."

Um, all the ideas about the undead or the ghouls

inhabiting all the consumer culture landmarks --

movie theaters, supermarkets, gas stations.

And "Messiah of Evil" is often compared to "Carnival of Souls."

But I don't really get the connection

to "Carnival of Souls."

I think when people say that,

all they mean is that it's moody and atmospheric.

-Yes, it is very moody and atmospheric.

They both are. -Yeah.

And when people say that, it's like saying,

"Well, the cinematography was great."

You know?

-Which generally means the movie sucks.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-I mean, the filmmakers use overlapping narration,

meaning we're getting the story from Arletty,

but she's getting it from her father,

and her father is getting it from the disintegration

of his own brain.

And Arletty is telling the story from

inside a psychiatric facility.

So you get all these many layers of narration that we --

so that we can't be sure about anything.

All right. Darcy. -Yes?

-Is it time to talk about "Howard the Duck"?

-It is literally always time to talk about "Howard the Duck."

-All right. -Please.

-After Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz

became A-list screenwriters

because of "American Graffiti" and Indiana Jones,

they made a little festival film called "French Postcards,"

based on their student adventures in Europe,

and then they had three flops in a row --

"Lucky Lady," starring Liza Minnelli,

"Best Defense," starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy,

and then the bomb that sank their reputations,

"Howard the Duck."

Now, every time people talk about Willard Huyck

and Gloria Katz, they start with "Howard the Duck."

I'm not sure why it's considered such a stain

on their reputation.

I mean, people have failed movies all the time.

But for some reason,

they were never able to shake their rep as

"the couple that made 'Howard the Duck.'"

If you look at the box-office numbers,

the movie cost $37 million.

That was a lot.

It made $38 million worldwide, so...

-There you go. -I mean, that's a loser

because you have $37 million budget,

you probably have $37 million marketing costs,

but it's not in the top-10 flops of all time.

I don't even think it's in the top 100.

Nevertheless, this power couple gave up directing,

gave up producing, went back to pure screenwriting,

mostly writing TV movies,

and they even worked with their old friend George Lucas

again on the 1994 screwball comedy "Radioland Murders."

But "Radioland Murders" join the list of '80s flops.

It earned about a million bucks on a $15 million investment,

and it got universally panned by the critics.

So that was their last feature film.

They did one more TV movie, "Secrets of a Hollywood Nurse,"

in 2008,

and then they spent most of their time

collecting Japanese art, so much of it that, in 2018,

the Smithsonian Institution acquired 400 photographs

from their collection of Japanese art.

I don't think they ever realized that as their careers

were declining, though, the reputation of "Messiah of Evil"

was getting better and better.

Critics used terms like "unsettling"

and "moody" and "trance-like" to describe it.

-It's putting me into a trance.

It's --

It's been called a tone poem,

a fever dream.

-If it's a fever dream, it is a very mild fever.

-Willard Huyck himself,

though, said it's like everyone was on Quaaludes in the movie.

In reality, we were on methamphetamines.

Willard Huyck was a fan of H.P. Lovecraft,

and I think it does have somewhat of a Lovecraft feel.

In fact, I think Huyck and Katz might have stolen a few ideas

from that Lovecraft short story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth,"

which is about a decaying town

where amphibious beings are breeding with humans

to create a mutant race.

The thing that makes "Messiah of Evil" scary

is that it seems the disease,

or the sickness or the curse

is just beneath the surface of everyday life,

and there's nothing you can do about it.

Everybody is already infected.

Everybody already has blood dripping

from their eye sockets, and, uh...

All right, with that, let's get back to the movie.

Roll it.

Go!

What are the symptoms, Darcy?

First, you lose feeling. You can't feel pain.

-Bloody tears.

-And then, bug and lizard vomit.

-Mm-hmm. And then you're a cannibal.

-Or you're in a cannibal's stomach.

-Possible.

-What determines whether you eat people

or you get eaten by people?

-I'm gonna guess that we never find that out.

I think you're right.

-Slow burn.

-Wait, please.

You've got to help.

We only live a couple blocks from here.

We were -- we were watching TV when we heard them.

They -- they came crashing through the sliding glass door,

making that -- that noise, that -- that awful noise.

We tried to get the children,

but they already had them in the hall.

They went after them like sharks.

My husband dragged me out, and we ran to some neighbors

who had guns, but it didn't stop them.

They kept attacking anyway.

But he's still there. You've got to help.

-I -- I can't.

-What's wrong?

-Your eye.

-Oh, no.

Too late.

