HALLOWEEN FRIGHT FEST LIST, AND

HORROR FILMS ON THE BLACK HAND SIDE

Here are some capsule reviews of Horror genre films either with Black stars, villains/victims, or what have you. They include horror hybrids such as Laurence Fishburne's "Event Horizon" Bill Cosby's "Ghost Dad" for the little ones, and comedy such as the Wayans clan's Scary Movies franchise.

Also, here is a list of Horror films for Halloween, and as you can see the definitions here are a bit elastic. Did I miss one of your favourites? Drop another line and let me know, and we’ll see. Bear in mind that I’m a Film Critic, and this means theatrical movies, in a theatre on a big screen, as the Gods fully intended for them to be! So many Cable, direct To Video or Made For TV movies won’t be represented.

Many of these have been reviewed in capsule form, and some can be found on http://www.blackwebportal.com/wire

Horr Flicks On The Black Hand Side:

A Vampire In Brooklyn

Blacula

Brother Jeckyl And Sister Hyde

Bone Collector

Demon Knight

The People Under The Stairs

Scream, Blacula Scream

Ghost Dad

-----------------

6th Sense

13 Ghosts

28 Days later

The 7 Bros vs. Dracula

A Vampire In Brooklyn

Aliens

American Werewolf In Paris

Astronaut’s Wife

Bram Stokers Dracula

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Blair Witch Projects

Bless The Child

Bringing Out The Dead

Cabin Fever

Constantine

Carrie 2: The Rage

Cursed

ZOMBIE MOVIES:

Night Of The Living Dead

Dawn Of The Dead

Day Of The Dead

Land Of The Dead

Shaun Of The Dead

------------------

Dracula 2000

Deadly Friend

Event Horizon

Exorcist: The Beginning

Fallen

Freddy Krueger/Nightmares On Elm Streets

The Frighteners

From Dusk 'til Dawn

From Hell

The Haunting

High Tension

Ghost

Halloween 4: Season Of The Witch

Halloween 20

Hellraiser Series

House On Haunted Hill

The Haunting

Idle Hands

In The Mouth Of Madness

John Carpenter's Vampires

Lost Souls

Ninth Gate

Phantom Of The Opera

Pitch Black

Prince Of Darkness

Salem's Lot

Screams

Serpent And The Rainbow

Stir Of Echoes

Shocker

Signs

Sleepy Hollow

Stigmata

Stir Of Echoes

Tales From The ‘Hood

Tales Of The Darkside

The Others

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Unbreakable

Urban Legend

Von Helsing

The Village

Warlocks I & Ii

White Noise

Wrong turn

--------------------

DEMON KNIGHT -- Jada Pinkette smith, before she was in the “Matrix” movies and became a gun toting action heroine in “Set It Off” Pinkette starred in this supernatural flick. The Demon Knight is actually a warrior for God, who wields a powerful amulet -- a vial with some of the blood from the crucified Christ. Each Knight adds some of their own when the time comes. And there will be plenty, just you see! Billy Zane plays the villain who wants the amulet so evil can take over the planet.

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS -- Ving Rhames of “Dawn of the Dead” in a fact-based horror flick about a brother-sister White couple who kept captured people in a dungeon they built in their massive old house! This actually took place near the East Coast, and involved a Black neighborhood where the incestuous Odd Couple lived. Since I live in Milwaukee where Jeffrey Dahmer did his grisly thing, this has added impact for us in Brew City Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN -- Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett star in this Black Hand Side vampire flick, which could be considered a follow-up to the island based “Scream Blackula Scream (see below). ”

Eddie Murphy is a Caribbean vampire prince who is in search of new blood. He needs a vampire woman descendant to bear his heir, and that’s where Bassett comes in. She’s a NYPD detective who finds night duty is more to her liking and whose father was a mystery, even to her mother.

The Sistah stunt woman died in the making of the movie, its the scene where Bassett falls off a building into an alley. The star and her sub who was one of the best stunt persons in the business had become friends, and the family wanted the scene included as a tribute to her, according to the story in Premiere magazine.

SCARY MOVIES --They made them change the title, from the original “Scream If You Know What I Did Last Summer” by the same crew that brought you “Don’t Be A Menace In South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The ‘Hood.”

The Wayans clan are at it again in these send up of the Teen Horror genre. Each release they skewer the latest horror films, such as “The Ring” , “Signs”, “Exorcist,” and whatever is handy. Tons of sight gags, slapstick and the same lack of self consciousness that made their “In Living Colour” such a smash on TV and launched the careers of the various Wayans, as well as Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, and Jim Carrey.

FROM HELL -- One of the Hughes twins directed this retelling of the Jack The Riper mystery with Johnny Depp as an investigator on his last legs. Hughes explained that just because he was known with his brother for Urban ‘Hood dramas like their stunning “Menace II Society” didn’t mean they didn’t have the basic movie making and storytelling skills, and that he got this. And he proved it well in this moody and intelligent period movie based in Britain about the still unsolved case of one of the most celebrated serial killers who stalked and carved up women in the heart of London and may have had a connection to the Order of Freemasons and the British crown itself.

HYBRID HORROR:

EVENT HORIZON -- Laurence Fishburne is a spaceship captain of the Lewis and Clark recovery expedition with Joely Fisher among the crew to recover a strangely reappeared starship with a revolutionary Warp Drive invented by Sam Neill (in the mouth of madness, “Jurassic Parks” I and III) Where it has been in the seven years since it disappeared with its crew outside the orbit of Uranus is just one of the mysteries. The brother who is the all-around make it better man is like the indestructible brother in Jason X, which is another hybrid horror space Sci Fi flick. They have those now, including....

