Special Event: The Last Drive-In Live: A Tribute to Roger Corman

March 16, 2024 11:58 AM

Joe Bob Briggs and Darcey the Mail Girl pay tribute to one of the most influential, but often overlooked filmmakers: Roger Corman.

Corman, his wife Julie, and Bruce Dern join JBB and Darcey at the Last Drive In Jamboree in Las Vegas to show Bucket of Blood and Deathstalker.

posted by miss-lapin (3 comments total)

I need to embroider "Life is more fun with boobs and whangdoodles" on a pillow.
posted by miss-lapin at 11:58 AM on March 16

Haven't watched this episode yet, but wanted to chime in to say: I was working recently on compiling a list of horror films directed by women, and I was surprised to find how many of Corman's (exec-produced) films fall into that category. Based on this letterboxd list, 13 of the 69 horror films he produced were directed by women.

(Of course, the downside to this was that Corman's pull/renown as a genre/cult filmmaker + the usual misogyny permeating Hollywood means he's the one most strongly associated with many of those films, not the directors. For example, check out these VHS covers for Velvet Vampire. Can you tell who directed it? Guess what, it was Stephanie Rothman -- not mentioned at all on the first cover (though Corman is), and listed as a "star" on the second (she did not act in the film, only directed). So, double-edged sword, I guess...)
posted by alyxstarr at 1:54 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

I have a real soft spot for Corman's The Gunslinger, which is terrible but also weirdly compelling in parts. "You're not bad. You're just no good." Of course, I've only seen it in MST3K form ("what it is, little wormy dude?"), and I imagine they trimmed some of the tedium out.
posted by praemunire at 3:24 PM on March 19