If you’re unfamiliar, every week on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs; former Monstervision host Joe Bob Briggs and his co-host Darcy The Mail Girl feature two movies that sometimes tie in together, or sometimes they don’t. Despite many fans ( myself included) thinking we were getting some sort of horny Werewolf double feature. Instead, this week was a double feature of Jaws rip-off horror movies with Alligator (1980) and Grizzly (1976).

Blatant Rip Off

Both of these movies make no effort to hide their influence from Steven Speilberg‘s iconic blockbuster, Jaws. However, they’re still fun in their own respective ways. In some ways, I prefer Alligator to Jaws (personally).

Both movies feature some great kills and fun performances from their lead actors. Even just passing similarities like the movies having scenes with children/bear cubs that shy away from showing the gruesome act. To even the explosive finale of both films. Joe Bob even had a chart at the end comparing Jaws to Grizzly, and once you see it in chart form, it’s hard to deny.

Alligator The Last Drive-In

While neither film had a guest, it’s also hard to do considering Robert Forster‘s passing; and I’m sure most of the cast and crew of Grizzly are either not with us or hard to find; but I would’ve loved to have someone on from Gravitas Ventures to discuss their efforts to release Grizzly II, but that obviously would take away from the first film. So perhaps it was a losing battle; but as someone who’s always championing the Last Drive-In to have more guests. It’s great to see more people doing the same after last week’s great episode with Phill Tippett.

Conclusion

While the movies this week were entertaining enough, neither are the top-tier movies shown. A lack of guests certainly didn’t help either. Still, hyper-focusing on this week’s theme makes for an entertaining meta-watch of Jaws rip-off movies.

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

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

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