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Six Female-Centric Body Horror Movies to Watch if You Loved ‘The Substance’ | Black Girl Nerds

Body horror is having a moment, and we can thank French auteur Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance for that. The Best Picture nominee (and winner for Best Makeup and Hairstyling) hit theaters in September 2024, and we’re still talking about its themes, acting performances, practical effects, music, cinematography, and more. 


From The Thing and The Fly to Hellraiser and Videodrome, plenty of classics exist in the body horror subgenre, along with new buzzy titles like Together. There’s new indie fa...
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Review: Uzo Aduba Leads Paul William Davies’ White House Whodunnit ‘The Residence’ | Black Girl Nerds

If you’re looking for your next murder mystery binge, creative powerhouse Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton) and Netflix have you covered with The Residence, hitting the platform on March 20. 


The eight-episode series comes from showrunner, writer, and executive producer Paul William Davies, known for other Shondaland projects including Scandal and For The People, who was inspired by Kate Andersen Browe’s nonfiction book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House. Despite the setting,...
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‘Final Destination’ at 25: Looking Back on the Quintessential Aughts-Era Horror | Black Girl Nerds

When Final Destination premiered on March 17, 2000, no one really expected it to be the long-running franchise it became. Creator and multi-hyphenate Jeffrey Reddick (Day of the Dead) originally penned the idea as a spec script for The X-Files. However, after he shared it with colleagues at New Line Cinema, they encouraged him to write a feature-length film treatment instead. The studio bought it and hired two writers, James Wong and Glen Morgan (Black Christmas), who happened to be writers for...
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SXSW 2025 Review: Nastasya Popov Explores Fashion and Reality TV in Energetic Satire ‘Idiotka’ | Black Girl Nerds

Writer-director Nastasya Popov makes her feature directorial debut at SXSW with Idiotka, a fashion-fueled story about chasing your dreams, which she developed with producing partner Tess Cohen (They Call Me Magic). Inspired by aspects of her own experience growing up in a Russian immigrant household, Popov tells a unique tale that’s personal, comical, smart, and all-around fun. 


The film opens with frenetic energy and smash-cut editing that sets a chaotic tone. Aspiring designer Margarita Lev...
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SXSW 2025 Review: David Oyelowo Stars as Ex-Con Inventor in Absurdist Romp ‘Government Cheese’ | Black Girl Nerds

In the trailer for Apple Original Government Cheese, one character gets at the heart of the 10-episode series, saying: “Dreamers are dangerous.” Co-created and executive produced by Paul Hunter (Bulletproof Monk) and Aeysha Carr (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), the surreal dramedy is based on Hunter’s short film of the same name, inspired by his life growing up in California. 


The term “government cheese” refers to the processed American cheese given to schools, food banks, and welfare and food stamp re...
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Review: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Delivers the Brutality MCU Fans Have Been Waiting For | Black Girl Nerds

Marvel first announced plans for Daredevil: Born Again in 2022, and now, after two Hollywood strikes and a creative overhaul, the highly anticipated series is finally here. The nine-episode revival continues the story from Netflix’s Daredevil, which ran for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. Since its cancellation, fans have been clamoring for more of what many, if not most, consider to be Marvel’s best series ever. 


Showrunner and executive producer Dario Scardapane (The Punisher), along with...
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Sundance 2025 Review: Meera Menon and Paul Gleason Pay Homage to Romero in Intimate Zombie Thriller ‘Didn’t Die’ | Black Girl Nerds

Directed by Meera Menon (The Walking Dead, Ms. Marvel), who co-wrote the film with cinematographer and husband Paul Gleason (Love Land), Didn’t Die explores the need for community and intimacy during a crisis. Taking a page from zombie pioneer George A. Romero, the film opts for a dark and eerie atmosphere over sprinting corpses and explosive gore. 


Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the film tells of siblings Vinita (Kiran Deol) and Rish (Vishal Vijayakumar), who drive around the country for t...
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Sundance 2025 Review: ‘How to Build a Library’ Explores Inspiring Restoration and Decolonization of Nairobi’s Oldest Library | Black Girl Nerds

For 8 years, the Nairobian husband and wife filmmaking team, Maia Lekow and Christopher King (The Letter) documented the restoration of Kenya’s second-oldest library. But this wasn’t just an architectural venture. The two women helming the project, writer Shiro Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka, were motivated by their love of literature and learning and their mission to unite the Kenyan community through storytelling. This resulted in the beautifully-crafted How to Build a Library, one of t...
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Review: ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 5 Returns to Form with the OG Crew Taking over a New City | Black Girl Nerds

Dean Lorey just might be one of the hardest-working executive producers in the industry. In the past year, he served as showrunner for James Gunn’s Creature Commandos and “Harleyverse” spin-off Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, both while gearing up for his return to Harley Quinn, which he co-created with Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker (Abbott Elementary).


While all three were still executive producers on the show, they handed the showrunner reins over to series writer Sarah Peters (Ghosted) for S...
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Review: ‘Goosebumps’ Returns with Next Chapter of YA Horror in ‘Goosebumps: The Vanishing’ | Black Girl Nerds

When Disney+’s R.L. Stine adaptation Goosebumps debuted in October 2023, it was only a 10-episode limited series. But with its Season 2 renewal, the series has become a serialized anthology that tells a new story every season. Co-creators Rob Letterman (2015’s Goosebumps) and Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) return this season with Letterman and Hilary Winston (Community) serving as co-showrunners again. 


While we won’t be following our characters from the previous, the second ins...
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Review: Netflix's ‘Squid Game’ Returns with a Bold and Bloody Season 2

In September 2021, Netflix premiered Squid Game, a South Korean drama series about desperate people playing schoolyard games for money. To everyone’s surprise, it became an overnight sensation, the platform’s most successful show. It’s hard to believe series creator, director, and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk, who originally envisioned the story as a film, spent over a decade shopping it around.
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Halloween Classics: Disney’s Forgotten 'Tower of Terror'

On July 22, 1994, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida debuted the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a dark drop-shaft ride standing 199 feet high, the first thing guests see when entering Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios). The experience begins with riders queuing up in the decrepit Hollywood Tower Hotel, giving them a chance to enjoy the eerie ambiance and creepy elegance of the abandoned lobby covered in dust and cobwebs.
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Review: Brandon Espy’s ‘Mr. Crocket’ Promises a Fun and Frightening Good Time

This Huluween, writer-director Brandon Espy makes his feature directorial debut with Mr. Crocket, which he co-wrote with Carl Reid (Grounded). The film is based on his 2022 short of the same name featured in the third season of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween series. If you thought that glimpse of the titular TV personality was terrifying, get ready for the stuff of nightmares.
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