What was the last movie you saw?

Atomic Blonde. An ultimately dissatisfying film with neither enough action nor enough intrigue to be classified as one or the other type. Perhaps with a few adjustments in either direction this could have be quite a standout film.
 
You're welcome, Amelia! I'd suspect the term in question (in this context) is not widely known outside of the U.S. (though I could be wrong).

I thought, btw, that Get Out was a fairly good film, though I didn't love it as much as many critics did.
 
I have also since been corrected by somebody who knows a heck of a lot more about such things than I do. There were a few other "race films" that are horror movies.

There were at least a few more, although I've never actually seen any of the movies I'm about to name, and can't judge whether they'd be remotely worth the effort of tracking down. The Devil's Daughter is probably the easiest to get; Alpha Video put it out on a DVD with Chloe, Love Is Calling You, which might also count if you're willing to read "race picture" a little loosely. Drums o' Voodoo (aka She Devil) also still survives, and seems like the kind of thing that might turn up on archive.org. It was based on a stage play called Louisiana, and concerns a battle between a Christian minister and a Voodoo priestess for the souls of a small black community. Then there's Fight That Ghost, which appears to have been a quickie copy of The Ghost Breakers with Pigmeat Markham standing in for Bob Hope. It might be lost now, though-- certainly I can't find any evidence of a home video release. Voodoo Devil Drums is definitely lost, which strikes me as both disappointing and probably for the best. What little I've read about it makes it sound extra-sleazy. Finally, Spencer Williams, the writer of Son of Ingagi, also wrote and directed a film called The Blood of Jesus, which is sort of horror-adjacent in a similar way to The Devil and Daniel Webster. It's about the temptation of a godly woman accidentally shot by her unchurched husband; Satan tries to get hold of her while her spirit clings weakly to life and her friends (remorseful hubby included) try to pray her back into her body to stay. Robin R. Means Coleman gave The Blood of Jesus a rave write-up in Horror Noire, although he simultaneously made it sound like the kind of film a modern audience has to meet more than halfway to get much out of it.
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I've seen The Blood of Jesus, which I'd call more of an allegorical religious fantasy.
 
The above discussion prompted me to check out:

The Devil's Daughter (1939)

This "race film" melodrama takes place in Jamaica. The main characters are two half-sisters. One went off to New York City to be educated, one stayed home. The first one comes back to inherit the family plantation when their father dies. The second one plots to drive the first one off the island by pretending to use Obeah rituals on her, while actually drugging her with local herbs. Only fifty-two minutes long in its surviving form, down from an original sixty-seven. Even at the short length it's padded with local color and comedy relief, but it ends very suddenly with everybody reconciliated. (Comic subplot: The returning sister's servant thinks he has to put in soul into a pig to avoid having it captured by zombies, then panics when the pig becomes dinner.) The wicked sister is played by Nina Mae McKinney, who was quite a success in Europe in her day and was known as the Black Garbo. She definitely dominates the film. All the other actors are quite wooden. Notable for the seeming authenticity of the rituals, and for having a song with a melody identical to that of the calypso tune "Matilda" made famous by Harry Belafonte.
 
Be Afraid (2017)

When I first saw the male lead, I knew I'd seen him before, but couldn't recall where. I went back to the title screen, but his name, Brian Krause, was not familiar to me. When I returned to the movie, however, the scene moved to softer lighting, and briefly, I could see him as a younger man. It became clear - he was the Whitelighter from Charmed!

He's not a great actor, but he does a decent job here. In fact, none of the acting stands out - it's all just "okay". What the movie has, is excellent writing! It's a great story. And even if the ending is cliché, it is done well.

This is one of the few monster movies done in recent years that I'd recommend. Nothing exceptional about the monster, either - but portrayed in a way that added to the fear level - as should be!

I say take a look - and enjoy!
 
Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)

Named after lyrics in the popular 1927 song Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp). (It was so popular, in fact, that Spike Jones parodied it in 1945.) Not a "race film" but a racist film. The title character is a woman who thinks she's at least part African-American. After some fooling around she finds out that she's the daughter of the local rich white guy, so she can marry a white man she loves instead of the black man (played by a white actor, and looking almost exactly like the white guy) who loves her. The woman she thinks is her mother is some kind of voodoo practitioner, and it winds up with a ceremony in the swamp with Chloe as the intended victim of a human sacrifice. Aside from some local color -- nifty swamps, and a brief look at the turpentine industry of the time -- it's pretty much worthless. The woman who plays Chloe was a pretty famous star of the silent days. This was her last role.
 
Young Frankenstein (1974)

Just watched it again! The comedic genius of Gene Wilder, teamed with the great Marty Feldman. What a team!

This classic has the grandson of the monster-maker Dr. Frankenstein, following in his ancestor's footsteps. I mean, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - to complain about in this movie! Great writing, great acting, perfect comedic timing, right down to the horses' neighing when they hear the name "Bluecher"!

