Notes from The Last Drive-In: S1E2
Welcome again, Drive-In Mutants, to the second week of Drive-In recaps we call “Notes from The Last Drive-In.” As before, we’re covering each double-feature that makes up an episode of Shudder‘s original series The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. We cover some of Joe Bob’s observations, the films themselves, and then provide the Haunted MTL review for each movie.
So, let’s go!
Q (The Winged Serpent) (1982)
We can’t start the recap without noting the memorial to Larry Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) at the start of the episode. Larry Cohen was a huge figure in independent horror and many of his films are bound to make for great future episodes of The Last Drive-In. Cohen was a brilliant writer, director, and producer and the world of horror has really lost a great icon. Joe Bob has a great deal to say about Larry Cohen throughout the episode.
In Joe Bob’s words, Q, also known as Q – The Winged Serpent, is “the best movie in history about a flying-type lizard.” This film, directed by Larry Cohen, is a strong 4 star drive-in film. Among some of the notable elements Joe Bob talks about during the breaks are the network of old school, tough guy actors Larry Cohen worked with, including Michael Moriarty. We were also regaled with stories of Cohen’s existing friendship with David Carradine (R.I.P.) back in the army as entertainers. Most importantly, however, we learn that Larry Cohen gave no fucks, such as actually firing automatic weapons off the Chrysler Building during the shoot for Q, and even flying a goddamn helicopter between the World Trade Center towers.
Q, released in 1982, is a fantasy horror film about New York City under siege from a deadly, winged lizard that hunts for humans during the day. The film stars Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree. Moriarty is particularly fantastic in the film, and the scene where he extorts the city for the location of Q’s nest is a magnetic performance. It is also unique to have a horror film that takes place near entirely in daylight.
As for the Haunted MTL rating, Q is a 4 star film, hands down. The film is great in its own right with many amazing moments and a certain streak of self-awareness that can be found in a number of Cohen’s films. It is not perfect, after all, few movies are. The ritual sacrifice subplot, for example, is laughably bad and has little impact on the overall film beyond a small twist for the ending. Jimmy Quinn’s piano scene is also just strange. What makes Q such a great movie are the little things, such as Shelly Desai as the cult figure who just sort of pops up at the end. You may recognize him as Charlie’s landlord in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Plus… there is a chase scene with a cop dressed as a mime.
Best line: “New York is famous for good eating.”
Society (1989)
There is just something to the idea of the rich eating the poor as a genesis to a good horror film, isn’t there? Joe Bob points out a number of films with this theme, but this one is the only one on that list the depicts “shunting.” Not aware of what shunting is? You will by the end of Society. Society is another 4 star drive-in entry according to Joe Bob, and he has a lot to say about the film, orgies, and director Brian Yuzna. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this episode may not be a particular factoid from the film, but rather that Joe Bob is possibly a third wave feminist, or that Darcy has seen some really fucked up stuff in some L.A. orgies. Don’t worry, though, there is still a lot of fantastic info to be learned, such as how Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon were set to work on Disney’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Yep. This was a weird episode.
Society is a 1989 film about a Beverly Hills teenager who makes a horrifying discovery about his family and the social class he is part of. This body horror film features astounding special effects work by legendary artist Screaming Mad George. The film features Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, and Ben Meyerson. It also features what seems to be about 50 gallons of lubricant for the shunting. This was the first movie directed Brian Yuzna who until this point what best known as a producer.
As for the Haunted MTL rating, Society is good, very good, and we rate it 3.5 stars. The shunting scene is worth the price of admission alone, as is the “tactical fisting” scene. The only issue with society is that there is a lot of plot to get to the main point of the film – the pile of flesh that is the Beverly Hills elite. Some elements of the film are just sort of there and are unexplained, such as Clarrissa’s mom. Still, these are minor quibbles. Any film that features the protagonist pulling someone’s head through their own asshole (we think, it might also have been through his dick) is an automatic drive-in legend.
Best Line: “Paranoid? I’m not paranoid, all my fears are real.” I mean, we’re fudging this a bit. The best line is “First we dine, then copulation,” but Joe Bob already claimed it.
Haunted MTL’s Drive-In Totals
Like last week, we’ve tracked some of our own totals we think you might appreciate:
- 1 Red, white, and blue shirt with bolo tie
- 1 Darcy cosplay (hello, Clarissa)
- 1 fallen sex doll
- 1 Catholic joke
- 1 Medieval joke
- 1 Shelly Desai-ting
- Gratuitous L.A. orgy questions
- Gratuitous claymation cops
- Knocking magnets off the trailer’s fridge fu
- Darcy stalking Clint Howard fu
The Drive-In will never die…
As always, please share your thoughts with us about The Last Drive-In. Also, please check out our other great content here at Haunted MTL.
