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Almost 30 years after earning his first Tony Awards nomination for portraying Jackie Robinson in the musical “The First,” David Alan Grier may finally take home his first trophy. Nominated this year for his work in the Broadway debut of Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “A Soldier’s Play,” Grier currently leads our odds in the Featured Actor category.

Grier earned some of the best notices of his career for his role in the revival, which ran at the American Airlines Theater from January to March 2020. Set on a segregated military base in Louisiana in 1944, the play starred Grier as the vicious Sergeant Vernon C. Waters, whose murder gives the play its central mystery and plot. Helen Shaw (Vulture) wrote that Grier “machines each of his scenes to the inch, developing his portrait from a comic tinpot bellower into villainy and then, remarkably, something more tragic,” while Vinson Cunningham (New Yorker) said,...

By Susan King

Audra McDonald is the most lauded Broadway performer winning a whopping six Tony Awards in both musical and dramatic categories. And she may be receiving her seventh for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune” when the 74th annual Tonys take place Sept. 26th at the venerable Winter Garden Theatre.

Despite that record, it took a long time for Black artists to be acknowledged by the Tonys, which were first handed out in 1947. It wasn’t until 2004 that a Black actress won for a lead performance in a play: Phylicia Rashad broke this barrier with her win for a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hansberry was the first Black artist to be nominated for Best Play in 1960 for the original production of “A Raisin in the Sun” as were its director Lloyd Richards and stars, Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil.

“At the end of the small hours these countries whose past is uninscribed on any stone, these roads without memory, these winds without a log. Does that matter? We shall speak. We shall sing. We shall shout. Full voice, great voice, you shall be our good and guide.”Aimé Césaire conveys the colonialists' need to keep African history from their canon in Cahier d'un retour au pays natal. This is Négritude’s provenance, the philosophical, cultural and political revolution of Black consciousness that Césaire co-founded. Black history resounds and survives internally, verbally, before it is accurately accounted for from the outside. A protégé of Césaire, filmmaker Euzhan Palcy unearths suppressed Black voices and logs them to film canon. For A Dry White Season (1989), she interviewed the victims and combatants of the Special Branch (the unit of the South African police that lethally destabilized anti-apartheid groups) while undercover in Soweto and...

“In Haiti, there are secrets we keep, even from ourselves.” Throughout his career, Wes Craven was a filmmaker who provided countless nightmares and celluloid terrors, but there was one film that managed to haunt me in such a manner that it left numerous scars on my young psyche, and that was The Serpent and the Rainbow. Adapted from Wade Davis’ book of the same name that provided a clinical examination of Haitian voodoo, zombification, and the power of tetrodotoxin—a powerful hallucinogenic—Craven’s powerful descent into the real-life madness of Davis’ experiences is easily one of his most ambitious, and quite possibly the Master of Horror’s most introspective, efforts from his entire filmography.

In The Serpent and the Rainbow, we’re introduced to anthropologist Dr. Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman), who spends his time in remote corners of the world studying rare plants and herbs that could potentially have...

Today, Scream Factory releases Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray, and we’ve been provided with three copies to give away to Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Collector’s Edition Blu-ray copy of The Serpent and the Rainbow.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Serpent and the Rainbow Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on February 29th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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“Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream) directs this terrifying story of one man’s nightmarish journey into the blood-curdling, deadly world of voodoo.

A Harvard anthropologist (Bill Pullman,...

February’s home entertainment releases are ending on a high note, so genre fans should get their wallets ready in anticipation of all the great horror and sci-fi titles coming our way on the 23rd. Scream Factory has several fantastic releases planned for this Tuesday, including the highly anticipated Blu-ray for Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow as well as double features of The Curse / Curse II: The Bite and Millennium / R.O.T.O.R.

Candyman director Bernard Rose’s latest endeavor—the modern interpretation of the classic Frankenstein tale—hits Blu and DVD this week, and the cult classic Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things is getting an HD overhaul this Tuesday as well.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases on February 23rd include The Bees, Bigfoot Vs. Zombies, Moonwalkers, Demonoid, American Horror Project: Volume One and Upsidedown Cross.

Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (Vci Entertainment,...

Next Tuesday, Scream Factory will bring viewers to the “forbidden world between life and death” with their Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of the late Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow. To give fans an idea of what to expect from the special release, we have high-definition clips and a trailer from the anticipated Blu-ray.

“Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream) directs this terrifying story of one man’s nightmarish journey into the blood-curdling, deadly world of voodoo.

A Harvard anthropologist (Bill Pullman, Lake Placid, Independence Day) is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses.

Based on the true-to-life experiences of Wade Davis, starring Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa), Zakes Mokae (Dust Devil,...

Before we commence the reviewin’, I want to share the teaser poster for upcomin’ fright flick The Last Frankenstein! I can assure you creeps this is going to be one hell of a flick (and not just ‘cuz I’m in it). Any way, scope that poster, read more about the film here, and slap ‘em a like on Facebook!

Now, let’s see about these reviews—torture porn, voodoo, slashers, and ninjas (?!!). This one has something for… well, for somebody… possibly…

The Serpent And The Rainbow

• Release Date: Available February 23rd on Blu-ray

• Written By: Richard Maxwell

• Directed By: Wes Craven

• Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae

Ya know, creeps, a veritable S-ton of my revoltin’ reviews for this website contain either me bitchin’ and moanin’ about how I have to watch yet another zombie flick or how I am revisitin’ a film that I saw once, decades ago,...

The Serpent And The Rainbow Classic soon to bluray Collector’S Edition

Highly-Anticipated Horror Cult Classic from the Master of Horror Wes Craven Scream Factory™ Presents Wes Craven’s The Serpent And The Rainbow Collector’S Edition Blu-ray™ Starring Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae and Paul Winfield Arrives On Home Entertainment Shelves Everywhere On February 23, 2016 From Scream Factory™ Pre-order This Definitive Collector’s Edition Today! Loyal fans ...

Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...

For quite some time now, the folks at Scream Factory have been hard at work on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray of the late, great Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow. Today, they have rewarded fans' patience by revealing the release's official list of special features, and they are well worth the wait.

In addition to a fresh HD transfer taken from The Serpent and the Rainbow's original inter-positive, this Collector's Edition Blu-ray also includes a new commentary with lead actor Bill Pullman and a "making of" featurette with an impressive number of interviews. Scream Factory will release this special Blu-ray on February 23rd:

Press Release: Loyal fans of legendary director Wes Craven (Scream, The People Under the Stairs, A Nightmare on Elm Street) know well the terrifying story of one man's nightmarish journey into the eerie and deadly world of voodoo from the 1988 horror cult classic The Serpent And The Rainbow,...

[Editor's Note: "They hate it, we love it!" - A carryover from Deadly Magazine, Deadly Pleasures will now be a regular column on Daily Dead. Each installment, a different writer will defend an often hated genre movie.]

Even though grossly maligned when released in October 1995, Vampire in Brooklyn has become something of an unfortunate punch line in the careers of both its director and star. Although it’s been misunderstood and wrongly forced to take a time out in the horror genre’s “Shame Corner” over the last two decades, I still adore the hell out of Vampire in Brooklyn.

Starring Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Allen Payne, Kadeem Hardison and John Witherspoon, and directed by Wes Craven, Vampire in Brooklyn is pretty much Nosferatu meets Coming to America with a Blaxploitation twist. Murphy plays a smooth-talking vampire from the Caribbean, named Maximillian, who must sire a companion to spend eternity with before the passing of the next full moon or he’ll be doomed to walk the Earth alone forever. As it turns out, a troubled NYPD Detective (played by Bassett) is destined to be Max’s...

I didn’t even know he was ill. When Wes Craven’s passing was announced I was numb. The gravity of the loss felt in the film world was palpable, especially in horror. Mr. Craven was one of us, a great champion of the genre. And for those that called him a hack – and there were a few – if they didn’t know it then, know it now, and remember it forever - he revived the genre not once but twice.

Slashers had choked like weeds all the freshness from horror until Mr. Craven came along with the startlingly original A Nightmare on Elm Street. And then, in the 90’s as we wept for anything fun in the genre, he came roaring back with the astounding Scream and revitalized the genre, again.

As I was asked to write this piece on Serpent and the Rainbow, I thought back on what...

