Blacula Reboot

[basbash99]

I mean, if someone like Jordan Peele has a good idea for a Blacula film, fine. But the original films were quite fun and my guess is any new version would be mediocre & bland by comparison, just with better special effects. I dunno, just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

[Vakanai]

I mean, if someone like Jordan Peele has a good idea for a Blacula film, fine. But the original films were quite fun and my guess is any new version would be mediocre & bland by comparison, just with better special effects. I dunno, just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

You know, I kind of actually like that - I mean yes, this isn't a good idea, but then again the original was definitely not a good idea either (I mean someone actually, with a straight face, thought "Blacula" was a workable title), so I guess for me that kind of is keeping the tradition alive. Have a bad idea, make a movie out of it, and maybe it'll work out! That's how Blacula did it to begin with.

Besides, I feel like at this point if bad ideas where a barrier to film, the film industry would go extinct. Like, how many movies of the past half a decade or so, outside the MCU, actually felt like they were good ideas? Not many.

[j9ac9k]

You know, I kind of actually like that - I mean yes, this isn't a good idea, but then again the original was definitely not a good idea either (I mean someone actually, with a straight face, thought "Blacula" was a workable title), so I guess for me that kind of is keeping the tradition alive. Have a bad idea, make a movie out of it, and maybe it'll work out! That's how Blacula did it to begin with.

Besides, I feel like at this point if bad ideas where a barrier to film, the film industry would go extinct. Like, how many movies of the past half a decade or so, outside the MCU, actually felt like they were good ideas? Not many.

But hey - you're talkin' about it.

I'm no film historian, but "blaxploitation" started out as essentially indie movies made by black people who were shut out of, and marginalized by Hollywood. The films were cheap and explored black culture in a way that mainstream did not. And they made a ton of money with black audiences - so of course Hollywood and others thought to exploit that untapped market with cheap knockoffs that emulated what they saw which were mostly just the bad stereotypes - and a copy of a copy just gets worse, but at least it had black leads and a black cast, so they still made money with them. Blacula is associated with a group of movies that we could consider terrible now, but being terrible or cheesy wasn't the point or intention of a lot of those movies. (not any more than the Bella Lugosi Dracula or any of those old horror movies)

I mean, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the character's origin is pretty serious: (from wikipedia)

In 1780, Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) is sent by the elders of the Nigerian Ibani African nation to seek the help of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula, instead, laughs at this request and insults Mamuwalde by making open overtures about enslaving his wife, Luva (Vonetta McGee). After a scuffle with Dracula's minions, Mamuwalde is bitten by Dracula and transformed into a vampire. Dracula then curses him with the name "Blacula" and imprisons him in a sealed coffin in a crypt hidden beneath the castle. Luva is also imprisoned in the same crypt and left powerless to help until she finally starves to death.

[Scott Taylor]

That was William Marshall AKA The King of Cartoons from Pee Wee's Playhouse. He did a lot of Broadway and was at one point blacklisted by Hollywood.

Badge of honor in those days. Communism, right?

[CosmiComic]

So what caused the decline of blaxploitation?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So what caused the decline of blaxploitation?

This article is 21 years old, but it might help explain things:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...409-story.html

[CosmiComic]

This article is 21 years old, but it might help explain things:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...409-story.html

According to this article, it ended in '74. Is that correct?

[Scott Taylor]

So basically they were bad films and the genre died because they were bad films.

[CosmiComic]

I can honestly see a new version being better at least from a filmmaking point of view

[Scott Taylor]

I like it. To me, its a blank slate in that nobody is going to be holding the originals up as some kind of masterpieces. A filmmaker could do so much with some of the concepts.

[Powerboy]

But hey - you're talkin' about it.

I'm no film historian, but "blaxploitation" started out as essentially indie movies made by black people who were shut out of, and marginalized by Hollywood. The films were cheap and explored black culture in a way that mainstream did not. And they made a ton of money with black audiences - so of course Hollywood and others thought to exploit that untapped market with cheap knockoffs that emulated what they saw which were mostly just the bad stereotypes - and a copy of a copy just gets worse, but at least it had black leads and a black cast, so they still made money with them. Blacula is associated with a group of movies that we could consider terrible now, but being terrible or cheesy wasn't the point or intention of a lot of those movies. (not any more than the Bella Lugosi Dracula or any of those old horror movies)

I mean, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the character's origin is pretty serious: (from wikipedia)

I remember the "Blacula" sequel, "Scream, Blacula, Scream", as not being that bad despite the title. But I haven't seen it since the 1970s so my memory may be forgiving. It clearly was part of the black exploitation movie era which gave us the original Shaft movies so I'm not complaining.

[Hypestyle]

According to this article, it ended in '74. Is that correct?

I have major problems with the author of this article, but I don't feel like venting now. It's way more complicated than the cut-and-dry opinion of this one person.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...409-story.html

[CosmiComic]

I have major problems with the author of this article, but I don't feel like venting now. It's way more complicated than the cut-and-dry opinion of this one person.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...409-story.html

Ok, I always thought that era lasted until the end of the 70s

[skyvolt2000]

According to this article, it ended in '74. Is that correct?

I would have to say the end of the 70s.

The main ones I know are post 1975.

So basically they were bad films and the genre died because they were bad films.

Penitentiary was a hit as was the sequels because they were made cheaply.

I think they just stopped using the term by the 80s and way too many of those films showcased negative black images.

I mean if all a studio is going to greenlight for black writers were Boys in the Hood starter kits-sooner than later you get tired of it.

Badge of honor in those days. Communism, right?

YES

[ed2962]

But hey - you're talkin' about it.

I'm no film historian, but "blaxploitation" started out as essentially indie movies made by black people who were shut out of, and marginalized by Hollywood.[/B] The films were cheap and explored black culture in a way that mainstream did not. And they made a ton of money with black audiences - so of course Hollywood and others thought to exploit that untapped market with cheap knockoffs that emulated what they saw which were mostly just the bad stereotypes - and a copy of a copy just gets worse, but at least it had black leads and a black cast, so they still made money with them. Blacula is associated with a group of movies that we could consider terrible now, but being terrible or cheesy wasn't the point or intention of a lot of those movies. (not any more than the Bella Lugosi Dracula or any of those old horror movies)

I mean, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the character's origin is pretty serious: (from wikipedia)

Sometimes yes, but a lot of times no. I mean, the the rest of what you say is true, but Hollywood caught on really quickly after Sweetback and Shaft and Coffy. A good deal of the "blaxploitation" flix were produced by white filmmakers. Later, after a number of black people protested about the negative stereotypes, we started to get movies like "Claudine" and "Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich" and "Sparkle" but then Hollywood started started to move towards what we now think of as blockbuster movies "Godfather", "Jaws", and "Star Wars".