Following the Monstervision movie or movies is a film that TNT considers "100% Wierd" also now unhosted. Sometimes it has something to do with the evening's selection (2 Godzilla movies were followed by "All Monsters Attack") and sometimes not. Sometimes "100% Wierd" is just a short film about Bigfoot...
Have pity on me and stop the thunder noise
Saturday, July 15
The Exorcist (1973)
Demonic Possession. Head-spinning. Projectile green vomit. It's all here and a whole lot more in what is probably the only horror film to ever win nine Academy Award nominations. Linda Blair, in her greatest role, is the helpless little girl who becomes Satan's puppet and speaks in tongues. First in the increasingly bizaarre Exorcist movie series.
Rating: TV-14V.
MonsterVision review & host segments added to the 100% Wierd page for The Exorcist, a past MonsterVison movie
The Devil's Rain (1975)
Somewhere in an isolated part of the Southwest, a goat demon commands his followers to commit unspeakable acts. Devil worshipping cults always make good subjects for a movie and this one has a doozy of an ending. The cast includes Ernest Borgnine, Ida Lupino, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, Eddie Albert, Keenan Wynn, and if you look real hard you might spot John Travolta as one of the demonic cult members. Did we mention that this was NOT a Scientology cult? Rating: TV-14-V
MonsterVision review & host segments for The Devil's Rain, a past MonsterVision feature
Saturday, July 22
The Black Hole (1979)
What happens to a star when it dies? It becomes a compressed mass where the laws of physics cease to exist. In this Disney sci-fi epic (the studio's answer to Star Wars), a crew of explorers encounter this mysterious phenomenon when they make contact with the U.S.S. Cygnus, a previously missing-in-action spacecraft which is now manned by its sole human occupant and a crew of cutesy robots. The all-star cast includes Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, Yvette Mimieux, and Joseph Bottoms. Rating: TV-PG-V. No 100% Wierd page available, but TNT did post this picture of the movie's killer robot
Piranha 2: The Spawning (1981)
See previous year listing for description. Rating: TV-14-V.
Saturday, July 29
Tron (1982) at 1 am ET/PT.
Jeff Bridges plays a game designer who gets sucked inside a powerful computer where he must fight for his life in a complex videogame competition. The man responsible for this dire situation is David Warner, an evil corporate bigwig who specializes in stealing computer games from creative developers. The combination of live action and computerized graphics was considered a major breakthrough in technology at the time of the film's release, though by today's standards it might come across as nothing more than a weird novelty. Rating: TV-PG-V 100% Wierd page for Tron
Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) at 3 am
Long before aliens destroyed the White House in Independence Day, extraterrestrial foes invaded Washington, D.C. in this end-of-the-world thriller featuring Ray Harryhausen's startling special effects. The Washington Monument and all your other favorite tourist attractions get trashed but fear not. Scientist Hugh Marlowe and girlfriend Joan Taylor find the perfect solution to the dilemma. Rating: TV-PG
100% Wierd page for Earth vs. The Flying Saucers including original movie poster
Saturday, August 5
C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the CHUD (1989) at 2:30 am ET/PT.
While snooping around the school science lab, a group of bumbling teenagers manage to lose a cadaver. They rush to a nearby medical facility to find a replacement. What they find instead is Bud, a "a "cannibalistic humanoid underground dweller." In this sequel to the cult classic C.H.U.D., Gerrit Graham plays the titular C.H.U.D. This blend of comedy and horror also features such notables as Robert Vaughn, Norman Fell and, oddly enough, Bianca Jagger.
Rating: TV-14-V 100% Wierd page for Bud the CHUD
The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956) 4:20 am
Guy Madison plays an American cowboy living in Mexico near a legendary mountain. And guess what? It's reportedly hollow and inhabited by a giant prehistoric beast. The legend turns out to be true when the cowboy's cattle become lunch for a large dinosaur from the imagination of Ray Harryhausen.
100% Wierd page for Beast of Hollow Mountain
Saturday, August 12
Buried Secrets (1996) 2:00 pm, repeated 2:45 am ET/PT
While renting a shore house, a young woman (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) is visited by the ghost of the former owner's daughter, who can't rest until her mother's murder is solved. No 100% Wierd page available, but this movie actually turns up on the Lifetime channel!
