31 Days of Horror: Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror

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Directed by Xavier Burgin.

2019. Not rated, 83 minutes.

Cast: Keith David, Jordan Peele, Ernest Dickerson, Rachel True, Tony Todd, Miguel Nunez, Rusty Cundieff, Tananarive Due, William Crain, Loretta Devine, Richard Lawson, Paula Jai Parker, Kelly Jo Minter, Ashlee Blackwell, Robin R. Means Coleman.

    As a Black kid who was into horror very early on life, a period that coincided with the 1980s, I couldn't help but noticing the dearth of faces that were not White. Truthfully, that lacking was something that went across all genres, but it seemed especially noticeable in horror. Our fears were not being projected on the screen. When we were included, we were fodder for the killer and/or comic relief. There were a handful of tropes that we fit into. Back then, my friends and I talked about it, but didn't have names to apply. We also engaged in those conversations about what if the white characters that we just finished watching were Black. This documentary dives into all of that, but from a far more informed point of view than me and my teenage friends had during the horror-filled years of Reaganomics.

    Our talking heads are comprised of a handful of scholars and a smattering of actors and directors who worked on some of the films being discussed. This gives us a nice juxtaposition between the people who were in the movies and the people who study them. The actors and directors include Jordan Peele, Ernest Dickerson, Rusty Cundieff, Keith David, Loretta Devine, Miguel Nunez, Rachel True, and of course Tony Todd. These folks, plus more, and including the scholars offer wonderful insights. The film is at its most fun when we hear differing opinions on a particular film from a person in the film they're focused on and the scholar who has only watched it. The slight drawback is that these people never interact.

    While people expressing opposing views is entertaining, Horror Noire is at its best when it dives deep into Hollywood's past, discusses the origins of tropes and shows how they were perpetuated and/or subverted throughout cinematic history. Much of what they have to say has been said before in various circles. What makes them work better here is that they pull all of these strands together to crystallize the picture for us. Over the years, they've all been presented as separate things, even to and by people who know that's not the case. There is something powerful about gathering them all up to show how they inform the machinations of a singular industry. 

    If there is a shortcoming with this doc, it's that it is just that, short. It clocks in at a waifish 83 minutes. It could easily expand by another 20 or 30 minutes and still be both entertaining and informative. There are even more depths to be mined within the chosen topics. There are also a few more movies that deserved more attention. We get lengthy discussions of the aforementioned The Birth of a Nation, along with Blacula, Ganja and Hess, Candyman, Tales From the Hood, and Get Out. A good place to start is this very decade which is largely skimmed over and ignored. Another thing that goes ignored is the current cinematic climate. By current, I actually mean pre-pandemic since was released in 2019. I'm talking more about the rise of streaming services and how this has altered, or not altered, the presence of people of color in front of and behind the camera in both horror as a genre, and the medium at large.  Even so, this is an important horror doc that should serve as a springboard to greater dialogue and understanding of cinematic history and the way it is still affecting us.

Sidenote (and I'm not getting paid for this): This is Shudder original and they made this movie free to watch without a subscription. Click here to check it out.