Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Tag: 2010s

The Tokoloshe
2013’s Ghetto Goblin was a cheapie from South Africa whose name change from Blood Tokoloshe reflected a cheesiness inherent in the production, but The Tokoloshe is a much more polished, professional affair that thankfully avoided a name change for American consumption, so we don’t have to deal with watching...
Pilgrim
Unlike Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving has struggled to find a foothold within the horror genre -- unless, perhaps, you’re a Native American who tells campfire stories about the White Man’s arrival, spreading pestilence, genocide and gluten intolerance. Cinematically speaking, though, Thanksgiving has been a famine for horror; even lesser...
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
47 Meters Down: Uncaged has about as much in common with 47 Meters Down as it does with 47 Ronin. Sure, it revolves around sharks trying to eat people, but it’s nowhere near 47 meters below the surface and it doesn’t involve any sort of Mandy Moore-adjacent caging mishap,...
Jacob's Ladder
Having rewatched the original Jacob’s Ladder recently, I found that, although the whole “shaky head” effect has become something of a horror cliche over the years, it holds up well as a visually striking and narratively challenging -- but ultimately rewarding -- paranoid thriller with a poignant emotional core....
Little Monsters
Although she’s starred in more acclaimed films, Little Monsters might just be the movie that best embodies the spirit of the Cult of Lupita Nyong'o. All of the qualities we’ve come to love about her -- beauty, style, class, wit, charisma, smarts, vivacity -- are on full display in...
The Curse of Buckout Road
For most of America (and the world, for that matter), the name Buckout Road means very little, but in and around Westchester County, New York, it’s apparently famous for being haunted. Or cursed. Or maybe both. Less famous than regional legends like the Headless Horseman and the Jersey Devil,...
Head Count
It’s sad that in 2019, it’s still rare enough for a black woman to be the primary love interest in a “non-black” horror movie that when it happens, it’s noteworthy. Leading black male love interests aren’t particularly common either, but black guys at least seem to get more supporting...
The Intruder
Over the past decade, suspense thrillers with black protagonists have multiplied to previously unknown heights, and like all great cultural developments on planet Earth, we have Beyonce to thank. The success of her 2009 film Obsessed helped convince major Hollywood studios (or more precisely, a single studio, since most...
Ma movie poster
Ma is two movies in one, and which one you experience may depend on whether you’re black or you’re white. Think of it as a racial Rorschach test. On the surface, its plot doesn’t have much to do with race. It’s basically an intergenerational take on the “psycho stalker thriller”...
Thriller movie poster
No, Thriller isn't a Michael Jackson-themed horror movie (that would be Leaving Neverland); rather, it's mega-producer Jason Blum’s latest attempt to further the black horror cause. Unlike his hits Get Out, Us and the Purge films, however, Thriller headed straight to Netflix rather than playing in your local multiplex...and...