Thursday, March 28, 2024

Movie Reviews

Reviews of primarily American movies featuring actors and actresses of Black / African-American descent in the horror-movie, slasher, gore, supernatural and related spooky film genres.

2001 Maniacs horror movie
This sequel to the 1964 cult classic Two Thousand Maniacs is more like a remake -- or a "reimagining," if you will -- with a more overt racial connotation, thanks to the inclusion of "Negro" Malcolm (Mushond Lee) and his "Chinaman" girlfriend Leah (Bianca Smith), as Mayor Buckman (Robert...
28 Days Later horror movie poster
Those of you looking for a sequel to Sandra Bullock’s alcoholic drama 28 Days will probably be disappointed in 28 Days Later. The first clue that you have the wrong movie might be all the British accents. The second might be all the murders. The gritty and truly frightening...
Abar the First Black Superman In Your Face blaxploitation movie poster
Abar, the First Black Superman is sort of like Soul Vengeance minus the phallic asphyxiation: it's not really horror, but it features a supernatural element that, combined with a Blaxploitation militancy and rigid acting, generates a true camp spectacle. In the case of Abar, the supernatural aspect is man-made:...
Abby horror movie poster
The title Abby might sound like a '70s sitcom (I can hear the theme song now: "Abby, she's crabby...kind of stabby."), but it's in fact a Blaxploitation horror movie that plays out unabashedly in the vein of The Exorcist. In fact, it came dangerously close to being called Blackorcist,...
Africa Addio (AKA Africa Blood and Guts) movie poster
Shockumentary, or "mondo", films are trash. There, I said it. Some people love their sleaziness, some (I'd guess most) don't. I fall into the "don't" camp, and although I wouldn't lump them together with fictional horror, that's where they're generally found in the video store, so I figured I'd...
Alabama's Ghost movie poster
The film Alabama's Ghost defies classification. Is it horror? Is it comedy? Is it sci-fi? Is it a musical? Regardless of the genre, one thing's certain: there were copious amounts of LSD involved. The movie is perhaps best summed up by a line uttered by shady agent Otto Max...
Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid movie poster
Just as Anacondas multiplies the number of killer snakes from the original film for your viewing pleasure, so does it multiply the number of black characters. Are the filmmakers comparing black people to snakes? Ed Bradley investigates tonight at 7:00... Of the eight people who go troddin' through the jungles...
April Fools horror movie
You have to love April Fools. Otherwise, you might end up blowing your brains out. What feels like a film with production values above typical "urban horror" fare turns out to be frustratingly devoid of quality. But where quality is lacking, camp appeal reigns supreme, and if camp is...
Arachnia horror movie poster
This otherwise laughable giant spider movie is notable in that it features a black heroine, Chandra (Irene Joseph). Granted, Chandra is just as laughable as the rest of the film, but hey, she's there. The entire cast, Joseph included, acts as stiffly as understudies in a high school play,...
Are You Scared horror movie
Sometimes I feel like I might overreact a bit when I complain about certain African-American portrayals in horror movies -- and really, in movies in general -- but then along comes a film like Are You Scared. This low-budget, mediocre Saw rip-off finds six teens trapped in warehouse under...