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There was a time not too long ago that it would be difficult to create a “best of” list of horror movies featuring black leads in any given year, since there were so few of them, and the ones that did exist were of such dubious quality. But thankfully, things have changed in both quantity and quality over the...

Originally published on eHow.com Introduction Being a black person in a horror movie isn't easy. You're rarely the hero, hardly ever the villain and more often than not you end up dead. But as they say, "When in Rome…die as a Roman," or something like that. At least there are steps you can take to make your inevitable demise run as...

It goes without saying that over the years, Hollywood has had some issues with adequate racial representation in starring roles, and horror is certainly not immune to that problem. However, that doesn't mean there haven't been some excellent "mainstream" (for lack of a better word) fright flicks starring black folk. For this list, I'm excluding all-black films (e.g., Blaxploitation, "urban,"...

Most actors and actresses have to pay their dues before they become famous, and one genre well versed in due-paying is horror. Popular with producers out to make a quick buck yet reviled by critics, horror movies are both high in number and low in esteem, making them perfect entry-level fare for aspiring thespians. In fact, some of the...

Black people originated the slang of bad meaning good, but that doesn't mean they can't also be bad meaning bad. They've played some of the more memorable baddies in horror history. Here are some of the baddest black villains to grace a horror movie screen. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Blacula, Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream The poster child...

Be they stereotypes or monotypes, they're the "types" that most black characters in horror films inevitably fall into... The Spook As the name implies, the spook is spooked by all things spooky. Typically the comic sidekick, he's often spared from death by his ability to make people laugh. The "classic spook" (most widely represented by Mantan Moreland and the catchphrase often...

Originally posted on Pretty-Scary.net Black women in cinematic history have long faced the double-barreled Hollywood stigma of race and gender "otherness," their fleeting moment of glory coming in the '90s when "You go, girl!" was introduced into the popular lexicon. On the more formal level of Oscar recognition, meanwhile, the black female images thus far celebrated by the Academy of...

"No way. I've seen this movie. The black dude dies first." - Professor Harry Phineas Block (Orlando Jones), Evolution "Ooh, I'm done! Brothers never make it out of situations like this!" - Sherman "Preacher" Dudley (LL Cool J), Deep Blue Sea "Did you know that the black guy doesn't always die first?" - sinister email, The Mangler 2 "Everybody knows black guys get it...

Everyone knows that the "black guy" (or gal) usually dies in horror movies -- so much so, in some instances, the characters themselves seem to be aware of their inevitable fate. Thus, we have the phenomenon of black "heroic death," in which black characters (usually peripheral) voluntarily sacrifice themselves -- or at least, volunteer for tasks that mean certain...

2024 had its share of disappointments in Black horror cinema, but it had so many entertaining entries that it could afford the misfires. There's perhaps nothing more reflective of the growth of Black horror over the years than the fact that it is now allowed room to fail. The mere fact that I could compile a list with 30...