User reviews

I agree with most of the reviews here. I am the child actress Debbie Kinkad. I did not have any formal training and I'm not sure if the others did, but I think they did. I however had an amazing time and great experience filming when I was young. It truly is a bad movie, however the storyline was great!

This is absolutely a low budget movie as I didn't get paid. I didn't have a clue it even was put on tape or DVD, as I had not seen the movie until I was in my forties. Someone searching my name and asked me about it. So I had to do a search for myself and it popped up under my name as the original name of the movie was changed, from SuperBlack to this.

There are a lot of interesting ideas here and it's clearly someone's passion project. Other reviewers have said that the ending is absurd--maybe, but the ending was the most interesting part of the movie. Everything leading up to Abar becoming the "black superman" takes twice as long as it should.

The performances are, for the most part, bad. The script needs tightening. And, unfortunately, due to pacing problems described above, the movie drags and didn't hold my interest. I almost gave up on it, in fact.

That said, I thought it was a thought-provoking movie. It's certainly not a must-see, but there's worse out there.

Although obvioulsy not a sophisticated production, in its first 70 minutes, Abar may be considered as an entertaining blaxploitation flick. There is a plot of a black scientist and physician who moves with his family to a fancy neighborhood and suffers violent racist bigotry from his white neighbors with dramatic consequences, and there is a cool badass band of motorcycle vigilantes who protect black people in danger and is led by martial artist Abar. That is not the most innovative script but it is good enough. The problem is that the story turns very confusing afterwards, with many things happening in a hurry without either proper development or good cinematic shooting. It is only in this chaotic part that Abar becomes a superhuman, and his powers are not well defined either: physical invulnerability? Psychic powers of mind control? Transmutation magic? Enhanced wisdom? "morality-change" power? Control of elements and weather? Super-hearing? Teleporting stuff? Summoning animals? God-like powers in general? Quite messy, indeed! The new god-like superhero has as his weakness suffering enfeeblement and reverse effects if he misuses his powers. To resume, everything is too broad to make sense, even considering the range of existing superhero fantasy characters. The end of the movie is bad and cheesy. I cannot help but say that the film had a better potential than its outcome, considering the first two thirds of it, and its failure is not the result of low budget.

First off: potential viewers should note that the picture on the front of the In Your Face re-release (actual title: Abar, The First Black Superman) has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE! The two people pictured on the front are NOT in the movie, and neither one of them is Abar.

Now that that's out of the way, this movie is so bad that it is not only entertaining, it's highly enjoyable. The premise is easy to follow, and the story has so many goofball turns in it (Dr. Kinkade develops a serum that makes rabbits bulletproof!! Little boy's dream sequence is also unforgettable!) that you can't help but have a good time taking it all in. Production values are really horrible, sound looping is obvious, and scenes often cut for no reason. Still, worth a look, especially if you're a die-hard fan of nonsensical B-movies. The only real problem with this one is the extremely tacked-on lackluster ending.

With a cast of people that you've never heard of Abar, The First Black Superman is a film right out of the 70s, those fashions and those Afros date it as nothing else could. It's a story that I thought was going to be a social commentary then it became surreal science fiction.

A black family named Kinkade where the father is a research scientist moves into an exclusive all white neighborhood where there's nothing subtle about their bigotry. Offering his protection to them is a guy named Abar who is a young community activist and looks as fit as the Rock is now. They suffer a lot of despicable acts and one family tragedy and all because dad wants to be near his work.

As it turns out his work is developing a super being and Abar is recruited as the prototype. I think the creators of this film were inspired by Gary Lockwood's performance in that classic Star Trek episode where a pair of the Enterprise crew were zapped going through a nebula and get God like abilities. That's what Abar gets and you can judge for yourself how wisely he uses them.

I'm not sure where this takes place. Hints that it's a southern location are in the story, but the photography screams California. The acting here is on a grade school level. The mad scientist looks like a bad version of Morgan Freeman without a 10th of his abilities.

Strange, but very bad movie.

Although my review of this movie is rendered more difficult by the poor print that was offered last night on TCM, I am in substantial agreement with the other reviewers: it's awful in all departments, from the script, the acting, the music -- for a while I thought they were ripping off Lalo Schifrin's classic Mission Impossible theme for the Black motorcycle gang -- and the set design; I can't get the cathouse red from the living room out of my eyes. A poor print and muffled sound track makes it more difficult to make an assessment, but I have watched a lot of bad prints in my time.

Where I differ from the other reviewers is their insistence that this is so bad that it's fun. It isn't. Perhaps if it shows up on Riftrax, some fun might be had, but it's shooting fish in a barrel. Save your time for a nap, or for a barrel of fish.

