Now You're Gonna Do OURS!

Rest in Peace: Jamaa Fanaka, the insanely imaginative director of the aggressively brutish Penitentiary trilogy, the sullen character study Emma Mae, and the supremely over-the-top Welcome Home Brother Charles, which most of us who rummaged through rural VHS barn bins in the mid-80s first met as Soul Vengeance. Completely berserk film... Fanaka was hopelessly unsung, but Penitentiary, released in 1979, made a huge impact at the box office - he connected with the grindhouse audience time and again. Farewell, cult super-god!



The respectful and informative New York Times obituary may be found here.

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TS