Joe Bob Briggs

    "We have 0 dead bodies, 16 pictures, 4 breasts (all in the top pic) Slicing. Dicing. Gratuitous questioning, Heads roll, Eyes roll,ego's role, Gratuitous ripping off of Joe Bob Briggs' Drive in total, Kung Fu, Word Fu,...and now to the main event. He said the drive in will never die and came up with the drive in totals...he is the one...the only...JOE BOB BRIGGS!!! Read on to see what he has to say!

Marcus: Monstervision was an awesome show and I used to watch it every Saturday night, then one night, it was gone. I have heard a lot of stories about what happened to Monstervision, but what REALLY happened to the show? What happened to "Rusty the Mailgirl"? Do you still keep in touch with her?

Joe Bob: Well, there was more than one reason, and the whole story is too boring to go into. But there were a couple of executives who really didn't like the show--never liked it--thought it conflicted with the preferred image of the network. And they were also going through a "re-positioning" (that's what they called it) to make TNT more "female-friendly," and several people at the network thought I didn't fit into that. The Programming Department loved the show, and most of the average-Joe TNT employees, but quite a few of the decision-makers did not. Rusty the Mailgirl is an actress and model in El Lay. I do keep in touch with her, but not as much as I should.

Marcus: I remember you did a music video for the show and now I can't seem to get it anywhere! Do you know if it is gone for good or is there a place that still has it?
Joe Bob:: Well, the music video was called "Tearin' the heart out of Saturday night," and it was produced by the network, so they would own it forever, and I'm sure it's somewhere deep deep deep in the Turner archives in Atlanta.

Marcus:: So, tell us about yourself. What have you been upto since the show went off the air? What does Joe Bob Briggs a.k.a. John Bloom like to do when he is just kicking back?
Joe Bob:: I'm not a kick-back sort of guy. I write five columns a week for United Press International. I do a lot of freelance
magazine work. I have a DVD commentary track series with Elite Entertainment. First title out was "I Spit On Your Grave." And I have a new cable show in development.

Marcus:: What got you into reviewing? Did you always want to review horror movies or was it just something you fell into?
 Joe Bob:: There was a big void, an enormous black hole, in the marketplace. When I started reviewing these movies, no one else was doing it, at least not for the mainstream press. People don't like film critics as a rule. I'm the first MOVIE critic. I can find something to like in any movie that's not BORING.
Marcus:: After all the cheesy horror movies you have seen, which one's are your favorites? What is your favorite movie of all time? What is the worst?
Joe Bob:: I can't believe you asked me that. "Saw" is still the king. The original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre." It's in my book, out in June, called "Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies That Changed History." The worst is probably a made-in-the-Philippines gem we showed on "MonsterVision" called "Superbeast." I defy anyone to describe the plot or tell me what it's about.

Marcus:: Every critic has their own personal icon when it comes to reviewing, I.E.,Ebert and Roeper's (Originally Siskel) Thumbs up, Thumbs down, How did you come up with the "Drive-in Totals"?

Joe Bob:: When I first started doing this, I had a conversation with Roger Corman about what the basic elements of his movies were. I refined this into the three B's: Blood Breasts and Beasts. Then went from there. I just added all the things that are popular with the public but despised by mainstream critics--like motor vehicle chases.

Marcus:: My friend Kristy wants to know if you really like those H. G. Lewis flicks like Blood Feast and 2000 Maniacs?

Joe Bob:: Well, as I explain in my book, there are some movies that aren't great AS movies, but they're great because of the camp value, because they were the first of their kind, because they influenced the counterculture in one way or another. So, yes, for all those reasons, I like both of Herschell Gordon Lewis's most famous flicks. "Blood Feast" is one of the chapters in the book, by the way, and I explain how it came to be so famous.

Marcus:: Your Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part scene was deleted and has become a rare gem to find. Were you ticked when they cut the scene out? What was it like working with Tobe Hooper and Bill Moseley?
Joe Bob:: Well, I just did that as a lark. I went down there to interview Dennis Hopper for Rolling Stone, and while I was there Kit Carson was very nice to me. (Kit was the writer. Better known for "Paris, Texas.") And he suggested to Tobe that they use me in the film. So I actually wrote that little scene, and accommodated Tobe's wishes to use those two particular actresses. One of them was a society lady from Dallas who was taking acting lessons. I never did think anything more about it until shortly before the film's release when Tobe called to tell me the scene had been cut--against his wishes, he said. Cannon Films wanted the movie to be shorter, and he had fought for the scene, but they didn't like it. It had actually gone out in about eight prints of the film that were used in early release, so those prints may still exist. The scene is viewable, in a grainy version, on the director's cut DVD.

Marcus:: Speaking of Bill Moseley, his new film "House of 1000 Corpses" is coming out right around the corner. What are your thoughts on it? If you have seen it, what did you think of it?
     Joe Bob:: Can you spell "derivative"? How about "copycat"?

Marcus:: Speaking of modern horror, how do you feel about these new horror films? Do you think they are heading in the right direction...or are they killing the genre very quickly?
Joe Bob:: What new horror films? There hasn't been a new idea in horror for ten years now. The genre is not dead--I don't think horror ever dies--but it's not going in any new directions at the moment.

Marcus:: I heard and LOVED your commentary on I Spit......On Your Grave (as you put it) and I was wondering, if you will be doing any more commentaries for other horror films or any films in general. If so, which ones?

Joe Bob:: I'm gonna do several DVD commentaries for Elite Entertainment, and the next one up, which I've already recorded,is "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter," which is the last film of William "One Shot" Beaudine, most prolific filmmaker in the history of cinema. We're going to be doing others, but the lineup is not set yet.

Marcus:: You always have rules for horror films, have you ever thought of making a book or a list of top 10, top 100...rules to follow to survive a horror movie?

Joe Bob:: I could never do that, because I always forget the rules I made up last year. I'm constantly changing the rules. Each time the genre changes, the rules change a little bit.

Marcus:: You have had a lot of small cameo roles in films, Face Off, Married with Children, TCM 2, Stand, I was wondering if you were going to make a movie or be in a movie STARRING JOE BOB BRIGGS?
 

Joe Bob:: I don't think there's a lot of demand for movies starring Joe Bob Briggs. I haven't really pursued acting the way I should have. One reason is that I give TERRIBLE auditions. The one exception was "Casino." I guess I'd drunk the right combination of alcohol the night before or something.

Marcus:: I read on your site about a new show you had filmed a pilot for. Needless to say I was excited about this and was wondering what is the show going to be like? Is there a specific date that it will be aired and if so, where will it be?

  Joe Bob::  I'm superstitious about stuff like this. It's political, it's satirical, and it's in development.

Marcus:: Your have such a strong love for the drive-in, were you happier then anything when you heard they might be making a comeback?

  Joe Bob:: Well, they've been making a comeback for twenty years now, so let's not get TOO excited.

Marcus:: What lies ahead for the Drive-in Film Guru/King?
 

Joe Bob::The main thing is my new book, "Profoundly Disturbing:Shocking Movies That Changed History," which will be published in June by Universe. Please tell everybody to buy it.

Marcus:: Thank you Joe Bob!

    Well you heard the man! BUY THE BOOK!!! I can't wait to get my copy! I want to thank Joe Bob for taking the time out to do this interview with me. It means alot to me for if not for him, this site would not exist nor would I be into horror movies the way I am today if not for Monstervision pushing me along the way. For more info on Joe Bob and/or his new book...check out his website at "Http://www.joebobbriggs.com" Where the drive in will NEVER die!!!

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