Marlon Brando in ‘A Dry White Season,’ James Earl Jones in ‘Cry the Beloved Country’: Apartheid movies (photo: Marlon Brando in ‘A Dry White Season’) (See previous post: “Nelson Mandela: Sidney Poitier and ‘Malcolm X’ Cameo Apperance.”) Besides the Nelson Mandela movies discussed in the previous two posts, South Africa’s apartheid has been portrayed in a number of films in the last few decades. Among the most notable ones are the following: Zoltan Korda’s Cry the Beloved Country (1951). Based on Alan Paton’s novel, this British-made film features Canada Lee and Charles Carson as two men struggling to deal with the disastrous consequences of apartheid. Ralph Nelson’s The Wilby Conspiracy (1975). Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine star as, respectively, an anti-apartheid South African activist and a British engineer on the run from South Africa’s secret police, headed by racist Nicol Williamson. Chris Menges’ A World Apart...

Greetings from the apocalypse! That may be this column's reassuring greeting each week, but damn if it hasn't proved prescient as all get-out. It seems like we can't go a week this summer without at least one movie where extinction-level events occur with pornographic intensity ("Man of Steel," "This is the End," "After Earth," the upcoming "Pacific Rim" and "The World's End"). Not that I'm complaining. Bring on the rubble, Brad Pitt!

Friday, June 21

Pow! In Theaters

Brad Pitt, big-budget zombie movie. Those are two phrases you thought you'd never hear put together by anyone not on mescaline, but "World War Z" is upon us and we must act for the preservation of our species! Pitt plays an all-purpose Un investigator/ badass named Gerry Lane who is dispatched to find patient zero in a zombie plague scorching the Earth in an all-encompassing way. Will the human race survive? Will...

It is time again to get abducted to South Africa's Celludroid Film Festival! In addition to a wide range of exciting sci-fi, anime, and fantasy movies, this year will feature special visiting guest director Richard Stanley (with his movies, documentaries, short films, and new book), and for the first time short film collections will be part of the line-up.

The venue will again be the legendary Labia Theatre, Orange Street, Cape Town; and the event will run across 5-14 July.

From the Press Release:

Expatriate director, esoteric scholar, anthropologist, and author Richard Stanley (aka The Nagloper) will attend Celludroid with some of his classic movies (including Hardware and Dust Devil), his documentaries, and short films. His new book, Shadow of the Grail, will be discussed after the screening of his related doc, The Secret Glory; and he’ll take on the controversy around The Island of Dr. Moreau with a live commentary track.

South African actor who helped break the taboos of apartheid

On a steamy evening in a rundown Johannesburg club in September 1961, two actors premiered The Blood Knot, a play about brothers with different fathers, both men black but one light enough to enter white society. For each of them, the black actor Zakes Mokae, who has died aged 75, and the white playwright Athol Fugard, the night launched their careers. Fugard's play toured South Africa for six months, and although he travelled first-class on the train while Mokae travelled third, the two had broken a taboo by being the first black and white actors to appear on a public stage in apartheid South Africa. The success of The Blood Knot brought Fugard to international attention and kickstarted Mokae's long and varied career in theatre, film and television.

Mokae was born and grew up in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, the son of a policeman and a housemaid.

South African actor Zakes Mokae was featured as Dargent Petraud, the snarling antagonist with supernatural powers, in Wes Craven’s 1988 thriller The Serpent and the Rainbow. He was seen in numerous other films and television productions, including many in the Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy genres.

Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 5, 1935. He began working in theatre in the 1950s, and his roles often brought him into conflict with the ruling Apartheid system in South Africa. He was forced into exile, and continued his acting career overseas.

He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1960s. He appeared on television in episodes of such series as “Danger Man,” and was seen in small roles in the films The Comedians (1967) and Fragment of Fear (1970).

Mokae came to the United States in the late 1960s, where he appeared on the New York Stage. Mokae earned...

Tony Award-winning actor Zakes Mokae has died at the age of 75.

The South African star, who was best known for his work with playwright Athol Fugard in apartheid dramas including The Blood Knot, passed away at his home on Friday after suffering from a stroke in May.

Mokae won a Tony Award in 1982 for his portrayal of a servant and surrogate father for a white man in Master Harold, and appeared in television series The X Files and Oz, as well as movies The Comedians and Darling.

He also appeared on stage in The Blood Knot in 1961 - the first time a white man and a black man had performed together in a South Africa.

Mokae received a Tony nomination in 1993 for his part in Broadway production The Song of Jacob Zulu.

The star had been suffering from Parkinson's disease in recent years and had returned to the U.S. to receive treatment after initially retiring to South Africa.

He is survived by his wife, Madelyn, a daughter, Santlo Chontay Mokae, and three grandchildren.