Saturday, April 20, 2024

Tag: horror comedies

Vampire in Brooklyn movie poster
When I was in college, I remember seeing an early screening of Vampire in Brooklyn featuring a Q&A session with director Wes Craven. To this day I regret not asking, "Why shouldn't I bludgeon you?" His answer, I imagine, would've been something along the lines of "Just because you...
Topper Returns movie poster
In the third and final film in the Topper series of supernatural misadventures featuring lovable ghosts, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson is featured as Topper’s chauffeur, with his raspy, yelling voice (much more animated than Willie Best/Stepin Fetchit, and perhaps even slightly more than Mantan Moreland). Bug-eyed double takes are the...
Kracker Jack'd
Kracker Jack'd feeds off the fear that, DC Sniper and Atlanta Child Murderer aside, serial killers tend to be white. It's a fine basis for a film, and had anyone involved in the creative process been blessed with a modicum of talent, it might've lived up to that potential....
Leprechaun Back 2 tha Hood movie poster
Most people strive to escape the ghetto, but good ol' Leprechaun seems to relish it -- so much so that he's gone "back 2 tha hood" after his first time around. Rory (Laz Alonso) is a "good" drug dealer who you’re supposed to root for because he's not the...
Leprechaun in the Hood movie poster
What can you say about a movie in which a man gets stabbed in the neck with an afro pick and a Leprechaun quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. within the first five minutes? At least it's not directed by Uwe Boll? Actually, this is above average for a direct-to-video...
Mantan Moreland in Lucky Ghost movie poster
An all-black horror comedy starring Mantan Moreland and sometimes partner (and straight man) F.E. Miller, Lucky Ghost is amusing low-brow fare that exploits the more base, stereotypical elements of old-time black life (chicken thievin', gamblin', runnin' from ghosteses) for laughs -- sort of like the BET of its day....
Meeting at Midnight Charlie Chan movie poster
This Charlie Chan outing (Battle of the racial stereotypes!) isn't really horror, but Mantan Moreland's role is limited -- even in light of the time period -- to being spooked at the mere prospect of there being ghosts...which there weren't. Too bad, because the gag gets old quickly, with...
The Midnight Hour movie poster
I remember the awe with which I watched this made-for-TV movie as a child. I didn't have cable, and The Midnight Hour came as close to HBO as anything I had access to outside of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on Friday Night Videos. This comparison is apt, as Midnight Hour's...
Midnight Menace horror movie poster
Midnight Menace is a 24-minute all-black musical showcase for Lollypop Jones, who apparently was a vaudeville singer and dancer back in the '40s. Unfortunately for us, he wasn't an actor. Jones stars as himself, a performer who shows up for a gig and goes to his dressing room (he...
Mutant Vampire Zombies from the Hood horror movie poster
A week from next Thursday, a solar flare will engulf the Earth, turning most of the population into zombies. Or are they vampires? Mutants perhaps? Whatever they are, they're disturbingly horny. This is the premise behind Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood!, a fairly enjoyable apocalyptic romp that still...