Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present

From King Kong to Candyman , the boundary-pushing genre of the horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. Horror Noire presents a critical history of blackness and American horror, from early cinema to the present. Robin R. Means Coleman traces the history of notable characterizations of blackness in horror cinema, examines key levels of black paricipation on screen and behind the camera, and unpacks the genre's racialized imagery and narratives that make up popular culture's commentary on race.Horror, the author argues, offers a unique representational space for black people to challenge more 'negative' or racist images as seen in other media forms and formats, and to portray greater diversity within blackness. Horror Noire considers prominent themes of black horror films including sexuality, religion, majority/minority power relationships, space (e.g., the 'hood or the diaspora), time, slavery, police brutality, poverty, illegal drugs, war, and the role of comedy and satire.Offering a comprehensive chronological survey of the genre, Horror Noire addresses the full range of black horror film, including mainstream Hollywood fare, as well as art-house films, Blaxploitation films, direct-to-DVD films, and the emerging U.S./hip-hop culture-inspired Nigerian "Nollywood" Black horror films.Horror Noire presents a unique social history of blacks in America through changing images in horror films. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how fears and anxieties about race and race relations are made manifest, and often challenged, on the silver screen.