Friday, December 13, 2024

Tag: curses

Saloum
While American horror movies from Black creatives have gained a reputation in recent years (thanks in no small part to Jordan Peele) for incorporating racial and social commentary, the same can be said for black horror from around the globe. After all, black folks the world over have plenty...
Good Madam
In the US, Black domestic servitude still conjures antiquated images of Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen birthin' babies and whatnot, a concept that is, as they say, gone with the wind. In countries like Brazil and South Africa, however, domestic servitude goes hand in hand with Blackness, an ever-present...
The Summoned
The Summoned is well-made but by-the-numbers horror fare that relies on well-worn genre tropes -- the isolated location, the mysterious and most likely malevolent host, the creepy stranger who holds all the secrets, the foreboding dreams, the token black guy -- but for once, the black guy here is...
Titanic 666
Say what you will about The Asylum -- the poor quality of their films, their willingness to coast off the notoriety of bigger, better movies with “mockbusters” like Snakes on a Train and Independents' Day, the fact that their Sharknado films opened the floodgates for every Tom, Dick and...
O Anjo da Noite (Angel of the Night)
*SPOILER ALERT* In order to fully discuss this movie, I'll need to reveal its major plot points. Sorry. Also: *IGNORANCE OF BRAZILIAN CINEMA ALERT* Sorry again. Although the late Walter Hugo Khouri was a highly acclaimed and accomplished Brazilian director, his movies are ponderously difficult to find; at last check, only...
Black Holler
Remember all those slasher movies back in the '80s that featured a black "final girl" vanquishing the unstoppable psychopathic killer during the nail-biting, climactic finale? Me neither. Lucky for us, Black Holler is here to re-envision that era with a modern parody/homage that is single-handedly more inclusive than the...
Karma movie poster
A third generation of Van Peebles van peebles his way through this SyFy movie about the misdeeds of the past coming back to haunt you. Maybe this is the family’s penance for Jaws: The Revenge? Too soon? In truth, Karma isn’t Jaws IV-awful; it’s at worst SyFy mediocre. And...
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,...
The Tale of the Voodoo Prostitute
The Tale of the Voodoo Prostitute is a Miley Cyrus type of horror movie. That is, it's awash in crude cultural appropriation, adopting a stereotypical vision of blackness for some perceived hipness factor without ever truly buying into black culture. As evidenced by the golden gun-toting gangsta on the...
The Crooked Man
Michael Jai White never achieved the level of action stardom I thought he deserved. He had a great shot 20 years ago with the titular role in Spawn, but unfortunately for him, that movie kind of sucked. He had featured roles in high-profile films like Universal Soldier and Exit...