DREAM CATCHER -- Morgan Freeman co-stars in this Stephen King book to movie about alien invasion, three lifelong buds and alien possession. Freeman is an old military hand who’s been fighting a behind-the-scenes cold war against recurrent invasions since he was a young man. This is akin to the TV series such s “Dark Skies” and the like. Since for my upcoming feature on “Sci Fi Brothas and Sistahs” I’m collecting actors in the massive changeover from tones past when it was rare to see a person of African Descent in anything about SF, especially dealing with a Future Earth, I noticed that Freeman is in his third or so SF Flick. He played the President in “Deep Impact,” and a conflicted general in “Outbreak,” which is a movie we’ll definitely be treating in the coming Flu Season and the scare about Avian Flu, SARS and vaccine shortages.

UNBREAKABLE -- Samuel Jackson co-stars once again with real life pal Bruce Willis in this movie made along the lines of a comic book about a man who is essentially immortal.

PITCH BLACK -- In the original film to Vin Diesel’s epic and hoped for “Chronicles of Riddick” franchise, this introduces the super criminal who leads a band of colonists to safety when a planet goes into a period of darkness when night creatures come out to slay.

“Pitch Black” was the second or third in a science fiction wave that led up to the big budget release “Mission To Mars.” In this film, a crew crash lands on a planet infested with killer monsters who are kept at bay by the bright suns. Until the eclipse starts, then there’s screaming and running!

“The original “XXX”, and “Boiler Room’s” Vin Diesel stars as the colonists only hope for survival after the slavering aliens wake up and come flooding out onto the surface, like bats out of Hell.

COMEDIC HORROR FLICKS:

GHOST --Whoopi Goldberg co-stars and won an Oscar for her role as a fake medium who can really see dead people, and a spirit of a man who was murdered needs her to bring his killer to justice. This is the one that started it all in our era, and made bigger stars out of Patrick Swayze (“Road House”, “Point Break”, “Dirty Dancing“) and Demi Moore who plays his fiancé.

“THE FRIGHTENERS” --Michael J. Fox is a medium who sees dead people, and figures out how to make a buck out of it, too. My boy! This is a comedic and light movie whose later claim to fame is that the director Peter Jackson went on to direct such blockbusters as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and the King Kong remake out this holiday season.

IDLE HANDS – Jessica Alba, before she was “Honey,” and before she was the “Dark Angel” on TV, and after she had a small role as one of the popular girls in Drew Barrymore’s “Never Been Kissed” and well before she became the Invisible Girl in “Fantastic Four” Jessica Alba played in this teen Lite horror flick about some teenagers who run afoul of the Other Side. Viveca Fox, a former Good Girl from Chicago who seems to like doing quirky movies like this, is a huntress of the supernatural in an uncredited role in the original marketing campaign.

“BEDAZZLED” – The Devil you say? Elizabeth Hurley, who has a real penchant for comedy after movies like ”EdTV” and others is after the soul of “The Mummy” and “Blast From The Past” star Brendan Fraser in this supernatural comedy and morality tale.

Fraser says he’d “give anything” to get with this unapproachable woman, and up pops Hurley. She’ll grant him seven wishes, for a price. But as the general says in the Mario Van Peebles film “Solo”: “the first rule in dealing with the Devil is –don’t!” Besides s/he’s a liar.

OLD SCHOOL VINTAGE HORROR FLICKS:

BLACULA -- Momo Wolde is an African nobleman who makes an unfortunate visit to castle Dracula hundreds of years ago. His wife then and now possibly reincarnated is played by Vonetta McGee, who is pursued in America’s modern cities by Blacula. William Marshall the Shakespearean actor who plays the lead is an original SF Brotha for his memorable role in the original “Star Trek” TV episode about the Rogue M1 starship controller.

SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM -- Action moves to the Caribbean as Momo Wolde is brought back to life by Pam Grier and her crew during a Voodun ceremony. This is notable because it was the first film where Pam Grier kept her clothes on.

BROTHER JECKYL AND SISTER HYDE -- An old school horror flick, from when they were redoing everything on the Black Hand Side, westerns, gangster films, you name it. But this one had the platform shoes, bell bottom pants and big fluffy Afros.

HALLOWEEN FILMS FOR THE KIDDIES:

WALLACE & GROMMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE RABBIT -- The ClayMation stop-action duo has to battle a giant ravenous rabbit who threatens to eat up all the town’s vegetables on the eve of the big fair. To the rescue! I love that title, too. (Now playing in theatres).

GHOST DAD -- Bill Cosby is a devoted dad who tries to provide for his children even after his death in this lighthearted Disney film that came out when the original Dead Genre was winding down.

GOLDEN CHILD -- Eddie Murphy made his first supernatural film, and the first with special effects. He didn’t do so well, but he made up for it in the “Nutty Professor” which was chock full of blue screens, and almost nabbed him an Academy Award nomination for playing as many as five characters on screen. Murphy’s a Los Angeles finder of lost children, who is contracted to find the kidnapped Buddhist Golden Child, the future saviour of Earth. A sexy Asian agent assists him.

THE LITTLE VAMPIRE – Jonathan Lipnicki from “Jerry Maguire” and “Stuart Little” stars as an American kid living in Europe with his parents whose older friend is a vampire. Ulrich Edel co stars.

LITTLE NICKY: Adam Sandler is the Devil’s spawn. Well, he’s the spawn of an angel too, but that beside the point. The star of “The Waterboy” and “Big Daddy” plays a junior demon who pays a visit topside, with a little help from a talking dog. Tiny Lister, Rodney Dangerfield, Harvey Keitel and Patricia Arquette star. This is the sort of standardized Lite fare from Sandler, probably with some innuendo that would go over their heads, depending on how much cable you let the little ones watch.