For my final blog, I have decided to discuss the 1974 Blaxploitation/Horror film famously known as Abby, written and produced by William Gridler. The film Abby portrays a marriage counselor who’s world turned upside down, by an ancient sex demon who posses her body, mind, and soul. While finding a box in the caves within the country side west of Africa in Nigeria, Dr. Garret Williams had noticed that spelled out on the box is the name Eshu. Being completely oblivious to what was inside, Dr. Garret Williams had successfully opened the box; therefore, unleashing the African spirit known as Eshu. Dr. Garret Williams had no idea what the consequences were for opening that box. Once the spirit had been released Dr. Garret Williams daughter Abby had become the demons first victim taking over her body, causing her to lash out in strange and usual ways. Abby beings to lose any sense of what is right verse what is wrong, due to the demon controlling her. She begins to feel the urge and desire to sexually attack anyone who comes along her way. During one scene in the film Abby is seen entering what appears to be a disco club. The moment she enters the club it is almost as if her radar went off, scanning the club full of men. She instantly beings to flirt with multiple men until Abby comes across her next and official pray. By Abby, I am referring to the demon. After Abby spots Russel enjoying dinner alone at the club, she walks over to him and becomes extremely flirtatious towards him. At one point she even says to him “Well I hope you have some room left sweetie because your desert is still coming.” After Russel insists on taking her home, little does he know the surprise he is in for. As things become heated and Russel begins to show restraint towards Abby, the demon inside of her takes things into it’s own hands. The demon becomes impatient and attacks Russel. Society has placed false biases and had made prejudice claims towards African American women in regards to their sexual behavior and desires. Through Abby’s character within the film, one can see that her actions somewhat reinforced those negative stereotypes placed on African American women. Although it was not in Abby’s control, the demon inside of her is what triggered her desires to pray on men in an uncontrolled and immoral matter. Overall, having gone to a jewish private school all the way up until the start of my college career, I was never before exposed to the different aspects in regards to black horror films. The only sense of the world that I was educated in and knowledgeable about was rooted in Judaism, as I was surrounded by Jewish traditions, values, morals, and beliefs. Being that this is my second quarter at UCLA and my first time participating in a course that sheds a light on black horror, I am immensely appreciative of being able to learn the true and empowering meanings behind black horror films. I just want to say thank you so much for such a wonderful quarter at UCLA.

For this weeks blog post I have decided to talk about the spine chilling and drama filled film famously known as Beloved. Oprah Winfrey plays as Sethe, who is the mother of three children and is suffering the consequences of her past. Sethes home has been possessed by an evil spirit so strong that it had driven away both of her sons; therefore, leaving Sethe and her daughter to hopelessly live with this angered spirit creeping through the walls of the house. After years of unwillingly having to endure the neglect of the sprint, Sethe and her daughters life unexpectedly took a turn for the better when an old friend named Paul had arrived. In a sense, Paul was their savior. The moment he had entered their lives, Seth and her daughter began to feel a sense of happiness and were reminded of what it was like to live a more normal life. The problem was Paul’s unexpected entrance had only ticked off the spirit even more. One of the main scene that had caught my attention, was when Paul was taking a close look at the scarred tissue all over Sethes back. The marks appeared to be in the form of a tree. As he begins to gently kiss the marks on Sethes back the ghost shows up and does what it knows best, which was to terrorize them. The spirit than shoves the kitchen dining table towards Paul, slamming him against the wall. Fighting back the ghost with all his might, Paul pushes the table off of him, putting an end to the ghosts attack. What I found most interesting is how at any given moment where Seth would find any shred of happiness, the spirit would constantly feel the need to step in and remind her that it has not gone anywhere. Even when she would have any hint of healing such as forgetting about her past memories filled with horror, the horrible trauma she had faced over the years, or even when Paul gently kisses her wounds the ghost would always have to make entrance. Another scene that had caught my attention was when Seth, her daughter, and Paul had attended the Negro day fair. The moment they had arrive back home, the literal ghost of slavery had appeared in the flesh nearly gasping for air. This women on their lawn happened to be Beloved. The underlying message of this scene is that Beloved was a manifestation of the baby, except she had not retuned as a baby. Beloved had returned in the body of a women. The body she is in is also the grown body that Beloved would have been in at that very moment in time within the film. Seth, her daughter, and Paul don’t have any clue that she is a superficial manifestation. They are so clueless that they think she is disabled due to her being unable to talk maturely or even feed herself. In other words, it is a ghost of a child who is in a sense now back and alive, but this time she is stuck in the body of a young women. Beloveds true intentions of her return was for her to build that missing bond that she had lost as a child with her mother. That is why she had returned and somehow made it to the real realm from the spiritual realm. Overall, this film portrays the horror of pain and a mother who at one point is seen battling with her nurturing drive.

