WEBVTT

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TANANARIVE DUE:
We\'ve always loved horror. It\'s just that horror,
unfortunately,

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hasn\'t always loved us.

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[suspenseful music]

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- Zombie! [indistinct]!

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- What have we got here?

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- [shouting]

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NARRATOR: Terror and voodoo
and all the weird black magic

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that the white man seldom see.

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- [screams]
I\'m gettin\' outta here now!

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BEN: You can be the boss
down there.

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I\'m boss up here.

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- Yes! That\'s history.

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- [screams]

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- \"The name is Blacula!\"

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- [laughs]
- [screaming]

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- Is there any more
scary imagery than this?

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- I wanna hear you scream.

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- It\'s cool to see yourself
on the screen.

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- There\'s something so powerful
about scaring someone.

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- [screams]

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- Oh, my goodness.

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CANDYMAN: Allow me
at least a kiss. - I\'ve been
waiting for you, boy.

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- Phew!

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- [screaming]

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- Oh, my God.

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- Yes, get rid of that, son.

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- [growling]

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[screaming]

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- Isn\'t that beautiful?

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DRE: [chuckling] It\'s crazy.

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You got me all here in this
creepy, confusing ass subarba.

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[laughs]
You all so serious, though?

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I feel like
a sore thumb out here.

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RUSTY CUNDIEFF: Lakeith.
ERNEST DICKERSON: Oh, yeah.

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Walking down the...

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RUSTY CUNDIEFF: Walking down
the sidewalk at night. - In a suburban neighborhood.
- In a suburban neighborhood. - On the cellphone by himself.

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- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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- Shit!
- All of that.

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- [scoffs] I\'ve been there.
- Yeah, yeah.

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- It was the perfect
black horror story.

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- Yeah, really.

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- [grunts and groans]

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- I\'ve never felt so ill at ease

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because, for me, there was
so much riding on this film

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in that is he going to
get this right,

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not just in quality,

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but for the way that
we understand black people.

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- If there\'s
too many white people,

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I get nervous, you know?

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JORDAN PEELE: When I found out
they were gonna let me

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actually direct \"Get Out\",

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I knew something big
was going to happen.

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I thought there was a chance
something very bad could happen,

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that I would get run
out of town, that, you know,

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I thought there\'s a possibility
that people, you know,

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don\'t want to see entertainment
about something that...

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you know, has been
traditionally dealt with

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with a certain reverence.

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But I also thought, you know,

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this is the movie
I wanted to see.

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- To have a black protagonist,

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first of all,
just in a horror trailer,

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had my attention.

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\"Huh? Wait, he might
survive this.\"

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[laughs] He might not be
the magical Negro

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or the sacrificial Negro
or the first to die

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and all those tropes,
so it\'s like,

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\"This is a story through
a black lens by a black artist and it\'s horror.\"

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I thought I was in heaven.

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ANNOUNCER:
Jordan Peele, \"Get Out\".

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[loud cheering]

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RACHEL TRUE:
This had never happened before

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to have an Oscar-nominated
black horror movie.

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- And I think it really shows

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how horror films
can really talk about things

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that are affecting us.

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- Black history is black horror.

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- Before we think about horror

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as we know it today,
we can go back to the films

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that perhaps wouldn\'t be
on our radar as horror.

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n- [title music of movie playing]

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- There\'s a character, Gus.

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Gus is a white actor
in blackface

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who was depicted
as being in pursuit of

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a young white girl.

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Gus is essentially
lynched by the Klan.

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TANANARIVE DUE: \"The Birth
of a Nation\" was a horror film,

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especially if you were
a black person.

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KEN FOREE: Most people,
at that point,

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were getting to know what
African Americans were like

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through that film because
they lived in communities

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where they had no
African Americans.

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This was the only source
of information

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and a lot of people
got the wrong impression

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of who we are, certainly.

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- It\'s one of the first films

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to be screened
in the White House,

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in Woodrow Wilson\'s
White House.

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KEN FOREE: Didn\'t help that
Woodrow Wilson said,

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\"That\'s exactly the way it is.\"

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- Oh, you know, I mean...

