Celebrate Black History Month with these horror classics
Some of the most resonant movies of our genre are directed, written, and performed by members of the African American and Canadian communities, so in celebration of Black History Month, we wanted to highlight a few of these elevated flicks and why we love them! Continue reading for our guide to the essential Black horror movies.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
As arguably one of the best Black horror movies of all time, Night of the Living Dead sets the stage with realistic gore for its ‘60s timeline. In search of refuge during a zombie apocalypse, a group finds haven in an abandoned house where corpses rise out of a nearby graveyard to hunt for fresh human bodies. The protagonist Ben, played by black actor Duane Jones, takes initiative to control the situation as the survivors begin to panic. Time goes on and zombies find their way inside, picking off their prey one by one.
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Incredibly comedic and underrated, The People Under the Stairs is a Wes Craven masterpiece featuring an astounding performance by black actor Brandon Adams as Fool. When Fool breaks into the home of his family’s greedy landlords, he discovers an incestuous lifestyle where the two adult siblings kidnap, mutilate boys, and imprison young boys under the stairs of their home.
Candyman (1992 & 2021)
Whether you idolize the original Candyman or prefer the modern take on its classic plot, both films are contenders for some of the ultimate black horror movies. While researching superstitions in a housing project on Chicago’s Nea North Side, a graduate student named Helen Lyle learns about the Candyman, a knife-wielding figure of an urban legend. After a mysterious man, Tony Todd (1992) & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (2021), is seen matching the description begins to stalk Helen, she worries that the legend may be true.
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What other black horror movies will you be watching this month? Please drop them in the comments section below to share with our readers.