Daughters of Satan (1972) 4:45 am
James Robertson (Tom Selleck of "Runaway" in his first feature) buys a painting depicting witches being burned at the stake, one of whom bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife, Chris. Gradually, his wife is possessed by the personality of the painted witch, joins forces with two other reincarnated crones and plots her husband's death. Set in the Phillipines, this creeper is sure to satisfy. When Selleck found out it wasn't available on video, he put it out himself!
Rating TV-14 Original 100% Wierd page for Daughters Of Satan, not to be confused with Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie #908, Touch Of Satan
Tuesday, August 15
WarGames (1983) at 2:00 am
John Badham's thriller about a high-schooler (Matthew Borderick) whose home computer gains access to the U.S. missle-launch system. Dabney Coleman is cast against type as a self-centered jerk. MonsterVision review & host segments have been restored from a previous broadcast, with guest Colonel David Hackworth
Saturday, August 19
Arena (1991) 2:30 am
In this sci-fi spoof of gladiator/martial arts films, Paul Satterfield plays Steve Armstrong, a human who enters an intergalactic fighting competition after being "discovered" by an alien talent agent. Armstrong finds that he has to battle not only his large and powerful opponents, but corruption as well.
Rating: TV-PG-SV
100% Wierd page for Arena
The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1972) 4:30 am
An architect and his wife are flying from London to LA. with an altar from an ancient abbey secured in the plane's cargo hold. Also aboard are Buddy Ebsen (of Beverly Hillbillies fame) as a pushy millionaire, William Shatner as a drunken and jaded ex-priest, Tammy Grimes as a nutcase and Chuck Connors as the intrepid pilot. Even the Professor from Gilligan's Island is on board! Crew and passengers come into jeopardy when an invisible demon escapes from the altar and threatens the plane in an effort to destroy the architect's wife. No, it doesn't make any sense and Shatner doesn't see it out on the wing, but don't miss the hilarious mile-high terror!
MonsterVision review & host segments on tape but not yet typed up by me
Rating: TV-14 Original 100% Wierd page for Horror at 37,000 Feet, which was followed by an episode of
The New Twilight Zone
Saturday, August 26
The Great Outdoors (1988) 1 am ET/PT
A Chicago man and his family go camping with his obnoxious brother-in-law and
his family. Dan Aykroyd, John Candy,
Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening. Original 100% Wierd page for The Great Outdoors from 1999 Summer School, Monstervision Review & Host Segments temporarily unavailable, does anyone have it on tape?
Phantasm II (1990) 3am
This sequel to the cult classic brings a bigger budget to the original story. The teens from the first film seek revenge against the grave-robbing "Tall Man," played by Angus Scrimm. The flying spiked ball (always a crowd-pleaser) returns as well. In the original Monstervision showing a year or two ago, Joe Bob noted that they couldn't find a special effect that looked right, so they brought in a baseball pitcher and had him use a fastball pitch with the gold globes. He also noted that the villain in the Poltergeist movies seemed to be a direct steal of "The Tall Man." Rating: TV-14-LV
Previous MonsterVision review & host segments for Phantasm II
Monday, August 28, @ 1:00 pm
It's Alive (1975)
The worst pregnancy on record wasn't Rosemary's Baby after all! Sharon Farrell had a much harder time of it giving birth to this hideous little brat which promptly slaughtered every doctor and nurse in the delivery room. A cautionary tale about fertility drugs and other social issues directed by the eclectic Larry Cohen. Definitely a highpoint in the killer-baby genre. Rating: TV-14-V
past Monstervision Review & Host Segments
Monday night, August 28 @ 2:00 am, and Tuesday @ 1:00 pm
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992, click here for final Joe Bob Briggs host segments from previous MonsterVision showing)
He Who Walks Behind the Rows returns to Gatlin, New Mexico to take revenge on the people who have poisoned his cornfields with toxic chemicals. Reporter John Garrett (Terence Knox) and his son Danny (Paul Scherrer) get caught up in the mayhew which includes a series of bizarre deaths: a doctor is stabbed by his own hypodermic, an invalid takes a ride through a plate glass window, etc. Rating: TV-14-V.
