I am a 90s kid. My recollection when it comes to African Americans in horror movies was that we never made it to the end; we were always the first to die. This happened so often that it became a running gag. Shudder’s new documentary Horror Noire: a History of Black Horror, based off of Dr. Robin R. Means book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to the Present, examines the relationship between African Americans and the horror genre. The documentary features directors, actors, scholars, and enthusiasts in conversation about classic horror films.
Horror Noire’s entry point into the relationship of African Americans and horror films starts with a not so obvious choice, The Birth of a Nation. The Birth of a Nation was the first film viewed in the White House, positioning the Ku Klux Klan as heroes saving the American South from newly emancipated African Americans. President Woodrow Wilson reportedly stated this about the film, “It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” The Birth of a Nation set in motion many tropes about African Americans that were and still are perpetuated in films and in the public conscious.
What sometimes goes undetected in the horror genre, is it’s parallel with the political and African American survival, existence, and resistance has always been political - how we are perceived in the imagination of others who do not identify as Black has always been as frightening as life or death. The documentary goes from The Birth of a Nation to Night of the Living Dead to Blacula to Tales from the Hood with many other films in between, then finally rounds out at Get Out. African Americans move from being the villain to being the heroes in horror films which is still somewhat of a novelty.
Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films is currently streaming on Shudder.
