Starting with Jordan Peele’s successful “Get Out” (2017), it seems Hollywood finally recognizes that Black characters can be more than victims in the horror genre.
As said in the 2019 documentary “Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror": “We’ve always loved horror. Unfortunately, horror hasn’t always loved us.”
Now, as Black directors, producers and screenwriters have more opportunities to flex, Black actors can portray fully developed leading characters who are no longer the first to go, a trend that was mocked in "Scream 2" (1997).
The new horror film "Candyman" hit theaters last week after several delays due to the pandemic, and nearly 30 years after the original, we're still hooked. The smart, stylistic flick features Jordan Peele ("Get Out," "Us") as a producer and is a direct sequel to the 1992 original starring Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen.
Directed with a numbing amount of flair and imagination by Nia DaCosta, the new “Candyman” takes us back to Chicago, where the locals in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood still buzz about the urban folklore surrounding a killer named Candyman with a huge hook for a hand and a ribcage full of bees. Summon him by saying his name five times in a mirror. (We don't dare to try that in real life.)
Emmy-winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is Anthony McCoy, a visual artist on Chicago’s hip art scene who finds himself inspired by, and then unnaturally obsessed with, Candyman. His Candyman-fueled art instantly boosts his popularity, especially after a couple is murdered in the gallery the night his new work "Say His Name" premieres.
Teyonah Parris is his art director girlfriend Brianna, and the live on the same Cabrini-Green grounds Candyman one stalked — and will again.
Here, we look at some key moments featuring Black characters in horror films — the good, the bad and the gross.
'Spiral' (2021)
The grisly games from the book of “Saw” begin again with "Spiral," this time within the ranks of a big city police department as officers have an unpretty price to pay at the hands of a mysterious killer drawing from the past. Detective Ezekiel Banks (Chris Rock) and his police veteran father Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson) are at the center of the bloody mystery.
Stars Chris Rock, Samuel E. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols. Director Darren Lynn Bousman. Rating R. Box office $23 million. Rotten Tomatoes 37%
'Spell' (2020)
Omari Hardwick stars as a successful big city businessman traveling home to rural Appalachia with his family for a funeral when the plane crash lands. He awakens in a country farmhouse trapped and tormented by Loretta Devine as a hoodoo practitioner.
Stars Omari Hardwick, Loretta Devine, John Beasley. Director Mark Tonderai. Rating R. Box office $500,000. Rotten Tomatoes 46%
'Bad Hair' (2020)
Classically campy in quite possibly the best and worst ways, “Bad Hair” is not just bad, it’s evil as a killer hair weave runs amok in this 1980’s satirical horror flick set against the backdrop of the music industry.
Stars Elle Lorraine, Jay Pharoah, Lena Waithe, Kelly Rowland, Laverne Cox, James Van Der Beek, Vanessa Williams, Blair Underwood. Director Justin Simien. Rating unrated. Box office N/A (released on Hulu). Rotten Tomatoes 62%
'Antebellum' (2020)
There’s little that’s worse than the horrors of slavery, which serves as the backdrop for this twisty story that casts Janelle Monae in two time periods -- she’s a successful modern day writer, and a woman trapped in the woes of slavery. Watch out for the final act "shocker."
Stars Janelle Monae, Jena Malone, Kiersey Clemons, Jack Huston, Gabourey Sibibe. Director Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz. Rating R. Box office N/A (released On Demand). Rotten Tomatoes 29%
‘Us’ (2019)
Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke head up a young family vacationing in California, where Nyong’o’s character suffered a traumatic childhood experience, when they’re confronted by a family that looks identical to them. No spoilers, but much terror ensues.
Stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker. Director Jordan Peele. Rating R. Box office $174 million. Rotten Tomatoes 97%
'Ma' (2019)
Octavia Spencer is creepy as “Ma,” a woman who takes an odd interest in a group of teenagers that turns terrifying after she begins exacting a particular revenge.
Stars Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Luke Evans, Diana Silvers, Missi Pyle, Allison Janney. Director Tate Taylor. Rating R. Box office $45 million. Rotten Tomatoes 55%
'Jacob's Ladder' (2019)
From the overcrowded remake no one asked for column comes this race-flipping do-over of the 1990 film that originally starred Tim Robbins. This time around it’s easily more horrible than horrifying.
Stars Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams, Nicole Beharie. Director David M. Rosenthal. Rating R. Box office N/A. Rotten Tomatoes 5 %
'Little Monsters'(2019)
Released on Hulu on the heels of “Us,” Lupita Nyong’o lightens the tone despite playing a school teacher who tries to save her students from a zombie attack during a field trip. Josh Gad and Alexander England are on hand to shore up the film’s horror-comedy credentials. Horror-comedy combos is a tricky mix; this one mostly pulls it off.
Stars Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad, Kat Stewart, Diesel La Trraca. Director Abe Forsythe. Rating R. Box office N/A. Rotten Tomatoes 80%
‘Get Out’ (2017)
A visit by Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to meet his white girlfriend’s parents proves more than sinister. Golden Globe officials allowed the movie to be submitted as a comedy, but many others begged to differ. The movie was nominated for a best picture Oscar, and Kaluuya was nominated for best actor. Peele was the first African American to win the Oscar for best original screenplay.
Stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Catherine Keener, LaKeith Stanfield. Director Jordan Peele. Rating R. Box office $176 million. Rotten Tomatoes 98%
'A Haunted House' (2013)
Arriving during the hype of the “Paranormal Activity” horror film series comes this parody bringing the expected hit-or-miss silliness from Marlon Wayans. He and Essence Atkins play a couple whose dream home is full of nightmares. A sequel, “A Haunted House 2,” followed in 2014.
