Let’s cut to the chase: it’s Black History Month in the UK and it’s also Halloween season. You’ll probably want to “do your part” by watching Black horror movies (mostly American ones though) and look for definitive lists so you don’t miss the best ones. My list is neither definitive nor an “ultimate guide to Black horror”.
The following movies are just good Black horror movies (predominately Black British ones) that you should check out and I’ll be updating them as and when. I won’t have seen all of them myself but I will put films in the list that I know are good based on friends who have otherwise recommended them to me in the past (or if I see my friends on Letterboxd thought they were good).
Get Out
The amazing debut from Jordan Peele sees Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose visit her parents for the weekend but not all is what it seems as the weekend slowly turns more disturbing and puts Chris’s life in danger. I haven’t drunk tea from a china cup since. You’ll see why when you watch it. You can also read a review we published a few years ago.
Nope
Another Jordan Peele-Daniel Kaluuya collab, this time seeing Daniel’s character X and his sister (played by Keke Palmer) try to escape a benevolent being in the sky. I could not look up for 3 days after seeing this movie. Epic and haunting.
Attack the Block
Starring John Boyega, Attack the Block is a sci-fi horror set in a South London housing estate where a teen gang join together with their community to keep the estate safe from aliens.
Funke, Fatima & Madame Bunmi
This isn’t so much a horror movie but it involves a witch doctor and a magic spell that goes wrong so it’s at least supernatural? The short film sees Funke and Fatima visit Madame Bunmi hoping they can get their dream bodies for their 18th birthday party. Of course, it doesn’t go to plan and the girls have to deal with the consequences and discover more about themselves in the process.
Director Christine Ubochi also won The M&M’S Short Film Festival 2024 for the film.
My Zombie Apocalypse Team
Described as a zero-budget proof of concept film set in South East London
, My Zombie Apocalypse Team sees Anthony, played by Mzat Indie, find his way through a zombie outbreak to gather a team to take them on. Zombie apocalypse films are far from new but this one has an all-Black cast and, specifically, an all-Black British cast.
The Lies of Our Confines
And another film from the same director as My Zombie Apocalypse Team (Leon Oldstrong), The Lies of Our Confines is features two youth leaders who take a group of young Black men on a trip outside of their community with the hope of improving their outlook on life. Instead, an unfortunate encounter with a corn doll and a benevolent spirit turns everything upside down.
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Bill Pullman plays an anthropologist who goes to Haiti to learn about a mysterious substance that locals claim bring people back from the dead. But wandering through the world of voodoo and zombies lead Pullman’s character down a path he didn’t expect. The film is loosely based on the experiences of Clairvius Narcisse, a Haitian man that allegedly lived as a zombie slave.
Ganja & Hess
Via Black Archives:
The original multihyphenate Bill Gunn directed and wrote this masterful marriage between blaxploitation and horror tropes. “Ganja & Hess” tells the story of an anthropologist (Duane Jones) who is bestowed with the gift of immortality and an indescribable desire for blood.
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