A Bloody Good Time: Ten Best Black Characters In Horror

Opening Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)

February is an important month, because it’s Black History Month. It also helps that this month saw the release of Marvel’s Black Panther, which many say is an important cinematic milestone for African-Americans and other people of color. So I thought I’d point out some of the best black characters that have appeared in horror films over the years.

I thought about doing that with movies, but the more I really broke it down, the only big horror films for people of color are Get Out and Candyman. The rest of it was stuff like Bones or Killjoy, and I would think horror fans of any ethnicity would rather I discuss good horror films. And while Leprechaun in the Hood was hilarious, I wouldn’t call it good.

I should just say, as a caveat, I am not black myself. I’m Caucasian so obviously my experience and my take on these movies may be different than someone who lives a different life than I do. So I’m not going to try to get into any of those issues, because let’s face it. I don’t have the slightest clue about the experience of someone of a different race. Instead, I’ll comment on how the character is written and acted, as well as their importance to the story of the film they’re in.

And horror has had some great black protagonists over the years, even a good villain or two, in movies that are pretty important to the genre.

#10: Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) in The Shining

I would like to say that ol’ Dick had a much better treatment in Stephen King’s novel than in Stanley Kubrick film, mostly because he got to live and have a relatively happy life. But then, Kubrick made a lot of changes. Dick starts out the film as someone Danny Torrence immediately bonds with, because both of them have the ability to “shine”, a form of telepathy. So Dick gives Danny a crucial warning about the hotel and tells him he’s not alone in his abilities. Then he leaves. That wouldn’t be enough to make this list.

Instead we get to see Dick’s “shine” in action when he becomes increasingly worried about the Torrence family and flies back to Colorado to save them. Even though he does die in the film version, he still provides the means for Wendy and Danny to escape, meaning his sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. This film features a warm and likeable performance from Scatman Crothers, which is surprising given the brutal way he was directed by Kubrick. He gets the audience on his side quickly so you’re rooting for him to save the day when things at the Overlook start to get crazy. And he does manage to save Wendy and Danny from the hotel after all.

#9: JFK (Ossie Davis) in Bubba Ho-Tep

You have to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy a movie like Bubba Ho-Tep, and that’s one that’s willing to deal with a lot of silliness. It’s about a mummy who sucks the souls out of old people through their butts. The only people who can stop him? An elderly Elvis Presley and a man who may be former President John F. Kennedy. He has a lot of wild stories about how he became a black man in a rest home. You see, they dyed him that color. That’s how clever they are.

I absolutely love Ossie Davis’ performance in this film and think he really upstages Bruce Campbell at times. He’s completely committed to the role, as insane as it is. That’s something you’d expect out Campbell, but Davis is a man who was given the National Medal of Arts and was a Kennedy Centor Honor recipient. He’s a little too classy to be talking about how the government replaced his brain with a bag of sand. But here he is doing it, and he’s taking it as seriously as he would anything else. It wasn’t quite the final performance of his life, but it was certainly a very memorable one near the end.

#8: Roland Kincaid (Ken Sagoes) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Kincaid is the best character not named Nancy or Alice in the Nightmare movies. Yes, I said it .The dude doesn’t have a lot of screen time and either movie compared to those two but he makes the most of it. He talks so much crap towards Freddy Krueger that I’m surprised he managed to live and go to the sequel. Granted, he didn’t last long in that sequel but at least he got to survive. Who else do you know is going to live through a Freddy movie after calling him a “burnt-faced pussy?”

I actually got to meet Sagoes at Horrorhound Indianapolis one year, and he signed a poster he drew himself of the movie. It was pretty cool. If you ever see a con with a Dream Warriors reunion, chances are he’ll be there and you should go. If nothing else, maybe you can get him to recite some of his badass trash talk for you. Kincaid owns the movie he’s in and my only regret is that he never actually got to use his dream super strength against Freddy.

#7: Frank (Keith David) in They Live and Childs (also Keith David) in The Thing

As it turns out, I’ve been a fan of Keith David since childhood. He voiced Goliath in Gargoyles, he was all over those Army commercials when I was a teenager and then when I got older and into John Carpenter, he showed up in two of his best. I could not decide whether I liked Frank or Childs better, so I decided since they’re played by the same guy I would include them both.

They both have supporting roles in their respective films, although Frank has more to do in They Live. He gets to have a crazy brawl with Roddy Piper that is almost more famous than the movie itself. Then they become friends and team up to stop the alien takeover. Meanwhile in The Thing, he’s battling a different kind of alien and may or may not be a thing when the film is over. Both are important and both are played well by David. I can’t choose between them.

