Deathly Realities

Writer-director Robert Wheaton’s story of a shy guy, Mark (Parros), trying all the wrong moves to meet the right girl rides high on a romantic sensibility. Although at first it’s hard to imagine the handsome Mark having trouble with the ladies, Parros gives a charming performance as the nice guy who finishes last. UCLA’s north campus features prominently as this would-be Romeo’s ever-hopeful hunting ground.

A man is trying to decide if he should go to Vietnam with the US army.

A young man living in the inner city, runs into conflicts with his mother when he decides to pursue a college education instead of accepting an offer for a full-time job.

A deranged mortician preys on a group of teenage friends in a desperate attempt to obtain their bodily fluids needed to bring his family back to life.

Shot on video, this anthology consists of three episodes. In "Deathly Realities," a serial killer hiding behind a rubber mask receives comeuppance from his victims, beyond the grave. In "The Coming of the Saturnites," a space alien struggles to ingratiate himself among humans without blowing his cover. In "Money'll Eat You Up!!!," a rogue dollar bill (or "dirty green") makes its victims disappear - a brutal riposte to Gordon Gekko's then-popular mantra of "greed is good."

This innovative drama, set in Ohio, traces an African American couple's search for intimacy and friendship. The spirited, African-identified Yasmine Allen is a writer and single mother who has been dating saxophone teacher Craig Watkins for a month. Wishing to end her self-imposed celibacy following her son's birth, Yasmine has reached a turning point in the relationship-but Craig, the Big Lug, wants to take it slow. Sage advice from friends and family members remind them, "sex is a powerful thang." Like her highly acclaimed CYCLES, Davis's film incorporates animation as well as Afro-Haitian dance in a rich exploration of the lives of African Americans.

Michael and Lisa are about to lose their home when Michael finds an ancient vase. Their life seems to be turning around until bad things happen, then a mystic tells them that selling the vase has placed a curse on them.

Bugged! tells the story of a group of bumbling exterminators who are called over to the house of an attractive young novelist to rid her house of insects. Unfortunately, due to a horrible chemical mix-up, the poison spray causes the bugs to grow to enormous sizes, and pretty soon everyone's trapped inside the house and have to find a way to stop the dastardly pests before they start multiplying and take over the world.

Interview with film historian S. Torriano Berry inspects the work of James and Eloyce Gist.