Catch the Black Sunshine (1972)

Very disappointing...

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie is the absolute worst film that has ever been created...The fact that multiple imdbeeps give this monstrosity a 10 rating has perturbed me to no end... I get that they are orchestrating this as a tongue-in-cheek act, rating a bad movie high is always fun! Or so they....imagine. Comedy is great in most ever situation.... except with regard to reviewing this flick. Even the slightest amount of humor is inappropriate, trust me. Why the hate? While most "bad" movies (ie Manos) have some redeeming comedy factor, this one has none. Checking out the VHS box is the best way to enjoy this movie...Notes:1: White director/writer/producer stars AS BLACK SLAVE, (aka Albino N$&@#% in the film) All actual black characters do not question this, regardless of his obviously Caucasian features2: My VHS cover from Walmart has Snidely Whiplash attacking a slave with hedge pruners. BOTH ACTORS ARE NOT IN THE FILM.3. 6+ times there are shots of the 2 guys walking slowly through swamps (for up to 5 minutes)4. Main villain is Lurch from the original Adams Family show. ??scary

...and I saw both feardotcom and without a paddle in theaters.and i've watched the films of ed wood. and sat through many a roger corman classic. and generally rented every bad movie in the bowels of the video store. this is the single most painfully horrible movie i've ever seen. the only other thing i've watched in recent memory that was even close to this bad was six string samurai (I was so disappointed in that one). But, on the upside, you can use it as a torture device to annoy your friends. There's nothing like subjecting them to bad acting, a white guy masquerading as an "albino" black man, and just generally terrible movie-making. I first saw this film when I was 17. I'm now 23, and have yet to find anything to top it. The one and only reason I'm giving this two stars is because I like to torture people with it from time to time. Try it back to back with the Star Wars Holiday Special to rid your house of unwanted guests.

While I don't have MUCH to say about this hilariously, painful monstrosity I do have one question...who the hell thinks of sh*t like an 'albino'-black slave? And for that matter, why is being a pasty-skinned Anglo-Saxon male considered close enough? If indeed the story calls for an albino I'd expect any respectable casting agent to go out and find such a person. True the population of albino-Africans is probably not soaring through the roof, but any albino would do (with exception of those of Asian kin); or perhaps a better make-up artist was all that was needed. Whatever the case, when I have trouble conceptualizing the viability towards one of MAIN characters, I find the rest of the film to be contrived and lackluster. BUT, with the right amount of THC in your system (or whatever your poison may be) the movie quickly becomes a wonderful, laughable joke. I'm sure this was not intended, but at least they accomplished something with a flick that otherwise would be better used as a book-end.

The video I saw of this film was on a label called Platinum Productions. It had been retitled as "Black Rage" and had this amazingly cruddy cover art with a white slaver threatening a black slave using what is very obviously a pruning saw (exactly like the one my grandmother uses on her shrubs). But don't judge a book by its cover. Even though the video quality of the tape was on the just adequate-to-fair side (I suspect that the tape was actually a bootleg), that didn't prevent me from ultimately really enjoying this film. It was clearly a labor of love, filmed (very clearly) on real Florida swamp locations (that must have been a real fun shoot), with mostly unknowns (Ted "Lurch" Cassidy is the only guy most people will probably recognize). But the subject matter is so unique (name me one other film set in 1859 about two slave brothers - one black the other albino - who find an old Spanish treasure map and spend the rest of the film on the run from bounty trackers through some of the roughest Florida swamp country this side of a women-in-prison movie) and the quality of the production values (great performances all around, terrific attention to period costuming and set decoration, attractive cinematography, even good sound recording) is so outstanding that this picture really won me over. It's too bad that Chris Robinson gave up directing (and producing, starring, writing...) his own material like this. I hope more people have a chance to see this distinctive, well-made film.