Critters (1986) at 4:00 am
Small fur balls with sharp teeth escape an alien prison facility and escape to Earth where they find plenty of humans to bite. Their fun is soon interrupted by two extraterrestrial bounty hunters who have the ability to change shape at will. A past MonsterVision movie and an entertaining sci-fi/horror comedy that spawned three sequels with the imaginative titles: Critters 2, Critters 3, and Critters 4. Dee Wallace Stone and M. Emmet Walsh head the cast. Rating: TV-14-V. No 100% Wierd page available, just MonsterVision host segments for Critters.
Saturday, September 2
The Road Warrior (1981) @ Midnight
Loner Mad Max (Mel Gibson in all 3 movies) fights barbarian bikers for gasoline in the wasteland future. Bruce Spence, Emil Minty, Vernon Wells, Mike Preston, Kjell Nilsson, Virginia Hey, Syd Heylen, Moria Claux, David Slingsby. Directed by George Miller. Note: Adult Situations, Nudity, Violence (originally rated R). A past MonsterVision movie, Monstervision Review & Host Segments, and here's Joe Bob's Monstervision review & host segments for Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome. Road Warrior was actually "Mad Max 2" but, well, I'll let Joe Bob tell it, not to be confused with the tell (that's in Mad Max 3)
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) 2:00 am
Fifth and last installment of the Apes saga, "Battle" brings the story full circle, with the humans waging a final war for control of the Earth. Roddy McDowell dons the ape makeup one more time to portray "Caesar," the noble ape leader striving for peace. Rating: TV-PG-LV
Original 100% Wierd page for Battle for the Planet of the Apes, followed @ 4am by The Road Warrior so you can cheer your favorite scenes again
Saturday, September 9, 12:00 midnight, a 23 hour Stephen King marathon starting with:
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
A truck-stop cook and a hitchhiker flee big rigs demonized by a rogue comet. Joe Bob says director King got tired of dealing with the actors about half-way thru and just directed the trucks from then on.
Directed by Stephen King, adapted from his novel. Stars: Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardly Smith (better known as the voice of Bart Simpson), John Short, Ellen McElduff, J.C. Quinn, Christopher Murney, Holter Graham, Frankie Faison. A past MonsterVision movie Maximum Overdrive review & host segments
followed by: Christine (1983)
Car love takes on a whole new meaning in Stephen King's bestselling tale of a 1958 Plymouth Fury and the teenage boy (Keith Gordon) who becomes obsessed with her. Or is he possessed by her? John Carpenter directs this tender tale of auto-eroticism co-starring John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Rating: TV-14. Joe Bob's Review & Host Segments of Christine
Saturday, September 16
Howling 3: The Marsupials (1987) 1:30 am
In this strange and humorous take on the werewolf genre, a race of human-like marsupials are terrorizing the Australian countryside. While studying this odd blend of kangaroo and werewolf, a scientist falls in love with one of them. G' day, mate indeed! Rating: TV-14-LV
MonsterVision movie review & host segments for Howling 3
The Howling: New Moon Rising (1995) @ 3:30 am
The seventh and last (so far) of the popular werewolf/werekangaroo series has us in a small California town where once again, there's a vicious creature running loose in the hills attacking humans - and no wolf could be that big.
MonsterVision review & host segments for Howling 7
This was the final 100% Wierd listing on the tnt.turner.com/Monstervision website before they pulled the plug. The new slow-loading (too much javascript, I guess) current TNT website is www.tnt.tv and it does not have a Monstervision or Joe Bob page. Here was their final message:
As some of you might have heard by now, Joe Bob is hitching up the trailer and moving on to greener pastures. After nearly five years, we at TNT wish him a fond farewell. Our latenight airwaves will not be the same without him. Joe Bob's new official site can be found at www.joebobbriggs.com. Good luck, JB. May your coozie always be full and may all your movies be drive-in worthy! His final TNT broadcast was July 8th, "Children of the Corn 2"
Hey - check out the new Edgar Allan Poe tribute!
This vast website devoted to Monstervision built and maintained by half-vast fans including but limited to Bill Laidlaw
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The best book we've seen for looking up movie titles and descriptions is the Movie / Video Guide by Leonard Maltin (even if he does like "Laserblast")
Joe Bob's Monstervision host segments, August to December 1999 starting with the annual Summer School movies
Joe Bob's Monstervision, January to July 2000, right up to the final episode
1999 Monstervision Summerschool Yearbook of Fans, are you listed?
Beware of Killer Tomatoes (midi)