Stars Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Cedric the Entertainer, Nick Swardson. Director Michael Tiddes. Rating R. Box office $40 million. Rotten Tomatoes 9%
‘Somebody Help Me’ (2007)
Essentially a vanity project for R&B singers Omarion and Marques Houston and their manager Chris Stokes, “Somebody Help Me” is full of wrong notes as a young group heads to a cabin in the woods. “Somebody Help Me 2” somehow followed in 2010.
Stars Omarion, Marques Houston, Brooklyn Sudano. Director Christopher Stokes. Rating N/A. Box office N/A (released on BET). Rotten Tomatoes no critical consensus
‘Bones’ (2001)
The wave of horror-meets-hip-hop flicks included this one starring Snoop Dogg’s Jimmy Bones, a do-right man in the 1970s looking to make his neighborhood better before he’s murdered. He’s resurrected decades later to get revenge. At one point, Jimmy utters the words “I got a natural high — a supernatural high.”
Stars Snoop Dogg, Pam Grier, Khalil Kain. Director Ernest Dickerson. Rating R. Box office $7 million. Rotten Tomatoes 21%
'Scream 2' (1997)
The murders pile up in Woodsboro surrounding Sidney Prescott including Black couple Maureen and Phil, who at the top of the film while attending the premiere of a movie called “Stab,” talk about the way Black characters die first, then die first themselves.
Stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Liev Scheiber, Sarah Michelle Geller, Elise Neal, Jamie Kennedy, Jerry O’Connell, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Laurie Metcalf. Director Wes Craven. Rating R. Box office $101 million. Rotten Tomatoes 82%
‘Tales From the Hood’ (1995)
This anthology, set in a mortuary, features more than just creepy tales from the hood. This socially conscious movie deftly mixes scares with stories about police brutality against African Americans and a racist politician. “Tales From the Hood 2” was released in 2018.
Stars Clarence Williams III, David Alan Grier, Corbin Bernsen, Rosalind Cash, Wings Hauser, Joe Torry, Paula Jai Parker. Director Rusty Cundieff. Rating R. Box office $11 million. Rotten Tomatoes 47%
‘Vampire in Brooklyn’ (1995)
Portraying “the world’s last vampire,” Eddie Murphy is Maximillian in this supposed horror-comedy that leaves the scares and the laughs somewhere in the coffin.
Stars Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison. Director Wes Craven. Rating R. Box office $19 million. Rotten Tomatoes 10%
‘Candyman’ (1992)
As if Chicago’s old Cabrini-Green projects didn’t have enough problems, there’s Candyman, the hooked killer who appears in the mirror. Whatever you do, don’t say his name five times. Two sequels followed: “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (1995) and “Candyman: Day of the Dead” (1999). The new "Candyman" opened last week.
Stars Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen. Director Bernard Rose. Rating R. Box office $25 million. Rotten Tomatoes 73%
‘J.D.’s Revenge’ (1976)
J.D. Walker, a gangster killed in the 1940s, finds a home in the body of law student Isaac (Glynn Turman), who takes on J.D.’s presence and exacts revenge from the grave. Watching Turman eat up his gangster role is totally worth it.
Stars Glynn Turman, Louis Gossett Jr., Joan Pringle. Director Arthur Marks. Rating R. Box office N/A. Rotten Tomatoes no critical consensus
‘Sugar Hill’ (1974)
The height of the horror blaxploitation movement also brought on the zombies and voodoo conjured up by female photographer Sugar Hill, who had something in mind for those who murdered her lover.
Stars Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley, Richard Lawson, Zara Cully. Director Paul Maslansky. Rating PG. Box office N/A. Rotten Tomatoes no critical consensus
‘Abby’ (1974)
It’s not just any demon that takes over Abby — it’s an African sex demon that causes Abby to wild out in this obvious “The Exorcist”-derived flick. It’s nothing less than a hoot.
Stars Carol Speed, William Marshall, Terry Carter. Director William Girdler. Rating R. Box office $4 million. Rotten Tomatoes no critical consensus
‘Ganja and Hess’ (1973)
A favorite among those who’ve seen it and influential enough to be the inspiration for Spike Lee’s 2014 film “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus,” “Ganja and Hess” follows an anthropologist studying an ancient African civilization who suddenly craves blood after being stabbed with a ceremonial dagger. Star Duane Jones directly followed “Night of the Living Dead” with this film.
Stars Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Bill Gunn. Director Bill Gunn. Rating R. Box office $21,000 for 2018 rerelease; original figures not available. Rotten Tomatoes 86%
‘Blacula’ (1972)
“Dracula’s soul brother,” as the trailer poorly promoted, said all we needed to know about this horror blaxploitation classic about an African prince transformed into a vampire. This Dark Prince of Shadows spawned a sequel, 1973’s “Scream Blacula Scream.”
Stars William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas. Director William Crain. Rating PG. Box office $2 million. Rotten Tomatoes 48%
‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)
The granddaddy of zombie movies from the godfather of zombie movies (George A. Romero), “Night of the Living Dead” featured something unseen at the same: a strong Black male lead protagonist, Duane Jones as Ben, fighting off zombies in rural Pennsylvania. A 1990 remake starred “Candyman” actor Tony Todd as Ben.
Stars Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea. Director George A. Romero. Rating R. Box office $30 million. Rotten Tomatoes 97%
———
