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It’s the summer of “Blaxploitation, Baby!,” the latest festival hosted by Film Forum.

The indie theater announced the upcoming festival which will take place August 16 through August 22. The program celebrates the early ‘70s genre of Black cinema, and features films wth iconic movie stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O’Neal, Tamara Dobson, Jim Brown, Vonetta McGee, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and more.

“Blaxploitation, Baby!” is dedicated to author and pioneering film historian Donald Bogle, who collaborated on Film Forum’s first Blaxploitation festival in 1995. Bogle credited Melvin Van Peebles’ filmography for helping to establish the genre. “Blaxploitation, Baby!” additionally ranges from works from directors such as Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and Gordon Parks Jr.

As well as the screenings, the festival will include the sales of critic and historian Odie Henderson’s “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation” and Donald Bogle’s acclaimed TCM book “Hollywood Black” at concessions.

The distribution company Kino Lorber recently launched an interesting Blu-ray line called Kino Cult, and so far they have released the 1985 sci-fi Western Alien Outlaw, the Bettie Page double feature Teaserama and Varietease, the 1985 horror film The Dark Power, the 1974 drama Drifter, the 1974 Jess Franco horror film Lorna the Exorcist, the 1973 Jess Franco crime thriller Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac, and the 1985 Clive Barker adaptation Underworld (a.k.a. Transmutations). Now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that five more Kino Cult Blu-ray releases are set for August 20th, and there’s a theme to this batch: they’re all “nature run amok” horror movies! Most of them are movies I love to watch, too. Here’s the line-up: The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Each one is available for pre-order on Amazon, and each of these...

Nature will run amok when Kino Lorber unleashes five classic eco-horrors on Blu-ray as part of its Kino Cult line:The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Due out on August 20, each title comes with a slipcover and features reversible artwork. Pre-orders are up for $24.95.

1976’s The Food of the Gods is written and directed by Bert I. Gordon, based on H. G. Wells’ 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, and Ida Lupino star.

In the film, “On a remote island, a mysterious substance is oozing from the ground. A farmer sees that it acts as a growth hormone and thinks his fortune is made. But when rats, chickens, worms and wasps begin sampling the potent substance, they morph into bloodthirsty giants! Now, it’s up to...

Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original Star Trek, has died her family announced. She was 76.

“Mudd’s Women” is one of the most memorable episodes of the 1960s Star Trek, in no small part because it featured three stunningly beautiful women who seem to have strange powers over the male members of the Enterprise crew — except Spock, of course.

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The women are en route to a mining colony where they are to become wives for the wealthy but lonely men who mine precious dilithium crystals. Their secret is that they are made both beautiful and irresistible by taking a so-called “Venus” drug given to them by one of the series’ most memorable rascals, Harry Mudd (Roger Carmel).

Ironically, though Carmel was her neighbor, Thrett...

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Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who portrayed one of the three glamorous humanoids who require pills to keep them from aging on the early Star Trek episode “Mudd’s Women,” has died. She was 76.

Thrett died Sunday of complications from an infection at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, family members told The Hollywood Reporter.

Thrett also starred as a flower child alongside Yvette Mimieux, Christopher Jones and Judy Pace in the sex revenge romp Three in the Attic (1968), a box office hit for indie distributor Aip. She and the film received a mention on a TV spot that played in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

On “Mudd’s Women,” which premiered on Oct. 13, 1966, as the sixth episode of NBC’s Star Trek — it was shot as the series’ second installment — Thrett, with her long brown hair,...

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On July 23 at San Diego Comic-Con, Dawnn Lewis shared an impromptu tribute to Nichelle Nichols, the trailblazing Star Trek star. Lewis, who voices Capt. Carol Freeman on Star Trek: Lower Decks, told 6,500 fans about looking up to Nichols as a child and later sharing a decades-long friendship. Days after that emotional Comic-Con moment, Nichols passed away on July 30 at the age of 89. Here, Lewis reflects on the iconic actor and activist, best known for playing Lt. Nyota Uhura.

Right after Comic-Con, I got home and I called Nichelle to tell her what happened. I said, “A bunch of people are probably going to call you to tell you that I lost it.” We talked for 45 minutes, and then four days later, she is gone. That was really hard for me. On that same Tuesday, we had a family member pass away. Wednesday, Mary Alice passed away.

Reviewed by Kevin Scott

MoreHorror.com

Frogs (1972)

Written by: Robert Huchison, Robert Blees

Directed by: George McCowan

Cast: Sam Elliot (Pickett Smith), Ray Milland (Jason Crockett), Joan Van Arc (Karen Crockett), Adam Roarke (Clint Crockett), Judy Pace (Bella Garrington), Mae Mercer (Maybelle), Lynn Borden (Jenny Crockett)

One great truth that I have learned is that there are truly no new things. There are only old things happening to new people. Agree or disagree, I’m using it in this particular instance to describe a little subgenre of the horror film, the eco horror film. My picks for horror movie watching in general are usually split between about 70 percent random and about 30 percent deliberate. It’s usually the random ones that are the most fun. I’m a sucker for American International Pictures flicks from the 1970’s. They fall under a few different types of classifications, but they are all Grindhouse...

