All language subtitles for The.Last.Drive-in.with.Joe.Bob.Briggs.S33E23.Messiah.of.Evil.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BFM_track3_[eng]

-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.