#6: Kenneth in Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Spoiler alert, this is not the only zombie movie on this list. Heck, it’s not even the only Dawn of the Dead. But that’s for later. Kenneth is hands down the best character in Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn and it’s not even close. He’s not only a badass (hard not to be when you’re played by Ving Rhames) but he’s compassionate and has an emotional bond with Andy, who is hiding in a gun store across the street from the mall. Their interactions are some of the best moments in the movie.

It would be easy to call Kenneth a rip-off of a character in the original, but I think Rhames brings enough to the role to make him stand out. He seems to be the only one really with his head on his shoulders and he’s got enough skill and intelligence to overcome many of the obstacles he faces in the film, which aren’t limited to the corpses.

#5: Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) in Get Out

A lot of people have been praising the script, suspense, social commentary and jokes in Get Out, and rightfully so, but I feel like Daniel Kaluuya isn’t getting enough credit. He has to carry the film in the acting department as a lead and he’s able to convey a wide variety of emotions. Chris is calm at times, subtly hiding how uncomfortable he is. Other times he’s beating people’s heads in with rage.

And that face above is one of the better moments in the movie, as we see just how screwed he is when he’s sent to Sunken Place, one of the most terrifying concepts in a film last year. At least Pennywise just ate people. He didn’t cut out most of their brains and drive them around for the rest of their lives. Kaluuya conveys that horror perfectly and gives a stand-out performance in a movie full of them.

#4: Mother Abigail (Ruby Dee) in The Stand

Fun fact. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were married, so a married couple takes up two spots on this list. Anyway, Mother Abigail is pretty important to the story of The Stand, as she’s the one who brings together all the good people that will have to stand and confront Randall Flagg. Of course it’s outrated stated that she’s only a conduit for the will of God, but she does her job well. She calls the heroes to Nebraska and gives them advice on how to proceed.

Ruby Dee plays her as a grandmother type of character, which makes a lot of sense. She’s warm and inviting, which she has to be in order to convince people to join her and not the Dark Man. Unfortunately she doesn’t survive the entire story, but her role in the story was ultimately done. She was meant to bring our heroes together and she did that.

#3: Peter in Dawn of the Dead

Ken Foree has been in a lot of horror, so it would have been easy to pick just about anything. While I enjoy his work in Leatherface and From Beyond, I think it’s obvious that Peter is the better performance and the more important character overall. Peter continued the trend started in another George Romero movie of having a strong black lead. He is ultimately the glue that holds his group of survivors together, as like Kenneth, he’s the most level-headed of the bunch. Flyboy and Roger are too impulsive and Francine doesn’t really do much.

This is also the movie that made me a fan of Foree, as I first saw it on the Independent Film Channel way back when they didn’t have commercials and actually showed only independent films. Before that I only knew him as the dad on Kenan and Kel, but after it I tracked down quite a few of his movies, which led to me discovering The Dentist and From Beyond. It’s mostly because of this scene.

#2: Candyman (Tony Todd) in Candyman

I think the only reason Candyman doesn’t take #1, is because the character ultimately isn’t as important as my top choice to the genre and film as a whole. That doesn’t mean the character is important. He’s probably the only black horror villain that anybody knows, because I doubt people are reminiscing about Snoop Dogg in Bones. Candyman achieved the level of notoriety usually reserved for the Freddys and Jasons of the world, where an urban legend made up for a film got passed around like “Bloody Mary” did when I was in school. I knew who Candyman was before I ever knew there was a movie.

Candyman, of course, is played by the brilliant Tony Todd, a legend within the horror genre. He has a hook hand and can only be summoned when you say his name three times in a mirror. He also has a pretty tragic backstory, at least in the first film, which explains but does not excuse his supernatural killings. That’s usually the case with several horror villains, though. It’s a shame we never got more Candyman movies, because I know Todd certainly wanted to play the character again.

#1: Ben (Duane Jones) in Night of the Living Dead

It’s funny that Ben ended up being such an important character to the genre. It’s also kind of telling, because George A. Romero didn’t cast Jones due to the color of his skin. Ben wasn’t written with that in mind and Romero cast the best actor for the role. He’s said this in multiple interviews. And yet, the film came out right at the tail end of the Civil Rights movement and featured a strong black lead in an era of film when that didn’t happen a lot.

But Ben is of course more than the importance of the role behind-the-scenes. He’s a capable, emotionally complex character that wants to survive but also wants to try and help the others as best he can. He’s ultimately flawed, because he keeps butting heads with Cooper in spite of the fact it’s not helping either one of them. Admittedly that’s mostly on Cooper but Ben certainly didn’t help matters. In other words, he’s three-dimensional, he’s a mostly likable character and Duane Jones honestly gives a great performance. He’d start a trend for having strong black characters in Romero’s dead films that would continue with Dawn, Day and Land (yes, I’m counting Big Daddy).

Ending Notes:

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