Starting.

-I'm very sorry.

-Joseph: "July 28th. I cut myself this morning.

My finger was nearly severed.

Without feeling any pain, I..."

-"...I ripped it off at the joint.

I felt nothing at all.

I-I was disintegrating rapidly."

Oh.

-Would you please disperse?

You are ordered to disperse.

-Thom?

Father?

-Arletty...

I tried to warn you.

I dragged one of the bodies they killed up on the beach,

but you still didn't leave.

Little time left.

You'll have to go.

Tell people on the outside.

Warn them that what happened a hundred years ago

is happening again.

-What? -Listen.

Please listen.

He came a hundred years ago.

A hunter first saw him.

-He told the hunter that he had been a minister

and had come over the mountains with the Donner Party.

He'd passed that horrible winter with them

and saw men commit hideous acts.

He said that he himself had eaten human flesh

but had survived because he had faith.

Faith in a new master.

The hunter didn't understand

when the dark stranger said he was spreading this new religion.

-When they found the hunter...

he looked as if he'd...

been attacked by some kind of animal, half eaten.

As he was dying, he told them of the dark stranger,

and they assumed he was delirious.

When he went into a fit,

biting at them like a rabid dog,

they shot him.

The dark stranger watched the chaos,

and he walked into the sea

and said he would return a hundred years later

to a world tired and disillusioned.

A world looking back to old gods and old, dark ways.

Our world.

You've got to go now.

Most of this town is infected.

It's got to be destroyed before the moon turns blood red

and he returns to lead them up the coast

and inland into the cities.

-We can both go.

-They took me, and they did this to me.

Kill me or go now!

-No!

Help me!

Help me!

Please, help me!

Help me!

Help me!

Daddy...

We'll go home.

-I can't.

I already tasted human flesh.

-No!

-You gotta kill him.

If you love your daddy, you will kill him.

-You can't bury him.

Don't put him in the ground.

Gotta burn him.

Burn his body.

-No!

No!

-Stay back!

-I just realized Marianna Hill,

who plays the lead role of Arletty,

she was also one of the sisters in "The Baby."

You know, for those of you who don't remember "The Baby,"

there's a mom, played by Ruth Roman,

who keeps her son in a state of perpetual childhood

for 20 years,

keeps him in diapers and a crib,

with the help of his two sisters,

and one of the sisters eventually is overcome

by curiosity and she starts having sex with his child man

that they call Baby.

And that's the role played by Marianna Hill.

What an interesting time to be an actor.

And then, within a year of making this movie,

she would be in "The Godfather Part II"

as Deanna Dunn Corleone.

She's the actress wife of Fredo.

Um, her big scene is at the Lake Tahoe party,

where she gets drunk and flirts on the dance floor,

and eventually, she has to be removed

by Michael Corleone's men

because Fredo can't control his wife, you know?

Anyway, she was from Santa Barbara.

She was trained at both the Actors Studio

and the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.

Normally, you would do one or the other.

And she eventually became a teacher of the method

at the Strasberg Institutes in New York and London.

Um, her other big roles were "High Plains Drifter."

She's the woman who tries to shoot Clint Eastwood

when he's in the bathtub,

and then she later sleeps with Clint Eastwood,

and then, as Dr. Helen Noel,

in the "Star Trek" episode "Dagger of the Mind."

Captain Kirk falls in love with her while he's brainwashed.

In this movie, when she finally meets her father,

it's the veteran character actor Royal Dano,

who had a six-decade career doing roles

like The Tattered Man in "The Red Badge of Courage,"

Elijah in "Moby Dick,"

and he would go on to be Farmer Gene Green

in "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"

and Gramps in "House II." -Yay.

-And if you go to the Hall of Presidents at Disney World,

and who doesn't go to that? You can't resist it.

You have to go. He's the --

-Literally, the first thing he wanted to go to.

-It is the first thing.

-"We have to get to the Hall of Presidents!"

-He's the voice of Abraham Lincoln.

Um, also, he's at Disneyland.

Uh, the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln animatronic.

You know that animatronic Abraham Lincoln?

-Yeah. -I still say it's weird the way

they placed Trump in the Hall of Presidents.

-I think they move them around

every time there's a new president.

-I just think there's -- there's this side eye going on.

Lincoln and Washington keep looking over at Trump.

You know, I don't know what that means.

Why would they do that?

-I feel like the previous presidents always

kind of side-eye the new ones.

Well, whatever.

-I think so. -That's Royal Dano

with no bleeding eye,

voicing Abraham Lincoln at Disney.

