Horror Noire

A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present

Robin R Means Coleman author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:1st Nov '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Horror Noire cover

From King Kong to Candyman, the boundary-pushing genre of horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. This book offers a comprehensive chronological survey of Black horror from the 1890s to present day.

In this second edition, Robin R. Means Coleman expands upon the history of notable characterizations of Blackness in horror cinema, with new chapters spanning the 1960s, 2000s, and 2010s to the present, and examines key levels of Black participation on screen and behind the camera. The book addresses a full range of Black horror films, including mainstream Hollywood fare, art-house films, Blaxploitation films, and U.S. hip-hop culture-inspired Nollywood films. This new edition also explores the resurgence of the Black horror genre in the last decade, examining the success of Jordan Peele’s films Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), smaller independent films such as The House Invictus (2018), and Nia DaCosta’s sequel to Candyman (2021). Means Coleman argues that horror offers a unique representational space for Black people to challenge negative or racist portrayals, and to portray greater diversity within the concept of Blackness itself.

This book 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.

"Demons, ghosts, slavery, magic. These are just a few provocative subjects covered in Horror Noire. Means Coleman reveals that what scares some people the most is Black people imagining themselves as heroes, antiheroes, villains, and monsters. Attending to the ways Black people’s imagination is activated—that is the value and power of Horror Noire. "

John Jennings, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California-Riverside, USA

ISBN: 9780367767198

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 900g

380 pages

2nd edition