Let’s close out with Michael Moriarty to serenade us, shall we?
Leonardo Dicaprio’s films rarely disappoint. It was interesting to see him flex different acting muscles in this psychological thriller Shutter Island alongside Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams. When I say that I was not expecting such a turn in the story, I mean that my jaw was pretty much on the floor the entire time. Without any further ado, let’s dive into its mastery, shall we?
A cliché setup done right
We have been here before a million times. A character stumbles into a scene to solve a mystery. Everyone is acting just the right amount of suspicion to make you wonder. Dicaprio’s Edward ‘Teddy’ travels to an extremely remote island where a woman goes missing from a psychiatric institution. He’s experiencing migraines and flashbacks to his murdered wife while receiving little to no help from the hospital staff.
Teddy soon suspects that the hospital is experimenting on patients which fuels his theories on what happened to the missing woman. Things take even more of a turn when his partner also disappears. Unsurprisingly, everyone insists Teddy came to the island alone. Feeling like he’s losing his mind, our protagonist finds out that this is exactly the case. He is a patient in the hospital and the entire investigation is an attempt to get him to understand the truth.
While the whole ‘it was all in your head’ trope has a bad rep for the fans of any genre, this film uses it masterfully. Watching it for the first time not knowing what to expect is obviously a shock and then watching it again, looking at all the clues that were the which you missed – that’s a treat on its own. After all, there’s nothing inherently wrong with using cliches if they are done the right way.
Things that go bump in our minds
A huge part of this movie’s storyline is Andrew’s inability to process the truth. The roots for it stretch far beyond the plot twist. Andrew is unable to acknowledge that his wife is mentally ill and believes that moving them to the countryside will fix everything. After she murders their children, he is further pushed into the world of delusion, convincing himself to be a hero because he couldn’t save his own family.
It’s interesting to note that in his delusion, Andrew is the one who set fire to their house. Is this a little sliver of his mind whispering the truth to him? Is it his subconscious villainizing himself out of contempt, searching for answers that are never going to come? Andrew’s psychiatrist pointed out that his moment of clarity has happened before, only to be undone quite quickly. Perhaps it was easier for Andrew to shut it off rather than live with the knowledge that he could’ve done something to prevent a terrible tragedy.
Overall thoughts
Shutter Island is a movie that provides both the entertainment value you would expect from a suspense thriller and a deeper layer of thought. Coated with a perfect atmosphere and amazing acting, it’s a piece that will definitely hold the test of time.
(4.5 / 5)
We’ve reached episode four of Wheel of Time, which means we’re halfway through the season. While it doesn’t seem like much has happened so far, this is the episode where things start heating up.
The Story
We begin this episode with a flashback. Ishamael is raising something dark and twisted. As we watch, it takes the shape of a woman.
More on that in a bit.
Meanwhile, Nynaeve is healing from her time in the arches. She is quiet and withdrawn. She’s also awkward and uncomfortable around Egwene now that she’s initiated and Egwene is not. Her new friendship with Elayne isn’t helping.
But the three girls come together when Liandrin tells Nynaeve that Perrin has been captured by the Seanchan.
However, Perrin is no longer in the clutches of the Seanchan. He was rescued by Elyas and a pack of beautiful wolves. Beautiful and deadly AF by the way. If you have any fear of dogs, this episode might not help that.
Elyas explains to Perrin that he is a Wolf Brother. This means that he can communicate with the wolves, and eventually will gain some of their abilities. While Perrin and Elyas don’t exactly get off on the right foot, he does find a fast friendship with one specific wolf. After a time, he introduces himself by showing Perrin an image of himself jumping up and down. From this, Perrin assumes his name is Hopper.
Finally, we return to Rand. He and Selene have been off in the mountains. They haven’t done much more than each other so far.
And that’s exactly what it appears they’re about to do when Moiraine bursts into the cottage and cuts Selene’s throat.
Rand is surprised and furious until Moiraine explains that the woman he knows as Selene is the Dark Friend Lanfear. With this shocking revelation, the two run off into the night.
What worked
It should be a surprise to no one that I loved the wolves in this episode. Hopper himself was worth an extra Cthulhu. But this is not just because dogs are cute. It’s also because the dog playing Hopper just does a great job.
On a more serious note, I loved how Nynaeve responded upon coming back to the real world. She isn’t okay.
