Hey everybody, have you heard the news? Joe Bob is back in town! And we have a review of The Last Drive-In.

Yes, we are now into Season 5 of Shudder’s revival/continuation of Joe Bob’s Monstervision. Alongside Darcy the Mail Girl, and a colorful cast of characters; the show gives us an eclectic double pairing of movies every week that often defy logic and taste (in the best way possible).

The Last Drive-In has returned with a new format. The show now looks and feels more like a talk show than before. Not sure if that was just for this week or if we’re getting that again next week. Either way, I didn’t mind it, but it certainly did feel different.

Regardless of the format, the movies shown this week were a Lucio Fulci double feature, with the host showing Zombie (1979) and The Beyond (1981).

Guests Galore

The Last Drive-In Guests

One of my major complaints with Season 4 of The Last Drive-In was the lack of guests. I do love Joe Bob’s insights, but he has a great way of interviewing and gathering insights from guests that were sorely underutilized in Season 4. This debut immediately rectified that with a total of six (!!!) guests: Bobcat Goldthwait, Ian McCulloch (star of Zombie), Peaches Christ, Danhausen, David Dastmalchian, and Fabio Frizzi (Fulci’s frequent musical collaborator).

It’s hard not to feel like this was a direct address of one of Season 4’s issues, and Season 4 was still great, but interjecting some discussion with various guests makes it even better in my opinion. There was a good mixture of background talk on the movie and just general conversation. It’s arguable how much certain guests like David Dastmalchian had in connection with the two movies but it still was fun to have him and others on.

Full On Fulci

If you’re a fan of Fulci’s movies or a newcomer to his movies, The Last Drive-In featured a respectful and fun selection of movies to discuss. Both movies felt like strong inclusions, with a good emphasis on Fulci’s style, including his love for gouging eyes out. I didn’t keep track of how many times an eye got impaled or mangled, but it was respectfully high.

Both movies were a great way to get back into the season, and while I know many fans were not the biggest fan of Neromantik shown during the Valentine’s Day special, this was an easily enjoyable double feature of movies and was great to watch with Joe Bob and company.

Between the numerous guests, the Fabio Frizzi score, and the two awesome movies; this was a great first outing for Season 5. Showing what many of the Mutant Family love about The Last Drive-In, reminded us of why we love the show and gave us an exciting peek into what to expect with the upcoming season, which gets me even more excited.

The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs airs live on Shudder TV on Fridays at 6 PM (PST); episodes are archived and posted the following Sunday.

For more Reviews, check out the content on That Hashtag Show.

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