From the looks of Abar, the First Black Superman, not a trace of progress was made from the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. That doesn't stop Frank Packard from making his "statement" on race relations between whites and blacks. This is such a clumsy and badly made film, but not for one moment was I bored. At times I was flabbergasted, or yelling at the screen at a character's actions (or, more often than not, so-called performances), but never did I want to turn it off. It's a classic of fun-bad movies, only hurt somewhat by the fact that its main character doesn't turn into the First Black Superman until an hour into the film! (who really REALLY doesn't look like how he does on the re-issued cover, "In Your Face", titled for some God-awful reason).

Abar is part of a black resistance, of sorts, but he only comes into play with the life of Dr. Kincade and his family when the good doctor and his kin move into a 200 grand house - in the suburbs! Oh, Whitey doesn't like that, and of course there's a "welcoming" committee waiting outside the home with signs like "N-word" this and so on, and of course Kincade doesn't feel too comfortable at it, especially when one white woman yells at one of his kids. So he gets Abar to help out as security, but it unfortunately doesn't save Kincade's quick-talking (or mumble-mouthed) son from getting run over by another Whitey in a car. Vengeance must be had! But can Kincade take the serum he's developed for rabbits to gain psychic powers? Will Abar, a volatile and possibly psychotic being with huge muscles and bad 'tude be able to take it? Tune in next week as...

Oh, this is such stupid stuff. Some of the dialog is bad enough, but the performances, oh man. It's like watching an off-off-off-off-off Broadway production that is really the Community theater of a basement in Queens putting on Blaxspoitation. The lead actor, J. Walter Smith, makes me pine for Rudy Ray Moore's expert ability. His job here ranges from wildly, badly over-the-top to unnecessarily whispering every line. The kid actor playing Kincade's son, Tony Rumford, speaks his lines like he wants to rush away to go to the bathroom. And the director makes Tobar Mayo (Abar) into a kind of black El Topo in the last twenty minutes with a series of eye-close-ups that should make him SUPER BAD ASS NEGRO-MAN-THING, but is really just as silly as anything else.

So why recommend it? Because it is so funny, and so tasteless that it's hard to resist. It's the kind of movie that liberally (I mean inappropriately, like at the end and at a critical point midway through) uses clips from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Did they even get the rights to this? Maybe for the good of all African-American kind they persuaded the King estate to use the clips for good use... such as highlighting a story of racial oppression where there's either dirty ghetto that can't be saved or white suburbia that won't have one black person anywhere near them. I almost hope there was a series (or at least a sequel) of these movies. Perhaps once was enough, but I can at least say it's a unequivocal guilty pleasure. It makes other campy blaxploitation subtle by comparison.

thus my high rating, because believe me this hits the bulls eye.

A black doctor and his family move into a wealthy white suburb of Los Angeles so he can focus on his research. Unfortunately, all his neighbors are racist in ways that make the cast of In the Heat of the Night look like pikers. So the family winds up being protected by Abar, the head of the Black Front for Unity.

It turns out that the doctor is working on a formula for invincibility, and after he perfects it, he administers it to Abar, who uses he newfound superpowers to make black teens go to college, black hobos drink milk instead of malt liquor(!), and black preachers ride a horse and buggy instead of a Caddy. Really.

The plot veers wildly, with a wacky western dream sequence and liberal use of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech punctuating things. Meanwhile, the acting ranges from pretty bad to unbelievably awful. The doctor is ridiculously wooden, while his wife resorts to over-the-top screaming.

And then there's the fabulous 1970s design. There probably wasn't enough of a budget for a wardrobe, so most of the people presumably wore whatever they had (thankfully, they didn't have Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy). This results in a lot of authentic 70s fashion statements and some garish color schemes in the outfits. But there's even more garish color in some of the sets. The doctor's new house has lovely avocado green shag carpeting, and one room that's entirely bright red, as though it had been borrowed from Bergman's Cries and Whispers. The result is an utter disaster, but one that winds up being lots of fun.

1/10 if you're looking at it as a normal movie; 8/10 if you're looking for a "so bad it's good" experience.

This is a bicameral movie, of sorts. The first two thirds is an examination of the problem of middle class blacks (Dr. Kincaide and his family) wanting to move out of his black neighborhood for security and class consciousness concerns. Abar, a vigilante type character running a kind of rogue chapter of something akin to the Black Panthers (but unarmed), challenges Dr. Kincaide to consider raising up those among his race that he is leaving behind.

At this stage, the viewer may be somewhat confused, as the title makes one think they are going to see a genre superhero film, but that doesn't really happen until the last act. The first two acts flesh out the class conflict between the two main characters and their mutual enemy, the white bigots of the neighborhood who want to force Dr. Kincaide to move.

To me, this was the novel and more engaging part of the movie. The last act, when Abar becomes a psycho-telekinetic "superman" is rather amusing, but it is pure fantasy rather than science fiction as it claims ("The first Black science fiction film!"). The goal seems to have been to have this catharsis for black audiences to howl over in the theaters.

