Series

Blaxploitation Horror of the 1970s

Following the surprise box-office success of American International Pictures’ Blacula in 1972, AIP and other independent studios began producing more horror titles for the Blaxploitation market, from black-cast remakes of Hollywood horror classics to more original genre-bending narratives. While drawing sharp criticism in conservative African American circles for crossing the boundaries of what was deemed respectable, Blaxploitation horror films often turned the over-the-top conventions of horror into critiques of the genre’s white-supremacist subtext of the “monstrous Other.” All films will be screened on 35mm.

The series is sponsored by the Black Film Center/Archive, the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, the Department of Gender Studies, and the IU Cinema.