Notes from the Last Drive-In: S3E7 – Train to Busan and Spookies
The seventh episode of the third season of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs brings us the modern classic Train to Busan (2016) and the cult classic, Spookies (1986). It is another one of those bizarre pairings that we’re growing used to, though that is not a bad thing at all. It keeps the double features fresh, week to week. You never know what you are going to get on Shudder on Friday night.
Train to Busan (2016)
Opening: Indecisiveness with a menu.
There isn’t much I can add to the discourse surrounding Train to Busan. it is one of the greatest zombie films ever made, let alone within the last decade. It is a film that manages to be scary, packed with action, and carries a strong heartfelt message. It is a movie you could honestly argue to be a perfect example of the craft of filmmaking. If you haven’t seen the film then you absolutely should. Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller stars Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, and Kim Su-an. The premise is deceptively simple: passengers aboard a train deal with a zombie outbreak as the train makes its way to safety. The simplicity of the plot makes it a perfect vehicle for tense performances, a series of claustrophobic set-pieces, and a delightfully satirical exploration of class difference. It is also, incredibly, incredibly sad. I cannot stress that enough.
I’ve written about class-conscious horror before, and Train to Busan is one of those movies that does a lot to establish a kind of canon for that sort of horror. The movie absolutely runs with the themes of wealth and status and how it renders people with too much of both as inhuman monsters – which is a fair assessment. It just happens to position that argument against frequently crushing tides of zombies. The zombies themselves are fantastic. Their contortionist movements are creepy and are contrasted by the almost fluid nature of zombie bodies in a horde. They become a gnashing, scratching wave that breaks and crashes against surfaces in satisfying ways. World War Z, a far worse film, had a similar scrambling zombie, but they do not really have the same effect like those on Train to Busan.
The film’s heart, however, is the rebuilding of the relationship between Gong Yoo’s Seo Seok-woo, a distant father, and his daughter Seo Su-an (Kim Su-an), one of the only acceptable child characters in horror films. However, their relationship is just one of several in the film which prove affecting. Tough guy Yoo Sang-hwa, played by the magnetic Ma Dong-Seok, has a touching plot with his pregnant wife with a sad, but ultimately beautiful ending. Even the film’s human villian, the greedy COO of a bus company, Yon-suk, gets a humanizing moment before his death – desperate to return to his mother. No character is wasted and no interaction feels possible to cut out of the film, every set of relationships, from the two eldery women to the rapidly diminishing baseball team, carry great emotional weight.
Joe Bob Briggs seemed particularly effusive with his praise of the film. His pronunciations of Korean names may be a bit rough, but his sentiment was clear. It seemed as though each break came with Joe Bob praising a preceding segment of the film, specifically some of the more technical set-pieces, such as the train depot or the fight through the train cars. He also shared some history regarding Yeon Sang-ho and his background in animation. Yeon Sang-ho’s background in animation certainly informed many of the scenes and as Joe Bob pointed out, seemed as though they could only have come from the mind of an animator. With any luck, Joe Bob mentioning adult animation is a sign that perhaps Seoul Station, the Busan prequel, might be shown one day. Hopefully the first in what might be many future horror-adjacent animated films.
Joe Bob Briggs handed out another four-star rating this week, but it feels entirely appropriate for Train to Busan. The movie is just that damn good. I may also be a bit biased because the film is in my top five zombie films ever made. For me, I would give Train to Busan five out of five Cthulhus. It is one of the best films ever shown on The Last Drive-In, and one which was long overdue to be shown.
(5 / 5)
Best Line: “Dad, you only care about yourself. That’s why mommy left.” – Su-an laying the emotional smackdown on her dad
Spookies (1986)
Opening: Alpacas and Llamas
Ooof – where to begin with Spookies? This independent horror film is, to put as fine a point on it as possible, a mess. The movie is incoherent, cheesy, and poorly acted. It is just barely on the verge of “so bad it’s good” territory as well. I missed the showing when it was airing on Friday, but when watching it on Sunday I started to drift off – that never happens to me when watching something on Shudder.
The movie, or perhaps, movies, given the troubled production, was directed by Brendan Faulkner and Thomas Doran, with later footage added by director Eugenie Joseph. The film was originally supposed to be a “dark house” style of a horror film, dubbed Twisted Souls, carved up and edited together with an entirely different concept, resulting in a movie where two plot lines run adjacent to one another and nothing makes sense. Thus, Spookies, named as such for who knows what reason. The film follows an inextricably mixed group of teens and adults exploring a mansion owned by a warlock who wants their lives to preserve his bride, as he has been doing for seventy years. The film stars Felix Ward, Maria Pechukas, Peter Dain, Nick Gionta, and Charlotte Alexandra.