And that was the first and only time Royal Dano

ever did a fire stunt.

But speaking of Disney, as Arletty's father,

Royal Dano just takes fire on his arm.

But that full burn suit was worn by Buddy Joe Hooker,

legendary stuntman who was the stunt coordinator

for all Disney films all through the '70s, through the '80s.

Famous for his precision driving.

He did all the driving in the chase sequences in

"To Live and Die in L.A."

Won many awards for that work.

This movie is just full of Hollywood legends.

In that little sequence where the dark stranger

rides into town on a horse,

the stranger is Bill Norton,

film school friend of Gloria Katz,

who directed "Cisco Pike" the year before.

And most importantly, he wrote the screenplay

for Sam Peckinpah's "Convoy."

-♪ Convoy ♪

-He also worked frequently on the

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series.

-Oh, yay! -All right.

That's enough name-dropping of famous people

in bit parts on "Messiah of Evil."

Let's move on to the conclusion.

Did you just use the word conclusion?

-I did. Let's move on to the sort of

conclusion... -"Conclusion."

-...of "Messiah of Evil."

Roll it.

She has to burn up her daddy, Darcy.

-That was a good scene.

-But Arletty just kind of floats through the whole movie.

She doesn't ever really do anything, does she?

-She burns up her daddy.

-Yes, she finally takes action

because blood is dripping out of her right eye.

I think it's always the right eye on everybody.

Right?

What would you do if blood started dripping out of my eye?

-Burn you up.

-What if blood started dripping out of your own eye?

-Burn you up.

-That's what I thought.

-♪ Thinkin' 'bout our trailer ♪

♪ And the way it used to sway ♪

♪ When the mattress springs were squealin' ♪

-Now fresh from his tour in rural Idaho,

your host and mine, Joe Bob Briggs!

-Hey-o!

-"Dear Joe Bob, when 'The Last Drive-In' started,

I remember being ecstatic.

It was like an old friend that had returned to remind us

that we all share a love for all things weird and different,

and that we're not alone."

Oh!

-"And of course, most important, the puke factor."

Some people say it's a picture of the end of humankind,

but it's really from the "I don't know what to call it,

really" genre.

We do have an amazing set of fans.

Glad that we all found one another.

Darcy is here to field your tweets,

your Instas, your probing questions.

-We're on our way to the Rock-In.

Do you want to come?

-Oh, yeah, Joe Bob, it's a Kafkaesque fever dream.

You know? Fuck you.

-Well, I want to thank all of you for being with us tonight.

This was great.

♪ See you on the other side ♪

♪ See you on the other side ♪

♪ See you on the other side ♪

♪ At the drive-in in the sky ♪

-Arletty?

Arletty?

Arletty?

Arletty?

I'll kill you!

Aah!

Why didn't you leave?

-I came back here to get you.

-Thom, it's too late.

-God...

I saw them in town.

They're traveling in packs like wolves.

I think the whole town --

-Thom!

I was dreaming.

We were in a forest, and it was snowing.

The trees were wet, and you were looking up.

And I asked you what...

what you were thinking.

You said you were thinking about all the people

who were born and died...

while the trees went on living.

And we came to a village, and we spent the night in a wood room.

The next day, it was so cold, we stayed in bed to keep warm.

-Thom! Thom!

Come on!

-Get out! Get out!

Get out!

-We thought we must have made it out of the town.

And then we saw the first one.

They were coming down to the beach,

as they did every night.

They stare at the ocean and wait.

We could go no further.

They were all around, watching us,

staring at us,

as if we were trapped animals.

Caught.

Already bleeding.

Yet still struggling hopelessly.

We hoped to make it to one of the small boats on the horizon,

and then we would drift out and head for safety down the coast.

He was having trouble with his arm.

I had hurt him.

And now I couldn't help him.

Boats didn't seem any nearer.

Thom!

Thom!

Thom!

Thom!

Aaaah!

And the last thing I saw was the setting sun.

They hadn't let me drown.

They had pulled me from the water.

They had prevented my last escape.

That night, most of the town was on the beach.

They built their fires, not for warmth

but as beacons to be seen from the black ocean.

They dressed me in an old gown.

I was to be offered.

And following their prophecy, the moon turned blood red.

And the dark stranger returned.

He let me go with a story that condemned me.

Knowing that they wouldn't listen.

He was right.

I made it back, and they put me here.

-He told them of the dark stranger,

and they assumed he was delirious.

When he went into a fit, biting like a rabid dog,

they shot him, the night the moon turned blood red.

