Where do Black people fit in horror? Throughout cinematic history, African-Americans have filled every spot on the roster, from audience member to main character, affable sidekick to not being in the movie at all. Today, we see films with entire Black casts and whole Back crews to boot. What a time to be alive.
As noted in a previous article, African-Americans are pretty much die-hard horror fans. Variety puts the minority audience 33% higher for horror films than other genres. Sixteen percent of horror tickets are purchased by Black people (4% higher than other genres). And to top it all off, horror fans as a whole see movies 4% more frequently than any other genre.
And who can blame them? Whether they’re featured prominently in the film or not, African-Americans can identify with the issues going on on-screen. Being chased by a monster — been there. Being seen as the monster — done that. The jive-talking best friend who knows damn well that house is haunted — you know it, brotha. For whatever reason (or all the reasons, as it seems) the Black community fits in perfectly with horror.
Shudder’s Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror dives deep into the history of Blacks in horror movies and the tropes we’re all familiar with:
- The Black guy dies first.
- The Black best friend.
- The ghetto/diva Black girl.
The list goes on. But regardless of their role and how true these tropes are and aren’t, they’re there in some sense.
One of my favorite “Black” horror movies actually isn’t a Black one at all. 1982’s The Thing gave us two Black actors (Keith David as Childs and T. K. Carter as Nauls) in a humanity-threatening situation with no means to escape. Nauls is a cook and Childs is Chief Mechanic (according to their fandom wiki pages), and while neither of them is a scientist — as pointed out in 50s sci-films in Horror Noire — they still play vital roles in the film. Nauls provides information and evidence against MacReady’s true form, moving the story along and creating the tension we so love throughout the movie. Nauls also displays heroism by following sounds of a fallen crew member to either save them or kill the Thing — a sacrifice he does not come back from. Childs is the smart, tough, no-nonsense crew member that tried his damnedest to keep protocol. He is also member of an exclusive club of African-American horror actors who not only doesn’t die first, but doesn’t die at all.
I love The Thing because it actively tries to break horror tropes while staying true to real-life roles. Childs and Nauls may not be head scientists, but they are still necessary and competent, so much so that they survive most of the disaster. As with all horror movies, it’s important to understand it in context. What was going on at the time? What was the economy like? Were we at war with anyone? And in the context of race, what was it like to be Black through all of that? Then we can begin to see not only how the story plays out, but how the movie itself was made in those same contexts.
I won’t go through and name every movie where the Black guy survives or the movie is made with a Black crew (here’s this one and another if that’s what you were looking for). But I do encourage you to pay close attention to the African-Americans in any movie you watch and think about their journey there and what that means in today’s terms. We’ve come a long way from White Zombie and The Birth of a Nation.
And with that I return to my original question: where do Black people fit in horror? Everywhere. Horror movies are Black movies, and where minorities of all backgrounds don’t fit into mainstream blockbusters, they’ll always have a place with the grim and ghastly. Horror is home to all.