Spookies is a cult film these days, and while I can understand how it can be, I can’t say I really enjoyed my time with it. The monster effects are pretty fun. Well, most of them. The Grim Reaper was comical, like a fancy costume from Spirit of Halloween. Also, the sheer variety of creatures, while kind of neat, ultimately feels unnecessary. Only a couple of them really have any presence and they are gone nearly as soon as they are introduced – and that is pretty specific to the 45 minutes from what was originally going to be Twisted Souls. The zombie horde at the end is fun, but again, smacks more of excess than anything else. The film also feels cheap, particularly the material that was added later, such as the basement set. Also strange was the fact that Felix Ward’s Kreon sounded like he was speaking into a cardboard tube throughout the runtime of the film. Just a confusing mess, honestly.
Also… why the fart noises?
I think Joe Bob said it best during the night when he said “Man alive, this thing is just a mess.” Joe Bob’s background on the film was welcome, of course. particularly the odd connection the movie has to John Jay, co-author of the Federalist Papers and first Chief Justice of the United States. Ultimately Spookies, shot in his historical home, helped preserve the historical site in a few ways. It’s just an odd little note, best explained by Joe Bob Briggs. Perhaps most amusing was the revelation that Spookies was the first and last acting job for a number of the crew – it is not hard to understand why. The best part of the second half of the night was the Spookies rap, put together by John Brennan and the folks at the Drive-In. it was a lot of fun and a nice follow-up to the Maniac Cop 2 discussion about rap songs for horror films.
Joe Bob Briggs gave Spookies two stars. Even he admits he was generous there. As for me, Spookies is less of a movie and instead more of something I would have on in the background at a Halloween party while some music was being played. Just some visual interest and not a whole lot else. I give Spookies two out of five Cthulhus.
(2 / 5)
Best Line: “Boo, look at me, I’m Duke the horny ghost.” – Duke, being a horny ghost.
Haunted MTL Drive-In Totals
As always, thanks, Shudder, for those official totals.
As for our own totals?
- 3 Levels Deeper
- 15 careers starting and stopping with one movie
- 1000 Zombies
- Zombie Double Feature
- Class Warfare
- Farting Monsters
- Exploding Reaper
- Skull Splitting
- Yuki sighting
- Runaway Train (never going back)
- Fanfiction Fu
- American History Fu
- Gratuitous Monsters
- Gratuitous Llama and Alpaca discourse
- Gratuitous 90s Rap Sequence
- Darcy Cosplay: Isabelle, the bride from Spookies
- Silver Bolo Award: Ghastly Grinning
Episode Score
Another fun night at the drive-in. it would take more than Spookies to ruin the show for me, personally. So far this season seems to be bringing in movies that you would think would have been on the show earlier. It’s cool that we’ve not really dipped into the well of the obvious films you would expect on the show. While Spookies was a miss for me, the rap was great. Of course, I can’t praise Train to Busan highly enough either. Overall, I think it averages out to a strong episode.
(4 / 5)
See y’all on Friday for another night of fun at the drive-in. I’ll return to live-tweeting the show as I missed this week. Thanks to Doctor Payne for taking over.
Episode three of Amazon Prime’s Fallout continued the themes we’ve seen so far, with an added twist. With comedy and gore already blending, the story has added an air of tragic history for one of its least cuddly characters.
Let’s discuss.
The story
Our story starts with a flashback to before the bombs dropped. We see Coop, filming a movie. His wife is on set as well, and their adorable daughter. Coop has a comfortable life with a family he loves.
Isn’t that just a knife in the heart?
Back in the present, Lucy is traveling through the wastelands with the head of Wilzig. And she’s doing so with the same fear and joy that we’ve seen from her so far. Until that is, she runs into a Gulper. And after eating a defenseless deer, it swallowed up the head.
Eventually, The Ghoul catches up with Lucy and decides to capture her. After using her as bait, he decides to drag her along with him.
Meanwhile, Maximus gets a message from the Brotherhood of Steel. Rather than coming clean, he claims to be Knight Titus and is accidentally sent a new Squire. That squire is Thaddeus, one of Maximus’s bullies from the base. And Maximus wastes no time in taking some sweet, sweet revenge.
Finally, we return to Vault 33. The vault is healing from the Raider attack and the loss of Lucy. Norm and Chet are being punished for letting Lucy leave, by being fired from their jobs. This throws Chet because he had a cool job.