Night of The Living Dead is a 1968 timeless American horror film, which was both written and directed by George A. Romero. The moment I first heard that the underlying theme to this black horror film involved zombies, I wasn’t too excited about watching it. The reason being because after I had watched the first episode of the Netflix original “The Walking Dead,” I had told myself that I would never watch another film involving zombies again. Zombies appeared to be quiet grossum and overall disturbing to me. On the other hand, I could sit for days and nights binge watching anything that had the leading role of vampires in it. However, after getting cozied up in bed and making a huge bowl of popcorn for myself, my mindset completely changed when I watched Night of The living Dead. The further along in the film that I got the more intrigued I had become. This wasn’t like any horror film you see today with zombies in it. It had a complete different tone of horror to it. The protagonist Ben, is portrayed through the film as this heroic African American figure who stumbles across a nearby farmhouse. Little did he know, that there was a terrified white women named Barbra who was hiding in the farmhouse as well. Ben quickly takes notice that Barbra is mentally unstable due to being in complete shock. None the less, Ben does everything in his power to protect the both of them from being attacked by the zombies who are hunting them. This film breaks down all social norms when it comes to a black man and a white women being under the same roof together. Black men have had this negative stigma to them in films as being the possible rapists of white women. In the case of the Night of The living Dead, George A. Romero shuts down this stigma attached to black men by showing the protagonist playing a leading heroic role who is trying to protect the white women who he has unexpectedly crossed paths with. He shows kindness, support, and overall a sense of protection. Ben is shown not only fighting to keep himself alive, but those around him as well. One thing that bothered me, was that when Barbra saw Ben she acted as if he was a monster himself due to the color of his skin. Even after showing her that his intentions were pure and he wanted to keep them safe, she still gave the vibe that she was afraid of him when in reality the only thing she should have been afraid of were the zombies outside of the farmhouse. Overall, I really appreciated how George A. Romero portrayed Ben as this heroic character, giving the audience a deeper insight to black horror and shutting down the negativity followed behind certain social norms. I can definitely say that the Night of The living Dead will not be the last horror zombie film that I will watch. 

Eve’s Bayou is a 1997 American drama film, which was both written and directed by Kassi Lemmons. This was the time during 1997 when a black women had the opportunity to tell the different shades of horror, which is exactly what Kassi Lemmons had done through her film. This heartbreaking film is not only about family and relationships, but it is a story that turns to our shared humanity. The story is told through the eyes of a young protagonist known as Eve Bayou. Eve was born and raised amongst an upper class family living in a segregated area. Her family had inherited the land they lived upon; therefore, leaving the Bayou family thriving for generations. Everyone amongst her community knows one another and has a social standard. As the story begins to unfold, Eve’s mindset and true emotions begin to unravel as she takes a stroll down memory lane. Throughout the film Eve is seen battling through her memories rooted from her childhood. At the start of the film the young protagonist is constantly seen feeling unhappy and envious of her fathers relationship with her older sister Cicely as well as her mothers relationship with her younger brother. In a sense Eve feels like the middle child that receives an unequal amount of love and affection from her parents. Specifically, this envy attachment that she has towards her father begins to take a toll on her mentally and emotionally. It is also what drives the events of this heart-rending film. At first Eves father is portrayed within the story as what seems to be this perfect, well established, and highly respected doctor amongst the community. Kassi Lemmons slowly beings to reveal to her audience how imperfect Louis truly is through the tragic situations that Eve faces. Lemmons intentionally uses this sense of discomfort throughout the film to express the true horror of this story as well as the horror tied to hero worshipping. Both of these themes are what ends up negatively affecting Eve, eventually leading to her loss of innocence. Not in a sexual way. It is a loss of her innocence in regards to the love for her father. Eve has had to observe the weight of her fathers transgression and his outside affairs. Even when Eve catches her father in the carriage house participating in unmoral and womanizing actions, she couldn’t even come to ask her father about it due to worshiping the grounds that he had walked on. There is also this deep sense of fear that she has. This emotion of fear is triggered due to feeling like if she were to tell her father that she understood what she had seen that he would leave his family and they would be penniless. That is why Eve avoids the topic and decides to play dumb by switching the conversation and asking her father why he never dances with her at parties. Louis is the backbone to supporting their family and it was a chance she was not willing to take. Not only does Eve want some power in this story, but due to her fathers actions she ends up feeling even more powerless and is overwhelmed with this deep sense of insecurity brought upon her by her father. What is scary about this film is that Eve’s father might have had an insidious relationship with her older sister Cicely. Samuel El Jackson who plays Louis, lends his star power to this unflattering roll where he has to play both this cheating husband and this father who might have engaged in inappropriate behavior with his eldest daughter. The kiss between her father and Cicely, appears very early in the story. Eve pushes that envelope in the scene with her father and older sister. In Eves version the kiss appeared to be more inappropriate compared to her father who believed it to be nothing more than a fatherly kiss. It was also dependent on the duration of the kiss. This is why the story is a tragedy of a loss of innocence. These lines were so blurred that it brought a sense of confusion upon Eve. She has observed all of her fathers unacceptable and improper behavior, that had lead her to bottle up all these emotions. Eve reached a point where she convinced herself that all her anger had lead to her fathers death rather than realizing that the consequences of her fathers own actions is what lead to his death. Voodoo and rituals is also something that is not only portrayed within the film, but historically has been seen within black communities. Voodoo happens to be another theme, which Eve regrettably became involved with. Overall, this young and innocent young girl is seen left traumatized due to the consequences of her fathers actions. Eve’s father was so caught up in his own world that he was too distracted to see how much his decisions negatively impacted his daughters life. 