His star burned briefly but bright. Christopher Jones was a counterculture cult hero in the James Dean mold, starring in Wild In The Streets (1968) as Max Frost, the 22-year old rock star millionaire president of the United States who locks up everyone over 30. The same year he played Paxton Quigley in Three In The Attic, a hit about free love in the swinging sixties costarring Yvette Mimieux and Judy Pace. The big studios took notice and David Lean cast him as the romantic lead in the big-budget drama Ryan’S Daughter (1970). It was on the set of this epic that Jones reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown. His part had to be dubbed and he suddenly dropped out of show biz after only a handful of credits. Quentin Tarantino approached him in 1996 and offered him the role of Zed in Pulp Fiction, but Jones turned him down (Zed would be played...

The television comedy movie, ‘The Divorce,’ is bringing the perils of the ending of marriage home, with its DVD and VOD releases on February 4. Rlj/One Village Entertainment will be distributing the film on home entertainment. ‘The Divorce’ is the second film from scribe-helmer Donald Welch, who made his writing and directing debuts with the 2011 drama, ‘The Bachelor Party.’ The filmmaker’s latest movie stars Vanessa Bell Calloway, Angell Conwell, Tatyana Ali, Dawnn Lewis, Judy Pace, Freda Payne, Tammi Mac, Keith Burke, Jonelle Allen and Rylan Williams. Rlj/One Village Entertainment has released the following synopsis for ‘The Divorce’: Successful TV anchorwoman, Yolanda Massey (Lewis), is celebrating her recent divorce by [ Read More ]

The post The Divorce Hits Home with DVD and VOD Releases appeared first on Shockya.com.

Don Mitchell, co-star in the original Ironside television series, died of natural causes at his Encino, Calif., home on Dec. 8, according to the Los Angeles Times. Mitchell was 70.

In the NBC series, which ran from 1967 to 1975, Mitchell played Mark Sanger, the ex-con-turned-aide and bodyguard to Raymond Burr’s wheelchair-bound titular character, Robert T. Ironside. Mitchell reprised the role of Sanger in the 1993 reunion special, the TV film The Return of Ironside.

Blair Underwood starred in a short-lived revamping of the series, which aired on NBC earlier this year.

Mitchell's other television credits include appearances on CHiPs, Wonder Women, McMillan & Wife, I Dream of Jeannie and the soap opera Capitol. He also starred in the 1973 blaxploitation movie Scream Blacula Scream, also featuring Pam Grier and William Marshall.

Mitchell is survived by two daughters from his second marriage to actress Judy Pace.

–Molly Trinkoff

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An explosive romance about forbidden desires, Tyler Perry’S Temptation tells the provocative story of Judith, an ambitious married woman whose temptation by a handsome billionaire leads to betrayal, recklessness and forever alters the course of her life. This past week, Wamg participated in a press conference for the film with Tyler Perry, and stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Robbie Jones, Renée Taylor, Ella Joyce, and Brandy Norwood . Check it out below.

So, Tyler we’ve got obsession and passion for the lord vs obsession and passion of flesh. Can you talk about how you developed those thematic elements found in the film

Tyler Perry: Well what was more important to me in this film was that I knew there were a lot of people going through things in relationships and I wanted to just raise a flag and say “what happens when you’re tempted?” One choice, ne...

Slowly but surely, those wonderful blaxploitation classics from yesteryear (the early to mid 1970's) are being released on DVD and soon the 1972 MGM heist film Cool Breeze will join the list. The DVD-on-demand specialty label Warner Archive will release the film on DVD July 17th  Starring Thalmus Tasulala, Raymond St. Jacques, Lincoin Kilpatrick, Judy Pace and Pam Grier in a small role, the film deals with a team of criminals who band together to rip off The Man in order to establish a bank in the community..or maybe just to keep it for themselves The film was actually a blaxploitation remake of John Huston's classic 1950 heist film The Asphalt Jungle and no...

Yesterday, we kicked off our first installment of Cinematical's Free Flick of the Day, where one of our writers will humbly suggest a good, bad, or truly ugly film you can watch for free over at AOL's /SlashControl. Since the content over there is constantly shifting, we'll try our very best to point you towards the good, the bad, and the ugliest films you can watch there for free.

Today's pick is an ugly little time-waster. Before Troll 2 rose to such "So bad it's good" acclaim, Frogs had the dubious honor of being called "The best bad movie I've ever seen in my life" by Fran Lebowitz, and was reportedly Andy Warhol's favorite horror movie. I first encountered it on a dollar DVD rack, and purchased it as a gift for a friend who adores bad movies. How can you resist a DVD cover like the one to...