Horror films are created with a goal of eliciting fright and angst from the audience by evoking their worst fears, nightmares, or playing out worst-case-scenarios. One commonality exists within all horror stories: an outside element or villain-whether it be a clown, a shark, a vampire, a monster, or something supernatural-coming to cause mayhem, death, and wreak havoc on peoples' lives.

In the horror genre, black is definitely back. The movie " Ma," which premieres on May 31, will star Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer as Sue Ann, a lonely middle-age woman who clings to a group of teens to the point of obsession.

When Tony Todd breathed life into the undead horror character Candyman back in 1992, he wasn't aware that he would become the first black supernatural killer depicted onscreen. "[Director] Bernard Rose didn't tell me at the time, but he actually got complaints from the NAACP when he wrote the script," said Todd.

Common stereotypes about Black people in Hollywood movies can be traced back to the early nineteenth century. Black people were usually presented as either servile or monsters, and in terms of horror films, even the concept of zombies began as a metaphor for slavery.

Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles has never shied away from showing the savagery of being a vampire. However, the stories also heavily rely on the reader's romantic interest in a life of immortality. Early episodes of AMC's new series, Interview with the Vampire , showcase how perfectly it balances these two sides of her popular novel.

I am inclined to applaud when producers make television shows more inclusive. When they cast actors of various ethnicities. And that includes casting characters of ethnicities different from what those same characters may have been in source material. There's no indication, for example, that "House of the Dragon's" Velaryon family is Black in the book, "Fire and Blood."

"You can't have Black people in a flying saucer film and just have it be the same experience. It's not." Jordan Peele has revealed new details about his mysterious film and what it might mean for audiences to see a predominantly Black cast navigate a "flying saucer movie" that "honors horror" in new ways.

Puts on fake pretentious academic film Blerd hat* Nope feels like Jordan Peele's departure from referential Black symbolism and entry into contemporary Black existentialism. Or a precise mix of both. Or neither. *Removes fake pretentious element* It gives us another layer of Peele's view of the world.

Three women try to survive their experience at a historic New England university in a horror film that evokes "Candyman" and "The Shining" alike. Editor's note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Amazon Prime Video releases the film on its streaming platform on Friday, March 18.

You want ghosts? Check. How about doors inexplicably opening and closing, creepy moaning in dark corners, and sudden sickening swarms of maggots? Check, check and check.

In the new horror-thriller Sweetheart, Kiersey Clemons stars as a shipwrecked heroine forced to fight for her life on a remote tropical island. It's not enough for her to scrape together sustenance and shelter, because each night a terrible monster stalks the shore, hunting for its next meal.

The horror genre can be a powerful vehicle to tell the struggles of marginalized groups of people. When these stories are created by the very people who know these struggles in their everyday lives, the impact is everlasting.

Barring the works of Jordan Peele, few other horror flicks are as socially and culturally resonant as the Candyman films. Both Bernard Rose's cult classic and Nia DaCosta's reboot from last year have a lot to say, and know how to get our attention in doing so.

The only thing more terrifying than a half-dead boogeyman, covered in bees with a hook for a hand, brutally murdering people who say his name five times is the reason he came to be that way: racism.

Humans are once again being hunted by one of science fiction's most iconic creatures. brings the Predator franchise back in a big way. If you loved the first two films but grew fatigued after the next few awkward installments and weird Alien vs.

The film is progressive in terms of its Indigenous representation. Not only is the majority of the cast Indigenous-including Midthunder, who is Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota-but the film flips the script on Hollywood stereotypes of Native American culture, aiming instead to showcase how Indigenous people had their own agency and survivor skills.

New Hulu film is no exception. The project, the latest brainchild of filmmaker Justin Simien (the mind behind both the 2014 movie and subsequent TV adaptation of Dear White People), attempts to tackle the consequences of anti-Blackness through a cultural examination of Black hair in the late 1980s.

This post was written by Dani Janae and Shelli Nicole. Spoilers below for Hulu's Bad Hair! Dani Janae: I'm so excited to hear your thoughts on Bad Hair! Shelli Nicole: When I saw the ads for it I knew I wanted to talk with you about it.