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More and more often, I come across pieces of horror that hit a nerve. Not in the negative way, rather in a way that is deep and resonant. Growing up in the 80s, with the rise of ‘B-movie’ slashers in the zeitgeist, the genre felt like the furthest thing from thoughtful. As an adult and massive consumer of media, I’ve had time to learn about the deep connection the horror genre has to relaying the prevalent fears of the times. A society afraid of marijuana use unraveling the “morally ideal” society became the breeding ground for a film like Reefer Madness. So, what are the prevalent fears that create the environment for the subject of this film review, Night Patrol? Let’s get into it.

A top-tier pick for me at Fantastic Fest, Night Patrol features a multicultural take on vampire and hunter lore never before executed. It felt like a healthy mix of Training Day meets Sinners with a dash of Friday. It was one of the few pieces with a Black lens shown at the festival, and it made waves with everyone who witnessed it.

Night Patrol’s big idea is that the LAPD has an elite gangbuster task force that only patrols at night and has license to use lethal force. They’re all stocky white dudes with military backgrounds and a predilection for racist statements. They wear propagandistic logos, Oakley shades, and face masks adorned with skulls. Oh, and they’re vampires!

The other big idea is that the Bloods and Crips are not just rival street gangs but posits that the Crips are descendants of Zulu hunter-warriors, and the Bloods are conspiracy theorists ready to battle any enemy! RJ Cyler stars as Wazi, a young Crip tired of the gang life he’s born into. When Wazi witnesses his Blood girlfriend being killed by the LAPD’s night patrol squad (led by Dermot Mulroney and pro-wrestler and supreme ally, CM Punk), it puts him on a collision course with the Bloods leader (played hilariously by rapper Freddie Gibbs), his OG Crip mother (Nicki Micheaux), his cop brother (Jermaine Fowler), his brother’s patrol partner (Justin Long), and his destiny.

What opens like a Romeo and Juliet-type setup becomes something so much more nefarious and ultimately rewarding in the long run.

The idea that police brutality and extrajudicial killings are so rampant in reality that even in fiction, the best allegory to be made is that they are out for blood, so why not make them vampires? It hits. Hard. Mind you, Night Patrol doesn’t take the surgical approach that Sinners took. This ain’t about the nuanced interplay of cultures via colonialism and oppression. Night Patrol is a sledgehammer with a tac light on it, talking right to the hood about how untouchable and invincible the police feel in American society. Somehow, this indie genre film relays the overwhelming desperation and anger of the Black experience without ever feeling preachy or overbearing. Hats off to writers Ryan Prows (he’s also the director!), Shaye Ogbanna, Jake Gibson, and Tim Cairo for balancing the tone of Night Patrol, but keeping it hood.

Y’all Aint Gotta Like it Cuz the Hood Gon’ Love It

It cannot be oversold how the culture of LA is front and center in Night Patrol. From featuring rapper YG, a real-life Piru, to filming in Watts and using housing projects for shooting locations. A lot of reviews have attacked the writing, but it was some of the most naturally hood dialogue I’ve seen since Black Jesus on Adult Swim. There’s something to be said about the effort it takes to float these notions and ideas, resisting the pull to overintellectualize the dialogue. Also, to trust in ‘the culture’ and have YG improvise lines for authenticity (while also making sure the set was safe by checking in with the local Blood homies). To have Flying Lotus anchor a good deal of the humor to offset the harsh imagery. To allow Blackness to be the standard for the production and not the sideshow. Slated for release in early 2026, Night Patrol is going to make waves with its intended audience: the genre horror fans and the block. It won’t matter if it gets the academy accolades or not. They ain’t gotta like it, cuz the hood gon love it. And that’s on that.

When Night Patrol drops, make sure you go see that.

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The post Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Night Patrol’ Keeps its Story Balanced and Hood appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Will.i.am is a Grammy-winning recording artist, music producer, and entrepreneur who recently shared in a Fortune interview that his approach to success centers on what he calls a “dream-reality” balance. Rather than subscribing to the traditional idea of work-life balance, he believes in putting in focused effort beyond the 9-to-5 to align daily work with long-term vision and purpose.

The Black Eyed Peas member and hitmaking producer — whose credits include collaborations with Nas, Ariana Grande, John Legend, The Game, Macy Gray, and Chris Brown — is now a tech entrepreneur with a traditional 9-to-5. Still, he remains focused on pursuing his ambitions on his own terms, encouraging others to do the same as they work toward their goals.

“If you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist, it’s about dream-reality balance,” he said. “Work-life balance means that you’re working for somebody else’s dream. You just have a job supporting somebody else’s dream, and you want to balance your work and your life.

“But if it’s dream-reality balance, then it’s not work. It’s a dream that you’re trying to put into reality, and you’re ignoring your current reality.”

He has switched back to working regular hours during the day, with the goal of focusing on his creative side from the end of the 9-to-5 shift until 9 p.m. This was from someone who did the exact opposite: during the day, when the music was the focus, he would then try to do his work on his tech after his “main” job of producing tracks. He would advise younger people to adopt that mindset to achieve what they set out to do in life.

