Graveyard Shift Sisters

By R. Shanea Williams (@rshanea722)

Did you happen to hear my scream of joy late last year? When news broke that Jamie Lee Curtis would be reprising her role as Laurie Strode for another Halloween film, like most horror fans, I was super geeked. This is the reunion I’ve been waiting and hoping for but never in my wildest cinematic dreams did I think it would come to fruition. If you know me personally or read my guest posts for this site, you know my love for the Halloween franchise runs deep— okay, that’s an understatement. My love for the Halloween franchise borders on hysterical adoration. The original Halloween (1978) is my favorite horror film and one of my favorite films of all time. It continues to inspire me as a filmmaker in this genre. I also watch it every. single. Halloween.

"Last One Standing: Alien vs. Predator"
pgs. 45-67
in Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before: Subversive Portrayals in Speculative Film and TV
written by Diana Adesola Mafe

AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) dir. Paul W.S. Anderson

Synopsis: When a wealthy man seeks the expertise of a team of scientists and mercenaries after receiving a signal from an island just north of Antarctica, they uncover ritual and artifacts that are centries old, held by two alien species set on terminating their plans, and one team member who forms an unlikely, survivalist alliance.

Louisianian Zandashé Brown is in tune with the "mysticism, spirituality, and aggressive identity politics" of her native surroundings. Through the inspiration of experience, she values the implementation of Blackness, traditional African modes of magic/worship, women-centricism, and afrofuturism in her work as an artist. With just glimpses of her style, Zandashé is pulling out all manner of the mesmerizing and hypnotic, using disorientation and elements of a level of fear within the supernatual that is magnetc. Warm light and cold shadows are frenemies that suggest a black female body in a peaceful peril, but the story behind the inhuman movement speak on wounds that have never healed. Exterior shots of shrubs and streams aren't so much mysterious as they are a reclamation.

Tra Cee is a singer and family woman from the midwest who doubles her time as a streaming radio station runner dedicated to all things horror called SCRM Radio. This tune-in is where you can get horror news, audible narratives, paranormal shows, and general chat about horror culture. In the thick of her horror community cultivation, there are a few gaps in Tra Cee's selfless social media presence when it comes to horror. In this next installment of Horror Favorites, Tra Cee shows her respect for multiple characters and aspects of the genre, including finding little fault with anything Stephen King has ever written.