Blood and Sugar
This week’s Two of a Grind will piggy back off of the last couple of weeks of Stream a Little Stream and features some great black cinema… but of course when we’re talking about The Grindhouse Channel, we’re talking sleazy exploitation films, midnight movies, and the like.
Here’s a terrible terrific twofer of American exploitation:
Our first selection this week is 1982’s British exploitation horror film, Blood Tide. A younger James Earl Jones (still 51, mind you he’s now 85) stars in this story of an adventure seeker who mistakenly unleashes a monster while exploring Greece. The only way to appease this ancient monster is to sacrifice virgins (of course). Schlocky, fun, worth a watch for sure.
Our second selection is a blaxploitation classic; Sugar Hill (1974) is the story of Diana “Sugar” Hill (played by Philly’s own Marki Bey) and her zombie hitmen.
In classic blaxploitation fashion, the white antagonist, in this case prominent horror and genre actor Robert Quarry, wrongs a group of black folks. Sugar enlists Mama Maitresse and Loa (voodoo spirit) Baron Samedi. With their help, an army of undead slaves join her forces to take down the gang of white mobsters.
See you all with more picks next week, keep grindin’.