Norm, on the other hand, didn’t like his job. He didn’t like any job. So, since this is the only way anyone gets punishments in the vault, he’s given the task of feeding the Raiders.
And talking to the Raiders was maybe not a healthy thing for Norm to be doing. He might learn something he didn’t want to know.
What worked
The first thing I have to talk about is the massive creature called The Gulper.
This thing was fascinating. It was voracious, fast, and horrifying to look like. It was like a giant axolotl from Hell, with human fingers lining its whole mouth and throat. Why did it need fingers lining its mouth and throat? The better to drag someone down its throat and into its stomach. And the better to drag itself into my nightmares. This creature was well done.
On the flip side of this, I love the fact that the people of Vault 33 are so kind. They’re so willing to forgive, willing to care for their fellow man even when their fellow man is trying to kill them.
I don’t trust it, to be clear. But the perceived kindness from these people is uplifting. And I’m sure it will make whatever is going to eventually happen to them all the worse.
Of course, I can’t talk about the goodness of the vault dwellers without talking about the absolute horribleness of The Ghoul. The Ghoul is not a good person. He is cruel, and selfish, and clearly dislikes Lucy for some reason we do not yet know, and is probably not her fault.
But we kind of understand how he got that way, don’t we? During the flashbacks, we see that he’s lost his wife and daughter. We also see that he was used as a mascot for the very company that created the vaults. And, while we don’t have any concrete proof yet, we can probably guess that these are not the good guys. Even if we haven’t played the games, anyone who’s even slightly genre-savvy can already guess that.
Which is the last thing I want to bring up here.
We know something stinks with the vaults. Something beyond the obvious issues of wealth disparities and the people left outside to die while those who could afford a Vault spot were saved. Something is rotten with the vaults, we all know this. What we don’t know is what form this rot will take.
Not yet.
What didn’t work
Now, I wish I could say this was a perfect episode. But sadly, it wasn’t. And my biggest issue with the episode is with the character Maximus.
Now, I love Maximus. He wants to do good things in the world. He’s the underdog, and who doesn’t love that? He’s honorable and believes in the organization he belongs to.
I don’t love that he cannot do anything right. It feels like he wins fights by falling over and tripping into succeeding. And this character deserves so much more than that. Can we please, just once, see him be good at something or make a sound decision?
All that being said, this was still a fun episode. It was funny and bright, with an ominous feel and a horrific finger-ridden monster. I had a great time with it.
(4 / 5)
Last night’s episode of American Horror Story Delicate was wild. From its star-studded start to its powerfully quiet finish, I was enthralled through every moment.
Let’s discuss.
The story
We begin this episode at the funeral of Dex’s mom. While he’s giving a eulogy, which was very nice, Ms. Preecher walks in. She shouts to the room that Virginia didn’t commit suicide, she was murdered. She also tells Dex to listen to his wife.
What a concept!
Touched by this, or maybe just curious, Anna goes to the hospital to check on Preecher. She falls asleep at the hospital. When she wakes up, Preecher is gone. A nurse says that she was discharged to a group of women.
While at the hospital, Anna also discovers that she’s been nominated for best actress.
At a publicity event for the awards, Anna runs into Cora. And she sees the coat she remembers from her late-night visit near the start of her pregnancy.
With the slightest amount of pressure, Cora spills it all. She and Dex have been having an affair, and Cora was trying to sabotage Anna’s pregnancy. So Anna, channeling her inner Madison Montgomery, kicks him out and heads to the awards ceremony with Siobhan.
There, Siobhan asks her if she wants an Oscar more than anything. If she’d be willing to give up anything for it.
And Anna says yes.
The bargain is then sealed with a kiss.
What worked
I’d like to begin, paradoxically, at the end of the episode. We’ve seen Anna have some terrible, loud, frightening hallucinations in this season. At least, we assume they’re hallucinations. But this one wasn’t loud. It was, in fact, very quiet. Anna is led off stage, without a word, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood behind.
In horror, like in all art, the notes you don’t play are as important as the ones you do. And the notes that weren’t played her rang like a bell.
I also appreciated that this episode describes why being a celebrity would be a huge pain in the ass. Imagine going to an event where the whole purpose is for people to take pictures of you while holding their product. Imagine if they invaded your personal space, sprayed things on you, put things over your eyes, and you were expected to smile and pose.
I don’t know what it is about being a celebrity that makes others feel entitled to a person. To talk with them, take their time, and share in their moments. To touch them without consent. Yes, there are way worse things happening to people. But this isn’t a great way to live. It’s no wonder so many of them go nuts. This is most clearly shown in the scene when Anna is sitting next to Preecher’s bed. She wakes up to find the older woman gone. But all anyone wants to talk about is how she was just nominated for an Oscar. At that moment, she doesn’t give a damn. She cares about this kind woman, and where she’s gone. Just like any other person.
