This anthology has six short films (and no frame story, thankfully) filmed by and starring African Americans. It’s a Shudder spin-off to the Black Noire documentary from a few years ago. That doc promoted the history of black people in horror and this film promotes the future, I suppose. It contains some stories that focus on black issues and some that are just horror shorts.

As is typical, some of the shorts are better than others.

The Lake – I’d give this one a 3.5. It’s a pretty solid, atmospheric and creepy story of a woman with a troubled past who buys a house on a lake. She’s warned to stay out of the water… she doesn’t. It was very good until the very end where it just putters out.

Brand of Evil – I’d give this a solid 3. It’s about an artist who is working on a mural for a local community center. But someone keeps contacting him to design logos which proceeds to kill people in the neighborhood. But the money is soooo good…

Bride Before You – I’d go with a 2.5 on this. Kind of unfocused and a little random. About a woman who brokers a deal to allow her to give her husband a son. But something now lives in the walls of their mansion and it isn’t happy. Kind of a wtf ending that has greater Meaning than it does logic.

Fugue State – I’d go 1.5 on this, even with Tony Todd’s voice propping it up. A cynical reporter falls into a religious cult. And red-faced people are killing people. It’s so unfocused with its two ideas that basically crash together in the end… but it’s very boring.

Daddy – 2 stars… I get the point of it. Dad will do anything to protect his son. But it just doesn’t work and just kind of ends with a dramatic sting that is kind of shrug.

Sundown – 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this rather fun vampire story about people canvasing for a black candidate in a West Virginia town. Has a few issues about race (the title refers to a Sundown town) but mainly it’s just about opportunistic, kinda racist vampires.

So overall, it’s a 2.5. There’s a couple solid stories (though one ends poorly), a couple decent ones, and two pretty bad ones. None of it is super well-produced but they get the job done and showcase African Americans in front of and behind the camera. As was the goal.

Score: 72