Four of America’s foremost indie theaters will host premiere week of “Joe Bob’s Indoor Drive-In Geek-Out,” a partnership between the American Genre Film Archive and Joe Bob Briggs dedicated to rescuing our exploitation film heritage, bringing people back to theaters, and celebrating live hosted events.
The American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) is the largest non-profit genre-film archive and distributor in the world, and Joe Bob Briggs is the drive-in movie critic and author who has hosted, curated, and produced more than 20,000 hours of genre-film television. Together they are launching a long-term program to select movies from AGFA’s 6,000-title catalog for presentations by Joe Bob at live theatrical events.
Briggs said of the partnership, “The AGFA catalog is like crack for me. AGFA has unearthed, saved, restored, and acquired the rights for some of the wildest, weirdest, strangest, and downright freakiest films ever made—ask me for the list if you don’t believe me—and we’re about to assault the public with giant screens, overwhelming sound systems, and lots of background information from me that you didn’t realize you needed until I accessed the rogue region of your brain.”
The first program to be curated is “Cerebellum Night,” a double feature of The Brain (1988) and Brain Damage (1989) that will kick off June 28 and travel to all points of the compass in the “Geek-Out” premiere week. First stop is Boston’s community treasure—the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline—followed two days later by a presentation at the venerable Texas Theatre in Dallas, just as famous for its innovative programming as for being the place where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. On July 2 the show moves to the west coast and the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland then culminates in Chicago on July 5 with Joe Bob’s return to the Windy City’s premier repertory theater, the Music Box.
“Growing up, Joe Bob’s insight and wit on exploitation movies was a beacon of joy for all of us,” said Joseph A. Ziemba, creative director of AGFA. “We’re beyond grateful to help him bring that same joy to theaters across the country . . . and hopefully fry some synapses in the process.”
Tickets are $25 for all theaters--north, south, east, and west--and the four premiere-week venues are preparing a poster to commemorate the event.
“These four theaters are all trendsetters in the world of genre and cult programming,” said Briggs, “so this is like going to Carnegie Hall for me. These are the places where the geeks and nerds of America already hang out, so we’re gonna go to 11 with the commentary. This will not just be a deep dive—we will be descending into the Mariana Trench in the Fantastic Voyage submarine.”
AGFA and Briggs hope to bring many more double features to live audiences everywhere. Theaters interested in booking Cerebellum Night or any other AGFA films may contact Valerie Nuzzo at bookingjoebob@gmail.com for the complete slate of offerings.
Tickets for all four events are available online now:
6/28 – Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA
6/30 –Texas Theatre, Dallas, TX
7/2 –Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR
7/5 –Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL