For a certain group of kids in the mid- to late '90s (i.e., weirdoes and mutants), TNT’s MonsterVision was a permanent late-night fixture for the weekend. On the surface, it was a horror movie show hosted by Joe Bob Briggs, a redneck with a penchant for bolo ties and B-movies, but it was actually a piece of television that sneakily combined a love for horror and science fiction with an alternative comedy sensibility that shared a similar spirit with The State and The Young Ones.
While Joe Bob Briggs stayed firmly inside of his late-night format, he used its restrictions to tear apart the entire idea of what hosted interstitials could do with narrative, all while doing his best to make sure the audience was in on the joke. Due to the nature of MonsterVision’s schedule, and the volume of content that Briggs and his team produced, it’s impossible to track down everything that went out on the airwaves, but these are the best episodes that MonsterVision had to offer.
When Briggs wasn’t goofing off and drinking tall boys on set, he would sometimes interview people from the world of B-movies and exploitation films. He sat down with heavy hitters like John Waters (who made the host touch his mustache) and schlock cinema lifers like Clint Howard. Briggs's ability to talk all things horror proved that he genuinely loved the films he was showing, and his reverence for the weird, frightening, and downright bad would inspire an allegiance to late-night horror films in an entire new generation of fans.
The Best Episodes of MonsterVision,
Episode 16 - Phantasm 2 and The Beast Within
Before every film, Joe Bob Briggs would lay down what viewers would be seeing in a bullet-point format so they'd know they were getting the most bang for their buck. Phantasm 2's Drive-In Totals may have been the best of the entire series: "Twelve dead bodies. Exploding house. One four-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Dwarf-tossing. Ten breasts. Embalming needles plunged through various parts of various bodies. One motor-vehicle chase, with crash-and-burn. Ear-lopping. Forehead-drilling. Wrist-hacking. Bimbo-flinging. Grandma-bashing. Devil sex. Crematorium Fu. Flamethrower Fu... Four stars."
Episode 8 - The Fly and The Warriors
Holy sh*t this was a good episode. For every 12-year-old boy who was staying up late and chugging Mountain Dew on a Friday night, Episode 8 was a definitive piece of television. Not only was it (probably) their first chance to see David Cronenberg's The Fly, a true piece of mind-effery, but they were introduced to quite possibly one of the most fun pieces of pop culture ever, The Warriors. Taking things one step further, Briggs used a subway map to follow the progress of the Warriors throughout the film.
Episode 23 - They Live and Immortal Combat
The introduction to this episode may contain the only post-natal coma joke in television history. (Check into that and get back to us about it.) Also Briggs manages to wrestle an entertaining interview out of Rowdy Roddy Piper, who looks like he's about ready to run out the door as soon as the camera stops filming.
The First Annual Dusk to Dawn Friday the 13th Marathon
For the five years that Joe Bob Briggs hosted Monstervision, he mostly stuck to his standard format of stepping out of the trailer, cracking open an Old Milwaukee, and chatting with his crew for a few minutes before introducing the movie. But once in a blue moon he switched things up and it was always fun. One of the most memorable format changes came when he hosted a 12-hour marathon of Friday the 13th movies and made the marathon into a quasi Jason film unto itself - except instead of being hunted by a hockey-mask-wearing derelict, he was being chased down by Ted Turner himself.
Episode 40 - Highlander and The Seventh Sign
Briggs was never better than when he was chatting with his crew about topics that were only tangentially related to the film he was watching. Case in point: when he suggests that someone on his crew go to an East Dallas pawn shop and buy a "Guatemalan switchblade." Later on in the episode, Briggs would go on to mention that he thinks Christopher Lambert (the titular Highlander) looks like a monkey.
Episode 45 - The Howling 3 & The Howling 7
The Howling Parts 3 and 7 are not classic films in anyone's mind, although Part Seven does feature werewolf line dancing, so that's something. But Briggs is at his best when the movies are at their worst and rather than putter around with a mediocre monologue about werewolves, the host goes on a classic rant about Wanda Bodeine and bridesmaid dresses.
Episode 73 - Return of the Living Dead
From time to time, Joe Bob Briggs brought on everyone from directors and the stars of the films he was showing that week to UFOlogists, and for The Return of the Living Dead, he interviewed Linnea Quigley, the gal who gets buck naked and dances on a tombstone to SSQ (the only band to hail from Norwalk, California). In just a few short minutes, weird 12-year-old boys across America discovered their new scream queen obsession, and they heard the phrase "pickaxe to the brain."
Episode 38 - The People Under the Stairs and Halloween 3
The final film shown on MonsterVision's last Friday night - they were moved to Saturdays - was Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which sent the show "out on a whimper." But even with the uninspired cinema on his hands, Briggs picks up the ball and runs with it when he breaks down exactly what you need to have in a slasher to make it enjoyable, and he succinctly sums up franchise films in two sentences: "The Friday the 13th people have integrity. They've made the same movie eight times."
Episode 39 - Maximum Overdrive and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
What a confusing night it was for all the 12-year-old boys in the audience when Joe Bob Briggs introduced them to Maximum Overdrive, the worst Stephen King adaptation ever made. Most of us grew up being afraid of the dark because of King, but when MonsterVision played this coked up fever dream of trucks come to life, it pretty much sucked the air out of any other King-based nightmares.
The Nair Witch Project - Carrie - Child's Play 2 - Phantasm 1 & 2
We don't know if Briggs enjoyed The Blair Witch Project, or if he was annoyed with the shoddy camera work and lack of narrative, but he was definitely inspired. The Nair Witch Project was another format-breaking special episode of MonsterVision that featured Briggs and his crew filming a faithful pastiche of the sleeper horror hit of the '90s. In the space of the six-hour episode, we learn that Briggs has moved to LA, that he's missing from Monstervision, and that he's on a search for the "Nair Witch" - all while giving out the drive-in totals for four semi-connected films.