And it’s a good thing that she isn’t. Too often in fiction we don’t see the fallout of emotional damage. Hell, we don’t usually see realistic fallout from physical damage.
But she is hurt by what she experienced. And you can tell. That’s realistic character building, and we don’t see that enough.
I also really appreciate the special effects in this episode. The first time we see Lanfear, she’s eerie. She’s frightening. Part of this is thanks to Natasha O’Keeffe, who does a great job. But the effects are what really sells this.
What didn’t work
If Wheel of Time has any fault, it’s that there is far too much sitting about and talking about things. In this case, there’s a lot of standing about and talking about things. Some of this was necessary, and some of it could have been done better. Honestly, there just has to be a better way to convey that characters are struggling.
This was most apparent with Rand and Selene/Lanfear. Honestly, anytime the two of them were on screen it was a great time for me to catch up on Instagram.
This might come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t read the books, but Rand is supposed to be the main character. And here we are, four episodes into an eight-episode season, and so far all he’s done is mess about with his emo girlfriend!
That being said, the story is starting to pick up. With four episodes left, I can’t wait to see how far we go.
(3 / 5)
Movies n TV
Elevator Game, a Film Review
Elevator Game (2023) is directed by Rebekah McKendry and is the first feature-length production of Fearworks.
Elevator Game (2023) is directed by Rebekah McKendry and is the first feature-length production of Fearworks. It adapts the supernatural myth and creepypasta of the same name while providing an original plot. This unrated Shudder exclusive stars Gino Anania, Samantha Halas, and Verity Marks. In full disclosure, I had the opportunity to interview Gino Anania and Stefan Brunner about the film.
Ryan seeks to find answers to his sister’s mysterious disappearance. To do this, he infiltrates a myth-busting web series that seems to have some ties to her final confirmed moments. Desperate to force a confrontation, he encourages them to play the elevator game. Unfortunately, there seems to be more truth to the myth than expected.
What I Like about Elevator Game & as an Adaptation
I am lucky to have additional insight into the development hell this movie overcame due to COVID. It’s commendable that the film manages to make it of that, even if it requires a lengthy delay of the film.
Usually, I provide a separate section for adaptation quality. However, the source material remains the ritual, which Elevator Game performs accurately. While the myth inspires many creepypastas, Elevator Game doesn’t directly take or adapt any of these works from what I’ve seen. Instead, it makes its own film based on the legend.
As the Fifth Floor Woman, Samantha Halas creates an eerie and disturbing character. While I won’t go so far as to say terrifying, she certainly makes an impression. The revelation that the stunts and performance are all her, as an actual contortionist, I give her more credit.
Gino Anania, given a more complex role than most of his cast members, really does bring a strong performance that creates either friction or synergy with his cast members. I suppose I wanted more of these interactions as some cut sooner than appreciated.
Another amusing element is that the entire motivation for the plot to follow is a forced advertisement from an investor. Something about the chaos being a product of appeasing some investors feels uncomfortably real.
The alternate reality remains surprisingly effective. To be clear, it’s not impressively realistic but stylistic. It genuinely seems like an alternate world with a skewered impression.
Tired Tropes or Trigger Warning
I feel weird mentioning this, but endangering a sister’s life to push the brother’s story forward seems a common trend beyond one form of media.
No discredit to the actors, but the romance feels rushed and unnecessary. Without going into too much detail, to avoid spoilers, there is synergy between the actors but little chemistry in the plot.
What I Dislike or Considerations
Elevator Game remains set in providing a B-movie experience. Its tight budget leaves little room to surprise the viewer visually. While I am surprised at what it accomplishes, it’s far from overwhelming. This film also remains the first production of Fearworks, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I’m interested in the future, but Elevator Game leaves much to grow from.
Rebekah McKendry may have a directorial style that influences dialogue, but the line delivery evokes an overexpression that’s common in Lovecraftian films. I say this not as a direct negative, but it remains a required taste best known before viewing. As this isn’t Lovecraftian, I fear it removes some of the reality and tension of those haunting elements.
Many of the characters feel underdeveloped, making me wonder if cutting these roles might lead to more invested characters. While the performances hit their marks, a tighter cast might give each role more to work toward. As this is a tight cast already, it seems an odd issue to rectify.
Final Thoughts
Elevator Game provides an interesting B-movie experience for those who know the legend. For those expecting something different, this film may not work for you. This film overcame a lot to exist but doesn’t break the mold. While I am excited to see Fearworks pursue further ventures toward its ambitious mission statement, I find Elevator Game falling short of its goal. 
(2 / 5)
