Son of Ingagi

SON OF INGAGI (1940) is a rare horror film. One of the films by Zack Williams, a black film artist who made films with an all black cast, for the black audiences. (This was in the days before Denzel washington, Sidney Portier, James Earl Jones, the days you never saw a black man in the heroic lead in a film.) The real treat of the movie is the nasty old witch that lives in a little house. All she has to do is bang a low-toned gong and the big giant, who sleeps on hay, wakes up and beats the old woman's enemies to a frazzle. A rare piece of film history, and a lot of fun.

This old flick is about a murderous half-man half-ape who lives in a secret basement unbeknownst to a young married couple who have just taken ownership of the property. This leads to a number of murders which casts all manner of aspersions on the husband.

Son of Ingagi is, along with Devils Daughter and Chloe, Love is Calling You, one of the earliest all-black horror films. Like the others it's strictly a poverty row affair which only really stands out as an example of early black cinema. While it does have a reasonably intimidating monster, it suffers from being very creaky, as many of the low-budget films from the period are. It combines elements of horror and comedy, which was something that was increasingly popular at the time. Although, even up to the present day, this approach has proved never to be easy to pull off successfully as the comedy deflates the horror and vice-versa.

Without doubt this is a movie primarily recommended for those interested in the development of black cinema. It also should be of interest to fans of old 30's and 40's low budget horror films. Others should approach with caution, as despite its significance as an early example of a minority race film, it might just be a little too unoriginal and antiquated.

SON OF INGAGI is about a man and his new bride trying to enjoy their wedding night. Instead, a series of disasters -an explosion at the groom's workplace, a mad scientist and her go-rilla henchman on a rampage- threatens to derail the honeymoon.

A fun movie featuring an all-African American cast...

Definitely recommended only for die-hard fans of dusty old movies, this is one you've almost definitely never seen. Long out of circulation in any form, this very tame 1940s 'haunted house' type thriller is unique because it features an all-black cast. Otherwise, it is badly dated and so mild that it's a real snore throughout most of the short runtime.

The plot concerns two newlyweds who find themselves visited on their wedding night by a mysterious woman, a certain Doctor Jackson. Doctor Jackson is a severe old woman, and we see her roughing up her attorney and revealing herself to be stubborn and willful. However, she is also touched that the newlyweds have found her important enough to invite to their wedding, and she reveals that she was once romantically linked with the bride's father. Unbeknownst to anybody, Dr. Jackson has drawn up a will that leaves all of her earthly possessions, including her spooky old house, to our protagonists.

Also a secret is the fact that she has a weird ape-man living in her basement, which can only be accessed through a hidden door. The ape-man is summoned with an ominous gong the old lady has, and it appears to be mostly docile. However, Dr. Jackson is experimenting with some kind of potion, which she foolishly leaves sitting out in the basement where the ape-man lives. It drinks the potion and goes homicidally crazy, choking her to death. By wild coincidence, our newlyweds happen to visit the woman at almost the same moment and find her dead, no sign of the ape man. When the police discover that they were the beneficiaries of the old woman's will, they suspect the husband of murder. Cleared of all charges, the husband returns with his bride to move into the house they've just inherited--unaware that the ape man is still lurking in the basement. A few more attacks happen until the inevitable bride-snatching occurs after our lonely ape-man ventures out of the cellar.

The movie was filmed on a few cheap sets, with most of the action wisely taking place in the old dark house, but it's not that memorable of a set. It's poorly established, and we don't get a look at the creepy exterior until the conclusion, when it goes up in flames. The acting is passable, at best, with some comic relief coming from a bumbling detective. The makeup on the ape man is ludicrous, and there is no real explanation for what the creature is or why the doctor has it in her basement. We are to gather she brought it back from one of her excursions to Africa, but that's about all we know. Oh, and it likes cold cut sandwiches, too.

Worth a look for the curious, just don't expect too much. Watch for a couple of lively musical numbers near the beginning of the film, performed by the Four Toppers (not to be confused with the similarly-named Four Tops).

A newlywed couple is visited by a strange old woman who harbors a secret about the young girl's father.

"Son of Ingagi" is allegedly the first science fiction-horror film to feature an all-black cast. Even if the film had no merit (which it does), this alone would make it worthwhile as a historic film.

This is really the brainchild of Spencer Williams (1893-1969), who wrote, acted and helped behind the camera. While today perhaps best remembered as the latter half of Amos and Andy, he was a true talent and a pioneer in the category of "race films".

I would love to see this film properly released. Maybe it has been, but the public domain copy I saw was pretty unbearable and ruined what should have been a lost classic.