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

Robin R. Means Coleman

4.28 · Rating details · 173 ratings · 23 reviews

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. In Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890's to Present, Robin R. Means Coleman traces the history of notable characterizations of blackness in horror cinema, and examines key levels of black part ...more

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Paperback, 296 pages

Published June 20th 2011 by Routledge

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Start your review of Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present

Jun 15, 2020 Emily rated it really liked it

"Horror films come out of the imaginations of a diverse cadre of image-makers."

The documentary Horror Noire was one of the best things I watched last year, and I was very excited to learn that it was based on a book. This book is very well-researched and informative, and I learned about a lot of movies that I haven't seen.

I think the documentary and book are really good companions - the book goes a little more in-depth into the synopses, but getting to see people's faces while they talk about m ...more

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May 21, 2017 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-reads, horror

Coleman's Horror Noire offers a fascinating exploration of race in American culture through an examination of the roles Blacks played in front of and behind the camera in horror films from the 1890s through the late 2000s.

Coleman, who's a professor in both the department of Communication Studies and Afroamerican and African Studies at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, spends time upfront drawing the distinction between Black horror films and Blacks in horror films (the former having a narrative ...more

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Jul 15, 2021 Richard rated it it was amazing

Robin R. Means Coleman takes us through the history of Blacks and Black representation in horror movies, focusing of course more on Blacks as represented in movies made by Whites since the majority of the canon is under that banner. Coleman, through extensive research and experience with horror movies, breaks down Black representation, its heights and valleys (and, when you get into films as early as Birth of a Nation, where a valley of racist imagery is being kind). The era of Blacksploitation, ...more

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Jan 08, 2021 Tati Lopatiuk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Leitura bem interessante, dá pra aprender muito sobre o contexto de produção de muitos filmes desde a invenção do cinema e como eles se encaixam em questões sociais como racismo, homofobia e misoginia.

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Oct 22, 2021 Ana Paula rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Um livro COMPLETÍSSIMO para discutir a representação e participação negra no cinema de horror! Que trabalho de pesquisa e texto maravilhosos!

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Oct 30, 2018 Tom Goulter rated it really liked it

This is a fascinating book, very clever and full of observations that cast a whole new light on many of the best horror movies. Coleman is the kind of horror viewer who makes the whole genre better for her participation.

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Oct 02, 2013 juicy brained intellectual rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, wmst-fem, horror-film, film

robin r. means coleman thankfully doesn't do dense theory like, say, carol j. clover but she does offer a lot to feminist-friendly horror criticism/history. this is a fantastic overview of black ppl in horror and she brings two important ideas to the table: "blacks in horror" vs "black horror" and her Black Enduring Woman, which is a sister in theory to clover's tired Final Girl.

one thing that bummed me out a little, for entirely personal preferential reasons, is that while she spent a lot of ti ...more

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Mar 17, 2019 ElphaReads rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-history, horror, music-movies-tv-popculture, non-fiction, politics-and-social-justice, reading-list-2019

This is a must for horror fans. While it was written in 2011 so it's not as up to date as it could be, it traces, analyzes, and explores the role of Black people in American horror films from the 1890s to the early 21st century. From BIRTH OF A NATION to KING KONG to WHITE ZOMBIE to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to CANDYMAN, Coleman goes in depth as he slowly deconstructs how Black people have functioned in horror films as time has gone on, and how the Black film community has made responses to the w ...more

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Aug 31, 2021 Viola rated it liked it

Shelves: cinema-video-television, black-lives-matter, capitalism

Updated related review for August 2021.

The "Candyman" Reboot Subverts Cinematic Tropes of Black Suffering

At one point in the long-awaited new film Candyman, billed as a “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 cult horror flick by the same name, a character is heading toward an inevitable confrontation with the monster. We’ve seen this moment a thousand times. The character knows now that evil is afoot. She knows that it’s of a supernatural variety. Blood has been shed. Her every step is measured and caut ...more

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Dec 31, 2019 Queria Estar Lendo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Horror Noire começou como uma pesquisa acadêmica da Dra. Robin R. Means Coleman e acabou dando origem a um livro e um documentário que explora a representação negra no cinema de terror desde o seu nascimento, no fim do século XIX até os anos 2000. O livro foi publicado no Brasil pela editora DarkSide Books - que nos cedeu um exemplar para a resenha.

Assim que a DarkSide Books anunciou Horror Noire eu fiquei louca para ler. Gosto muito de filmes de terror e analisar a representação das minorias em ...more

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May 09, 2021 OJ Svartheim rated it really liked it

The topic of equal rights and embracing diversity is always an important one. And as someone who's always trying to be mindful about that, as well as being a huge fan of horror movies, I was initially intrigued by how this book combined and explored these two elements. And it's done in a way that, I hope, makes the reader aware that maybe it's sometimes a little bit too easy for some of us to take certain horror tropes with a grain of salt, not so much because we don't care as it is because of t The topic of equal rights and embracing diversity is always an important one. And as someone who's always trying to be mindful about that, as well as being a huge fan of horror movies, I was initially intrigued by how this book combined and explored these two elements. And it's done in a way that, I hope, makes the reader aware that maybe it's sometimes a little bit too easy for some of us to take certain horror tropes with a grain of salt, not so much because we don't care as it is because of the somewhat oblivious acceptance that certain things in horror movies have always been this way, and it is a thoughtlessness that stems from how some of us never faced certain societal struggles.