I think most of the reviewers here on IMDb have been too hard on this film. Sure, there are technical deficiencies and so forth, but taken on its own terms, "Abar" deserves praise for attempting to tackle a tough subject like class struggle which most blacks would prefer to slough off erroneously as a race question.

Abar, the First Black Superman (1977)

** (out of 4)

Dr. Kincade (J. Walter Smith) moves his wife and two children into an all white neighborhood where they soon become targets of physical and mental violence. Turns out the white folks aren't too happy about blacks moving in so the doctor must get a bodyguard named Abar (Tobar Mayo) to help. After a tragic death the doctor uses a chemical he's been working on to turn Abar into a superhero. ABAR, THE FIRST BLACK SUPERMAN is a pretty campy movie that thankfully has enough funny moments to make it worth sitting through. With that said, if you're wanting a "good" Blaxploitation film then this here certainly isn't it, although I must say there's some good stuff scattered around and with some more editing I think you could have had a very good movie. What's so strange is that the title refers to the character as a "Superman" type but he actually turns into a mix between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jesus. Abar walks around with special powers that can produce storms, put snakes into women's beds and he even has the power to turn black men's alcohol into milk. This entire sequence is rather bizarre and I'm not exactly sure what the point was but you have to admit that it's rather entertaining. The hilarious moments come from the racist white people. If you've seen a Blaxploitation movie then you know all whites are racist and that stays true here. Just wait until you see the neighbors reaction to the blacks moving in and her "breakdown" is among the funniest scenes I've seen in a very long time. How long it takes for the protests to start was rather hilarious as was a bit where the news station warns people that blacks have moved into town. The performances for the most part are forgettable but both Smith and Mayo are mildly interesting in their parts. The biggest problem is that the film runs on way too long and it takes way too long for the story to get going. I'm really not sure why they waited nearly an hour for the powers to kick in but by then you've really lost interest in it. This is certainly far from a "good" movie but fans of the genre should get a few laughs out of it.

A black doctor and his family move to the fancy white suburbs and are met with incredible racism from his new neighbors. He also gets some grief from some in the black community for 'abondoning his people'. You really feel sorry for these people. Eventually, the hatred for these people is so severe that the racists are even willing to kill. The family's only apparent hope is a local black power group--but even they can't protect them 24-7. Ultimately, their hope comes in a VERY bizarre form--a brand new black superhero...Abar! It was very surprising that the first hour of the film was, despite the cheapness, very compelling. Addressing racist attitudes in the fancy suburbs was a very timely idea---though I will be the first to admit that it was handled with all the subtlety of a 2x4 upside your head! It went way too far in handling this, though the emotional toll on the family was well portrayed. As another reviewer pointed out, it was good at addressing the justifiable frustrations in black America.

Unfortunately, after the first hour, it literally looks as if they threw away the script and started over--and the entire film changed so dramatically it seemed insane. And, considering where it went next, insane is the best way to describe it!! Yes, Abar becomes a super-hero of sorts after getting a miraculous potion from the doctor. With it, he has amazing mental powers--powers to help prostitutes beat up their pimps, black men to stop playing dice and get educated and other ways that force his community to clean up its act. And Abar's hero outfit? It's a blue leisure suit! Now this sounds stupid and bizarre. Well, it is bizarre but surprisingly non-stupid and interesting throughout. For a cheapo film with seemingly nothing going for it, it's surprisingly fun to watch and has some amazing depth.

Abar is obviously set up in an extreme environment. The blatant racism may seem to be too much for some viewers, but one must remember that it is just a movie. Actually, when witnessing the acting and editing, I find it hard for the average person to forget that it's just a movie. However, regardless of the poor editing and dialogue delivery, the characters are skillfully (almost magically) developed. The extreme prejudices portrayed in the film may not seem realistic for this day and age, but I think that it compensates for all of the constant problems and issues of minority disrespect/disregard in american society that may seem subtle, but in reality, cause just as many feelings of societal rejection and frustration within minority communities. With this film, I urge the viewer to, first, get a good laugh at the overall makeup of the film, and then check it out again to pick up on some of the issues that "In Your Face (Abar)" presents to our "great" american society.

One of the funniest exploration films ever. In glorious 1970' s shtick. It doesn't come better than this. And,oh those clothes, the cars, the non- existent budget! Never mind the illusion of "racial equality" premise,you haven't lived until you see lab and the cheesy MLK poster on the wall. The actors are terrific at their incompetence. The screen I of is wanton. The direction is valid. I saw this tonight on TCM and will contact them to provide a complete venue of this. Don't miss a second of this gem.

BTW, I am a great fan of grade Z films. Let they live long and be enjoyed..