“I’m not really paying attention to this reality. I’m trying to bring that one [a new business venture or idea] here and focusing on how do I get people who believe in this dream to help me materialize it? So for that, you have to make some type of sacrifice to bring this thing that doesn’t exist here. From that perspective, work-life balance is not for the architects that are pulling visions into reality. Those words don’t compute to the mindset of the materializers.”

RELATED CONTENT: Marsai Martin Gets Candid About Burnout And Redefining Her Idea Of Success

To commemorate the official release of THE BINTI TRILOGY, we here at Black Nerd Problems are happy to share exclusive interior artwork featured in this illustrative edition of Nnedi Okorafor’s groundbreaking space opera that centres a young Himba woman on her travels in outer space as she leaves planet Earth to attend a prestigious intergalactic university.

The Folio Society, an independent publisher of beautifully illustrated hardback books, has published the first ever illustrated edition of THE BINTI TRILOGY, created in collaboration with fine artist David Palumbo. This highly illustrated edition filled with vivid paintings of galaxies, spaceships, and alien species will collect all three acclaimed novellas in the Binti series, as well as a short story by Okorafor and is now available.

The lavishly illustrated 360-page omnibus edition of THE BINTI TRILOGY includes seven full-page color artworks in a palette of rich blues, purples, and reds—featuring a cast of characters including our heroine Binti, the jellyfish-like Meduse, and the living spaceship Third Fish—as well as black and white illustrated part-title pages and dark blue metallic endpapers. The cloth-bound cover features an illustration of heroine Binti surrounded by a jellyfish-like alien species, with silver foil blocking for added dimension, while the slipcase is decorated with nebulas, planets, and stars printed on a metallic paper for a shimmering finish. 

ABOUT NNEDI OKORAFOR

Nnedi Okorafor was born in the United States to two Igbo (Nigerian) immigrant parents. She holds a PhD in English and was a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University. She has been the winner of many awards for her short stories and young adult books and won a World Fantasy Award for Who Fears Death. Nnedi’s books are inspired by her Nigerian heritage and her many trips to Africa.

ABOUT ARTIST

David Palumbo is an American illustrator renowned for his dynamic, atmospheric artwork across science fiction and fantasy. With a background in fine art and a flair for dramatic composition, his work appears in everything from Magic: The Gathering to Marvel Comics. For Folio’s edition of The Binti Trilogy, Palumbo brings Nnedi Okorafor’s interstellar landscapes and vivid character transformations to life with striking, otherworldly detail. His painterly style and deep understanding of light and form make him a perfect match for this genre-blending, boundary-breaking story. Palumbo lives and works in Philadelphia.

ABOUT THE FOLIO SOCIETY

The Folio Society, based in London, publishes beautifully produced, illustrated hardback books. From a single purchase to a lifetime of collecting, book lovers around the world can buy these exquisite editions exclusively from their website, foliosociety.com. Proudly independent for its 75-year history, in 2021 under the leadership of its CEO, Joanna Reynolds, The Folio Society became an Employee Ownership Trust. The Folio Society is committed to a progressive sharing of power and profit in publishing, and this is reflected in their new status. 

The Folio Society publishes some of the best names in publishing past and present, across the globe in high specification, collector editions. Notable publications include Frank Herbert’s Dune, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon, and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple among many other contemporary and classic titles including a publishing partnership with Marvel delivering the world-recognized, iconic brand’s luxury editions. 

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The post An Exclusive First Look Inside ‘THE BINTI TRILOGY’ Illustrated Edition appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Black Girl Nerds (BGN) recently sat down with the creative team and cast behind Apple TV+’s highly anticipated new drama series Pluribus, offering insight into one of the most intriguing genre-bending shows on the horizon.

Hailing from Vince Gilligan the mastermind behind Breaking Bad and co-creator of Better Call Saul, Pluribus continues his tradition of challenging storytelling that blurs moral, emotional, and narrative boundaries. Gilligan serves as creator, director, writer, and executive producer on the nine-episode series, alongside longtime collaborators Gordon Smith (director, writer, executive producer) and Alison Tatlock (writer, executive producer). Even ahead of its debut, Apple TV+ has shown strong confidence in the project, officially renewing Pluribus for a second season.

The series stars Rhea Seehorn, whose acclaimed work as Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul earned her two Emmy nominations. In Pluribus, Seehorn plays Carol, a character central to a bold and unsettling premise: the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness. It’s a concept that immediately subverts expectations, using dark humor and speculative elements to explore themes of control, fulfillment, and the unintended consequences of emotional extremes.

Joining Seehorn are Karolina Wydra (Sneaky Pete) as Zosia and Carlos-Manuel Vesga (The Hijacking of Flight 601) as Manousos, both of whom bring depth and unpredictability to the ensemble. During the interviews, the cast and creators discussed the show’s tonal complexity, its philosophical underpinnings, and the collaborative process that shaped its unique voice.

With Pluribus, Gilligan and his team once again invite audiences into a world that feels unsettlingly close to our own, one where happiness itself becomes a threat, and misery may be the last line of defense. The cast and crew dive into the season one finale episode with Black Girl Nerds in the interview below.

Interviewer: Jamie Broadnax
Video Editor: Jamie Broadnax

Pluribus has already been picked up for a second season and is currently streaming on Apple TV+

The post The Cast and Crew of ‘Pluribus’ Unpack That Intense Season Finale! appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.