For this blog assignment I have decided to focus on Jordan Peele’s black horror film famously known as “Us.” Jordan Peele has done an excellent job in portraying the true expectations of black horror through both of his intense and well known films “Get Out and “Us.” The only difference is Peele’s horror film “Us” takes a toll on black horror in it’s own spine-chilling way compared to his original horror film “Get Out.” Within Peele’s horror film “Us” one can see that Peele tries to implement evil through the life of the Wilson family by showing them being in battle with their own replicated version of themselves. Through the Wilson family battling with what appears to be their own reflection, Peele’s intentions is to lead his audience into questioning where evil truly lies and whether evil is ones own rival. Above all, in Peele’s horror film “Us” one can really see the multiple themes that played out which are rooted from black horror. Due to attending Professor Due’s lecture, I was truly able to gain a much deeper insight in regards to the underlying themes that were incorporated throughout the film. 

The first theme revolved around the idea of survival. The meaning behind this theme involves the idea of fight or flight. In the case of Peele’s film “Us,” it is quite evident that the Wilson family automatically followed their protective instincts as a fighting mechanism from the moment they came face-to-face with their own apparition. Gabe is seen being quickly ordered by his father to get the bat for self-defense. On the other hand, Zora’s mother Adelaide is seen telling her to quickly get her shoes on. Clearly, Zora’s mother instantly knew that something bad was about to happen and that they were about to encounter a chase of a lifetime. Depending on the situation, human beings are naturally inclined to follow their survival instincts when needed to and without hesitation. Jordan Peele has done an astonishing job in portraying the theme survival through the characters by having them make instinctive decisions during horrifying matters. The second theme that is portrayed within the film is isolation. This idea of isolation is seen when the Wilson family are enjoying their day on the Santa Cruz beach. I remember when I came across this scene while watching the film, I had noticed that everyone on the beach were white individuals; therefore, the Wilson family were in a sense isolated due to them clearly being the only colored family that were on the beach. 

When I had first watched the film “Us” in theaters, I did not fully understand the meaning behind certain scenes. One scene in specific happened to be when young Adelaide was walking through the haunted game house that Professor Due had played in class. At first it was difficult for me to understand who the imposter was verse who the victim was, but after re-watching that scene during lecture I was able to gain a much better understating and differentiate between the two. I learned that the moment Adelaide walked into that haunted game house holding her big red apple, that she was in immediate threat by her doppelganger. Adelaide was than forced to switch places with her doppleganer Red, who wanted to live a normal life on the surface; therefore, leaving Adelaide trapped in the underworld under the surface. After truly understanding that scene, I had understood that Adelaide was the victim and Red was the imposter who posed a threat.