Tag: racism
Leslie Uggams was one of those "triple threat" artists that were so prevalent in the '60s and '70s, a time when just a modicum of talent -- and many of them had just that -- warranted your own variety show. Who would guess, though, that amongst her generally classy...
There's nary a black person in Psycho Cop Returns, but I was amused by a scene near the end of the film in which said psycho cop (Bobby Ray Shafer) catches up with "final girl" -- i.e., the one who never gets naked -- Sharon (Barbara Niven) on a...
Soul Vengeance is not generally considered horror, but what else would you call a film in which a guy strangles people with his mutated penis? A helluva good time, that's what! In this cult film from writer-director Jamaa Fanaka (Penitentiary), Charles (Marlo Monte) is arrested and nearly castrated by...
Of all the all-black horror movies to receive a theatrical release since the Blaxploitation era (let's say, four), Tales from the Hood is probably the best. Smarter than Bones, with a grander scale than Def by Temptation, and well, it's not Vampire in Brooklyn, TFTH follows the standard Tales from the Crypt...
With a title like The Thing With Two Heads, you might expect some sort of, well, "thing". Instead, we get a two-headed man -- or if you prefer, a one-bodied two-person. With no gore, no death, no scares and no monster, it's a stretch to call this a horror...
Although the horror elements in the Twilight Zone movie don't coincide with the racial elements, the racial portions are horrific in their own right. In the first tale, pissed-off racist Bill Connor (Vic Morrow) -- a reference to notorious Birmingham, Alabama segregationist Eugene "Bull" Connor perhaps? -- loses out...
Wow, I didn't think they made movies like this anymore...and I wish I was right. Urban Nightmare is a heinous throwback to '80s cop movies in which all minorities are ridiculously stereotyped criminals, and it's up the hard-boiled white cop to mop up the streets with 'em. In this...
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...
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:...
When I rented this film at the video store, the clerk looked at me and asked, "You know this isn't the Josh Hartnett movie, right?"
"Yeah," I muttered with an embarrassment normally reserved for KY Jelly and Hustler purchases. "I'm not expecting much."
You see, having recently sat through Zombie Nation,...