In that respect, when a book like this comes along, it should hopefully be an eye-opener for many. Don't get me wrong, it's clear that Coleman has written this with a deep passion, as much from the viewpoint of herself as a horror fan as it is from her viewpoint as an advocate for black rights, so this is in no way meant to be a book written to condemn all things horror. Instead, the message that comes through here is that many of the real-life struggles that have existed through the decades are reflected, either intentionally or subconsciously, through some of these aforementioned tropes.

"Horror Noire" is very thorough in its approach; Coleman literally takes us back to the beginning of filmmaking in the late 1800s, before the term "horror movie" even existed, and she takes us on a chronological journey from there and all the way up till present day. Throughout the chapters, she does a great job at setting the film universe and real-life side by side and pointing out how the social temperature in each decade often affects the storytelling in movies, with the main focus being how people of color are represented in these stories. Or, in many cases, I should say, severely MIS-represented.

The earliest decades are especially problematic, and while Coleman's writing is from an analytic and observational point of view, she still manages to make it crystal clear how disgusting the times were when it comes to racial issues, everything from mockery through white actors wearing blackface, to people of color being portrayed as uncontrollable savages. And while moving from one decade to the next, she brings up examples of how these stereotypes often linger, even when they're not so blatantly and bluntly featured anymore. As I said, the main focus of this book is the history of racism, but she also touches upon other problematic elements such as homophobia and misogyny.

Another interesting idea she puts forward is the difference between "blacks in horror" and "black horror," showcasing how one category can still be deep-rooted in those same old stereotypes, while the other is meant to be more empowering. However, even here Coleman is very direct and points out how the evolution of "black horror" has not been without its own flaws along the way.

It's a fascinating, occasionally upsetting read, very sobering and, as mentioned, eye-opening. One minor thing that did cross my mind, though, is that when referring to specific movies to exemplify some of the issues and elements she explored, Coleman sometimes got a little bit too caught up in giving a full synopsis of the movies when it might perhaps have sufficed to point out individual scenes that best showcased the issues she wanted to point out, so that these examples were more clear. But again, that's just a minor observation, because she manages to get the point across either way.

Had this book been published just a few years later than it was, I would have loved to read Coleman's opinion on the current wave of solid "black horror" movies by the likes of Jordan Peele, compared to the things she points out about the first wave of "black horror" in the 1970s, as well as the second wave in the 1990s.

All in all, I found it very interesting, and recommendable. ...more

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Feb 02, 2019 Kristen rated it really liked it

Shelves: black-folx, female-authors, nonfiction, people-of-colour-authors, social-justice

I know it's hard to shove every horror movie in this book but I would've loved a discussion on 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" starring Ving Rhames, or a note on "Return of the Living Dead 3" which quite possibly has one of the most egregious examples of a magical negro character. But, overall this was a thorough and fantastic read.

(shame it was written just slightly too early and couldn't include Jordan Peeles horror rennaissence with "Get Out" but alas, that's hat the Shudder doc is for.) ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Morgan rated it liked it

Shelves: african-american, dissertation, nonfiction

Really interesting discussion of race and horror films. Made me rethink how I am discussing horror in my dissertation. Most of the films discussed were new to me--I really do not watch a lot of horror films LOL. However, I think I got more out of the documentary version/adaptation of the book, because the visuals really helped me understand some of what was described on the page.

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Aug 04, 2020 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: film, non-fiction

Coleman chronologically writes about blacks in horror films, differentiating between "Black Horror" and "Blacks in Horror." Some of the fims she speaks about, especially in the early centuries, may not qualify as horror in the traditional sense, but their depiction of racism is quite terrifying. ...more

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Mar 30, 2019 Paul Wilson rated it liked it

I liked the analysis, but too much of the text was dominated by film synopses.

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Dec 28, 2019 Doris Raines rated it it was ok

HORROR BOOK .

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Jul 05, 2020 Karen Kohoutek rated it it was amazing

Nobody needs to me to tell them that this book is great, but it is. Read it!

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Feb 07, 2019 Bigamama V rated it it was amazing

Excellent start to learning about the beginnings of African Americans in Horror movies and Black Horror movies. A great companion to the documentary 'Horror Noire' on Shudder. ...more

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Jun 20, 2019 Isadora Torres rated it it was amazing

brasileiros, leiam.
já dizia et bilu: busquem conhecimento.

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Feb 16, 2022 Autumn J Bee rated it really liked it

Incredibly interesting and so well researched.
Could easily read again after having watched more of the films she references.

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Jun 17, 2022 Elizabeth marked it as to-read

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Jan 07, 2019 Sunni Jacocks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: queer-speculative, black-rep

Coleman made me feel like I was watching the films she described in not only the way that made me feel present but also in a way where I felt the history and the racism embedded in a lot of what we consider to be “great” films. I felt like Peele had read this and thought to himself, this is my new project, to make films where Blacks are at the center, no longer the jezebels, mammys, and candymans. I look forward to seeing the documentary. I’ll be at the edge of seat because this book is truly ho ...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Steve Wiggins rated it really liked it

A very good introduction to the experience of African-Americans in the horror movie genre. Sometimes an uncomfortable read, but well worth it. See a fuller review at Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. ...more

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