-...and the moon god up there. -Horrible pain.

-...closer the people were being jerked toward hell...

-...crashed into farmhouses and gorged themselves.

-Men can do horrible things, like animals.

...around the streets...

A hundred years ago.

-During the day, they let me out with the others.

We sit in the sun and wait.

We sleep.

And we dream.

Each of us dying slowly in the prison of our minds.

And at night,

I roam the empty halls,

listening to their whispering.

I try to find someone who can hear me,

because I have to warn them that, back there,

in that small town on the coast,

they're growing in number

and moving out into the rest of the world,

spreading their sickness.

And in order to live,

they'll take you one by one,

and no one will hear you scream.

No one will hear you scream!

-For that sequence where they escape into the ocean,

they used Point Dume, in Malibu,

a location that's been used in dozens of movies.

It was used in "Planet of the Apes,"

"Barton Fink," "The Big Lebowski."

And I guess what we're supposed to think

is that the ghouls are going to slowly take over the world,

because Arletty is in the loony bin,

and Thom does not survive his arm wound.

Although we never see him die.

Never too late for a sequel.

-Oh, I feel like we're good on that, actually.

-I don't think you could replace Thom

because the actor, Michael Greer, died in 2002.

But has anyone ever done that?

-Done what?

-Made a sequel 50 years later.

-Disney does that. -Really?

-Yeah. "Mary Poppins Returns."

-"Mary Poppins Retur--" That wasn't a remake?

-Oh, no.

And they also did a sequel to "Fantasia."

-Well, "Fantasia" has no story to begin with.

-Well, true, but still, it counts.

And there was a "Bambi II."

-Man, I am way behind on my Disney.

Did people go see "Bambi II"?

-Um, I think it was direct-to-video,

but they definitely did go to the "Mary Poppins" movie.

That was actually a really big hit.

-Was Bambi's mom still dead in "Bambi II"?

-Of course she was still dead. What?

-Well, that's why nobody went to that.

Who wants to see grieving Bambi?

I'd rather watch Bambi versus Godzilla than...

-Well, I mean, who wouldn't? -...sad Bambi.

So, what was your overall rating on "Messiah of Evil"?

-Well, I appreciate the creepy atmosphere

and the scenes in the grocery store and the movie theater.

-You do not. -I'm being nice.

But it's too vague and artsy for my taste.

I respect it more than I like it.

Not a surprise, Darcy.

It was a weird time, early '70s.

People were not into anything decisive.

They spent 10 years trying to release that film, by the way.

The first release was at drive-ins only.

In fact, most of the release history of this film

was drive-ins, which makes it

highly appropriate for this show.

This is the only art film to play exclusively at drive-ins,

and they kept retitling it.

"Revenge of the Screaming Dead."

"The Second Coming."

"Dead People" -- very literal title.

"Blood Busters."

"Messiah of the Evil Dead."

And at one time, they even used "Return of the Living Dead,"

which they dropped once they got a letter from George Romero.

But I really like it.

I can't really tell you why,

but it holds my attention from beginning to end.

-Okay. Well, speaking of holding people's attention...

-Yeah?

-I guess you should read this letter

from Sheldon Hinks of Sudbury, Ontario.

-I know what this is.

-You do? -I remember the name.

Yeah. It's all about the Eastern time zone,

second feature. -Oh, yeah?

-You know, our major complaint that we get.

"Hello, Joe Bob and Darcy!" -Hi.

-"First, for anyone who stays up Friday nights

to watch the double feature, I applaud you.

I, on that other hand,

channel my inner Danny Glover

and can't make it past 10:00 p.m.

without falling asleep, let alone 2:00 a.m."

Man, 10:00 p.m.

-That's pretty lightweight, actually.

-That's first act, you know?

-"But that's what I love about the Mutant Family.

We can make it our own.

So my wife and I have been resting on the seventh day

to worship at the altar of 'The Last Drive-In.'

Every time a new episode airs, we host a Joe Bob Breakfast

and catch up on the newest movies.

We get excited to plan out what we're going to eat

and find some new interesting coffee to try out.

Shout-out to Coffin Creek Coffee.

Their horror blends are often our go-to's."

There are several of those companies that

horror -- horror coffee companies.

-There's a lot, yeah.

-Um, "This week we cooked up

a ham and swiss croissant casserole

with a side of tiramisu overnight oats."

It sounds way fancier than it is.

"A new episode of 'The Last Drive-In'

and breakfast has been one of our monthly highlights.

