Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, 2019

Directed by Xavier Burgin and written by Ashlee Blackwell and Danielle Burrows, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror is a documentary that features a series of chats with prominent black horror actors, directors, writers, and more about the history of black horror films. This topic may seem niche, but it shouldn’t be. As we learn throughout the documentary, black horror parallels African American participation in the larger film context. I was glued to Horror Noire, as black horror is largely a blind spot for me. I found the chats really engaging, with names like Jordan Peele, Keith David, Tony Todd, Paula Jai Parker, Rachel True, Loretta Devine, and more! The origin of this documentary comes from the mind of Texas A&M Vice President and professor Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman who wrote the book Horror Noire: Blacks In American Horror Films From The 1890s To Present. Here is a nice snippet from Katie Rife of The A.V. Club on the substance of the documentary:

“As is pointed out again and again in Horror Noire, that sort of satisfaction has always been elusive for black horror fans. As one interview subject says in Shudder’s documentary, “We’ve always loved horror. It’s just that horror, unfortunately, hasn’t always loved us.” At best, for most of horror history, black characters have been sidekicks, serving as mystical advisors (the “magical Negro” trope) or selfless best friends (the “sacrificial Negro” trope) whose only purpose is to support the white leads. At worst, black viewers have seen themselves as racist caricatures whose murders are cheered on by white audiences—or, as Coleman puts it, “some don’t understand Birth Of A Nation as a horror film, but African Americans absolutely do.” There’s an important distinction to be made between the idea of blacks in horror versus black horror: Black faces have been present in horror movies from the very beginning, but were sidelined as “savage” set dressing or exoticized as monstrous manifestations of the supernatural Other throughout most of the 20th century. That being said, the “blacks in horror” label isn’t inherently negative; for example, Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead and Wes Craven’s The People Under The Stairs are films from white directors that star black actors and engage at least tangentially with black issues. But for a deeper understanding of the black horror imagination, we must turn to the black horror subgenre, which Coleman describes as films that are “typically created and written by African-Americans, and really focus on blackness and black life and culture.”

Horror Noire is a high recommendation from me. It is absolutely essential viewing (and probably reading, too!) for all horror fans. Fire up that Shudder free trial today.