I can't imagine anyone over 40 who hasn't seen this, but if you haven't. DON'T MISS IT! Few movies after 1969 deserve a 10, but this is one of them!
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)

Named after lyrics in the popular 1927 song Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp). (It was so popular, in fact, that Spike Jones parodied it in 1945.) Not a "race film" but a racist film. The title character is a woman who thinks she's at least part African-American. After some fooling around she finds out that she's the daughter of the local rich white guy, so she can marry a white man she loves instead of the black man (played by a white actor, and looking almost exactly like the white guy) who loves her. The woman she thinks is her mother is some kind of voodoo practitioner, and it winds up with a ceremony in the swamp with Chloe as the intended victim of a human sacrifice. Aside from some local color -- nifty swamps, and a brief look at the turpentine industry of the time -- it's pretty much worthless. The woman who plays Chloe was a pretty famous star of the silent days. This was her last role.
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I don't think I'd watch it even if Al Jolson himself sauntered over from the set of THE JAZZ SINGER to play the part. Appreciate Victoria for shining a good light on a bad thing.
 
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This is the second time I've seen this eerie, gritty 2009 drama about a mysterious warrior. I highly agree with the actor MADS MIKKELSEN, that this is a very deep thinking film. I felt the same way about this excellent movie, before I recently watched Mr Mikkelsen in an interview, discussing the film.
 
The Black Cat (1934), dir. Edgar G. Ulmer; starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop

I suspect this one was released on the cusp of the Hayes Code crackdown on motion pictures since there's an implied skinning of a man and, an even more horrifying horror of horrors, a man and woman in the same bed at the same time. *Gasp!*

Anyway, the credits say the story is "suggested" by the classic tale of Edgar Allan Poe, which I think means they needed a title and shoehorned into the script a reason for taking this one. That said, if you're susceptible to the charms of black and white studio horror movies from the 1930s, this is a must see, the first pairing of Lugosi and Karloff when they were equally famous for their early horror movies. Further, Ulmer had a distinctive visual style derived, I think, from German Expressionism (as in Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) that ultimately contributed to film noir.

The movie opens with the Alisons, a mostly unnecessary American couple, honeymooning in Hungary; as the husband later mutters, “Next time, Niagara Falls.” On the train they meet Dr. Werdegast (Lugosi), in a later scene identified as the premier Hungarian psychiatrist, a fact that contributes little to the rest of the movie but seems to tie in with his extreme morbid fear of cats. Werdegast takes a liking to the young wife because she reminds him of his own wife, who he has not seen in eighteen years. In that time Werdegast went to war (WWI) and survived a major battle only to be captured and thrown in a prison noted for torturing its inmates and from which few men have walked away. He has returned looking for his wife and daughter, and the man who stole them from him, Hjalmar Poelzig, the famous Hungarian architect, who Werdegast condemns as a coward and traitor. Poelzig and Werdegast have read the same books, each commenting on cats as the carriers of evil. A black cat or two have made Poelzig's home their home and act on Werdegast in a way similar to the effect of Kryptonite on Superman.

Poelzig (Karloff) has built his home on the foundations of the fort he and Werdegast defended and where 10,000 men died in battle. Each of them alludes to death as a part of the house. The sets are the nightmare side of Art Deco -- I can't think of any other horror movie in which an Art Deco setting plays so important a role; the house should be added to the cast list -- all angles and chrome plating and rather beautiful in a way, with convenient dungeons that include old gun turrets and in which take place the occasional Black Mass. Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Poelzig is a Satanist, this night is the dark of the moon, the Mass is already on the calendar and, dang, but that American woman would make a nifty sacrifice!

The mystery of what happened to Werdegast's wife is eventually revealed and in about as creepy a way as possible. Really creepy, even now, 83 years after the movie’s initial release, as is the secret of Werdegast’s daughter, a different sort of creepy and pretty easy for the viewer to guess.

For all my facetious tone, I’ve watched this three or four times over the years and what holds my attention are the visuals, the frames composed with an artist’s eye for form, the play of shape and of dark and light as when we see the house up on a hill in the pouring rain, the rooms with their spiral staircases and squat lamps with square-ish lamp shades with rounded corners in contrast to other items like small statuary on end tables – a nice use of one such about mid-way implies Poelzig’s intentions toward Mrs. Alison better than any dialog could have. And Karloff and Lugosi were in top form, from Karloff’s robotic rising from his bed to his expressive eyes and face rarely being more menacing, to Lugosi’s staginess which is mostly offset by his voice, a voice that certainly fits the character of a Hungarian doctor. This remains one of the better match-ups of the two stars.


Randy M.
 
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One of my favorite movies, and I just watched it again today. This 1982 film, which stars Robert Urich, is about a retired policeman, who enters a town that has a problem with cattle mutilations.

Is it caused by, aliens from outer space, a sinister cult, or something else? An excellent drama, with a haunting music score by Gary Wright (sang Dream Weaver).
 
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