Plus, I make it through the entire double feature now.

Yay me!"

"Sheldon Hinkst, Sudbury, Ontario.

P.S., I have been planning Halloween in Romania

for the past two years and can't get away.

Hopefully, I get another shot at joining you

for the next Halloween event.

The 2025 one sounded incredible."

We should actually have the Joe Bob Halloween event

in Romania. -Okay.

I know.

That's become a big deal in recent years.

They have a vampire ball at Bran Castle on Halloween night.

I think it's mostly Americans and Canadians

that actually go to Dracula's castle on Halloween.

I don't think it's a big thing for Romanians at all.

You know? And you can combine that with tours of Bucharest.

Because who doesn't want to party in Bucharest?

But thank you, Sheldon.

Uh, after tonight, you no longer have to worry

about what you're missing at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

-Aww. -And that's it for me,

Joe Bob Briggs, speaking for myself and Darcy, the Mail Girl,

when I say that when you're arguing with somebody

and they say, "First of all...,"

just give up 'cause they got a PowerPoint.

And the drive-in will never die.

Do you eat kale, Darcy?

-Yeah, of course.

-Kale is so versatile.

It literally fits into any size trash can.

-I'm trying to be nice on your last night.

-That was the opening joke.

A hacker called me up and said he had all my passwords.

I grabbed a pen and paper and said, "Thank God.

What are they?"

-Okay. I like that.

-Friend of mine is a drummer,

and he and his wife just had triplets,

so they named them Anna 1, Anna 2, Anna 1-2-3.

-We -- we don't need sarcastic tittering, Darcy.

-I'm trying to send you off happily.

-Businessman hires a new secretary,

and she's very attractive.

One day, she's taking dictation,

and she notices the businessman's fly is open.

So she leaves the room a little later,

and as she's leaving the room, she says, "Oh, sir,

did you know that your barracks door was open?

And businessman looks down, he realizes what she means,

and so when she comes back in, he says,

"By the way, Miss Jones,

when you saw my barracks door open this morning,

did you also see a soldier standing at attention?"

And the secretary says, "No.

All I saw was a disabled veteran sitting on two duffle bags."

-Okay.

-So, I guess that's it.

-You're kidding.

-Nope. That's all I got to say.

-I don't believe you.

Beer, simple and sweet.

The Sumerians of Mesopotamia could not have seen

in the glimmer of their inaugural cask

the future of the project.

A lone star opened on streaming television

by a TV cowboy who is not a cowboy,

especially not at the present moment we find him.

The Sumerians could not have imagined the TV cowboy,

or the glass bottle, or the dream factory of television

and the society that begat it.

But they were bedfellows with the alchemy of the imagination.

Their marble statues express it,

and now it is expressed into your eyes,

wherever and whenever you are,

light leaping out from between two thin pieces of glass

until the pixels shake hands inside your optic nerve,

upside down, to form sentences

on the shores of the brightest sea -- your synapses.

The TV cowboy is ignorant of the human progress

that led to this moment.

-What do you think, Ernie?

Klaus Kinski -- genius or madman?

-The dinosaur considers his options for escape.

Silence is painful for the TV cowboy.

To interrupt is to live.

To move the air with mind and mouth

is a noble and doomed campaign against the abyss.

He strains valiantly against the temptation.

Now he will take another sip of beer.

Because of the nature of the electromagnetic waves,

all versions of the TV cowboy, young and old,

hatted and unhatted,

from cable network shows and beyond,

echo steadily into outer space.

-I won't stop until I find the meat of my dreams.

-Perhaps they drink Lone Star together.

Fata morgana from broadcasts past.

The oldest Joe Bob appears as the youngest,

a man in his early 30s on a premium cable network

introducing a film about frisky cheerleaders.

What would that TV cowboy say about himself today?

The black velvet of eternity, a string of --

-Probably about time we get back to the movie.

Austin? Is that okay? -Yeah, man.

-The black velvet of eternity,

a string of tomorrows will eat this moment one day,

as it does everything.

All life on Earth is but a dimmed glint in the void,

one that was born to fade away.

No one will remember or be left to remember the Sumerians

or the taste of their beer once their statues have eroded.

Someday, the TV cowboy tells a joke.

Decades later,

the echoing broadcast signal fizzles apart

just beyond the magnificent gas giant Saturn.

The echoes of the joke become an imperceptible whisper,

and seconds later, all traces of it are gone.

That is where the final Joe Bob will die.

The Last Drive-In.

But not today.

And the Drive-In, it is said,

will never die.