Finally, I appreciated that this season didn’t do what so many AHS seasons do. Which is to say that this episode didn’t feel like the last episode. It felt like the penultimate episode. It felt like there was still more story to tell, not just loose ends to be wrapped up. I appreciate that the writers have finally learned that lesson.
For this season, at least.
What didn’t work
The first thing that bothered me in this episode was Cora’s confession. I said something about this during our live-watch event on Threads. (Join us next week for the finale. Bring popcorn and wine.)
I don’t believe Cora’s confession. I further don’t believe that she just dumped all of this incriminating info on Anna with no more prompting than a wide-eyed look. There was just no reason for it. So, Anna saw her coat? Lots of people have similar coats. This feels fake, and she brought no receipts.
I also found Siobhan’s behavior confusing. At times she seems genuinely concerned for Anna’s wellbeing. At other times, she is more than willing to let her suffer and risk her pregnancy.
While this has been going on all season, it was happening every few minutes in this one. Either Siobhan cares about the welfare of that fetus, or she doesn’t. But she needs to pick a lane.
All in all, I don’t know what to expect from next week’s season finale. Anna has her Oscar, but now she might lose her baby. She might also get sucked into some horrible cult and experience a bad death. We won’t know until next week.
See you then.
(4 / 5)
Episode two of Amazon Prime’s Fallout was equal parts funny and bloody. This almost always leads to a good time.
The story
We begin this episode with the birth of some puppies that look like they’ve had a rough start to life. Each one is weighed, with the ones who fall short being incinerated.
One pup who is just below the correct weight gets a bit of a thumb on their scale. The scientist weighing them, Wilzig, writes down the proper weight. He later takes the puppy home to raise instead of putting them into what looks like an unforgiving training program.
Eventually, we see Wilzig put some blue glowing thing into his neck. When a soldier comes for him, Dog attacks the soldier, and the two escape.
We go from there to the wilderness, where Lucy is recovering from the last episode and enjoying a campfire at night. Wilzig and Dog come out of the shadows, saving Lucy from a bug monster. Wilzig tells Lucy she should go home. And if she’s not going to go home, she needs to evolve.
The next day Lucy finds her way to a town called Filly. As a Pennsylvanian, it hurts me to spell it that way. Lucy is entranced by this town, though clearly put off by the fact that no one is very nice here.
She eventually finds her way to a shop run by a delightful woman named Ma June. Ma doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping Lucy. Or, frankly, having Lucy in her shop.
Or in her town.
Eventually, Wilzig is tracked to this same shop, being tracked by The Ghoul. This is our final primary character. Lucy defends Wilzig, being aided at the last moment by Maximus.
Maximus, by the way, has been having a terrible time. After finally becoming a squire he’s disappointed to find that his knight, Knight Titus, is a terrible person.
Fortunately, Maximus doesn’t have to put up with Titus for long. After Titus gets the bright idea to go hunting, he’s attacked by a mutated bear. Maximus freezes, unable to save him. Then, well, he decides not to save him.
It was Titus’s idea to go hunt the bear, after all.
What worked
The first thing I want to draw attention to is the shootout scene at Filly. This scene checked every box a fight scene should check. It was fun to watch, with great effects. But it also gave us insight into the characters. Lucy is a decent fighter and has a strong moral compass. The Ghoul is callus and desensitized to death. And Maximus continues to be, well, sort of bad at this whole fighting thing. But with enough moral fortitude that we have a hard time blaming him.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the dog. Who’s name, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, is just Dog. Which is fine. He doesn’t need to have a name to be a very good boy. He’s sweet, loyal, and fearless.
Also, puppies. Puppies are always great.
Finally, I’d like to shine a spotlight on Lucy’s reaction to the world at large. She is both amazed and terrified by everything. And while she certainly doesn’t want to be rude, she also doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. The best example of this is when she stops to ask for directions with a bright smile and a gun.
Once again, I don’t have anything bad to say about this episode. It was funny, dark, and fun to watch. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season.
(4 / 5)
Frank Farel
June 5, 2021 at 10:35 am
“Thus, Spookies, named as such for who knows what reason.”
“Also… why the fart noises?”
A word of advise in doing any comprehensive movie review:
RESEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND.
David Davis
June 5, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Joe Bob explains these during the episode, of course. This is more of an existential “why?”
Just poking fun at the choices, honestly.