Genuine excitement is a rare commodity these days. And by these days, I’m not simply referring to our daily dose of chaos because it stretches back further than any of us care to think about. No, for the purposes of this piece, let’s wind the clocks back to the summer of 2018.
Seventeen years after Joe Bob Briggs was ousted from TNT’s MonsterVision, a gift was bestowed upon Briggs disciples who’d never stopped missing the drive-in totals: Joe Bob was returning for a 24-hour horror extravaganza intended to be the Grapevine drive-in critic’s farewell to movie hosting. And the fervor felt by legions of Mutants was nothing short of electric.
“This is special, Joe Bob.” The T.V. cowboy (you heard that, didn’t you?) has since referred to Felissa Rose’s remarks from that initial marathon on numerous occasions. And for good reason. She was right.
Eight years on, what is most special can be whittled down to a single word: sustained.
To pull a Joe Bob, what is sustained? Something that is maintained at length without interrupting or weakening. And that, folks, is what made The Last Drive-In so special: that our excitement, from the anticipation of that first dusk-to-dawn marathon to the final regularly scheduled double feature, has been sustained.
Whether it was each week, each month, or each special, our giddiness never waned. We woke excited on Joe Bob Fridays, stocked up on snacks and libations after work in preparation, and shared that excitement on social media as we watched the “Joe Bob Begins” countdown tick toward blood, breasts, and beasts. And we have bookended server glitches to prove it.
The Last Drive-In gave us the most overqualified Mail Girl the drive-in has ever seen. It raised money for mental health, battered women, and more. It made “spry as fuck” part of our lexicon. And birthed an appreciation for Walpurgisnacht that borders on national holiday. It offered respite from the horrors of daily life and provided a community for those who didn’t feel seen. And so much more.
Our excitement and anticipation remained the same from that first night through the final night–last night.
And it will carry on to whatever’s next.
In the wake of Joe Bob’s somber social media post, he followed it up with a short video to answer our worried questions and emphatically stated “we ain’t done.”
So, whatever’s next, be it Shudder specials, another streaming service, or somewhere in between, we will be there because as I said following that first 13-movie marathon that we’d originally thought was the end–the drive-in, and our love for Joe Bob, will never die.