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KEN FOREE: You know, he was
a contributor to the problem.

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- With the endorsement
of the president,

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it feels like policy.

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There were even
advertisements and promotions

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that said this was essentially
based on a true story

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and it was as close to fact
as one could get.

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- The Ku Klux Klan

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is being heralded as the
solution to the black menace.

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- This is a movie
that really solidifies

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that there\'s this sort of

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odd black lust
on the part of black men

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towards white women.

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You see it
time and time again then

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throughout the horror genre,

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from \"King Kong\"...
[screaming]

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...to \"Candyman\".

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- It reigned as
the picture of black life

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for so many years.

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Hollywood could use
its messaging

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to create fear
around black people,

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especially
fear around black men.

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- It sets up
black life and culture

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as so deficient
and so deviant

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and I think we see
that kind of history

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in forming race relationships
even today.

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- Dr. Clinton?

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ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
Filmmakers in this period really want black actors to be
what they think blackness is.

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- Don\'t bite on this time,
Ms. Yoga.

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ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
These are the kinds of films

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that are coming out
in the \'20s and \'30s,

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leading up to Oscar Micheaux
and Spencer Williams

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sort of saying, \"Enough.\"

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TONY TODD:
Oscar Michaeux,

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who was one of the first
African American directors, who would,
like a lot of people

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doing today
in the independent world,

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he would have his own film crew,
he would gather his actors,

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he would write a script
around the actors.

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- What Oscar Michaeux\'s films do

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is say, \"Don\'t engage
in these behaviors,

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don\'t engage in these acts,\"

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which ultimately could
sort of bring down the race

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or sully the reputation
of the race.

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Oscar Michauex\'s
making arguments

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that we are equal
and to be respected

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and to be valued
as human beings.

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TANANARIVE DUE:
Spencer Williams\' film

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from 1940, \"The Son of Ingagi\",
is as interesting case. Its genesis
was a little bit odd

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because there was a film
called \"Ingagi\".

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ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
\"Ingagi\" was an earlier

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low budget effort
by a white director.

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- Which basically purported

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that black Africans were mating
with gorilla-like creatures.

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- \"Ingagi\" promises

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that it is a true story
and that this mating

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has produced half-ape,
half-human babies.

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The whole thing is a scam.

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- Even whites were like,
\"But that\'s not true, you know.\"

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is basically considered

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the first
black-made horror film.

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The makeup isn\'t great,

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and they didn\'t have
much of a budget. - [growling]

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- But Spencer got it made.
- Got it made, exactly. - And I look at that
to this day as a testament.

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- It stars a black woman
as a scientist.

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She has a scientific lab
in her basement

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and there is this ape-man
that resides there

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that she has been taming

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and sort of helping
this ape-man to thrive.

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- If it does
what I think it will,

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I\'ve done more for humanity
than anyone else on Earth.

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- So, Spencer Williams actually

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kind of does the first black
women in stem kind of film.

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You really get to see
the black middle class

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on full display.

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- [laughter]

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TANANARIVE DUE: You\'re seeing
a bunch of black folks

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coming back from a wedding.

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It doesn\'t sound revolutionary,
but in that era, in 1940,

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when did you ever see black
people just being themselves?

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It was a way to show
that not all black people

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were the way they had been
depicted in films

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up to that time.

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So we have a doctor
and a lawyer,

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everyone is well-spoken,
and in that way,

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it was a slice of black life
that, to me,

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is one of the most important
aspects of that film.

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- And if you know
anything about television,

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Spencer Williams
sounds familiar, right?

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He starred in the television
situation comedy \"Amos \'N Andy\".

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- Oh, Andy, I love jokes!
[laughs]

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- Then you gonna
like this one

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because I bought this gun
at a joke store.

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[laughter]

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- So, what\'s sad about that

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is that people will always
know Williams

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as from \"Amos \'N Andy\",

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but what Spencer Williams
contributes

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to the history of film
is absolutely unmatched.

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He sets up what we really
probably think of is

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modern black cinema today.

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ASHLEE BLACKWELL: By this time,
Hollywood realized

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that horror was big business,

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especially during
the Great Depression.

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I think people were looking for
that kind of escapism in films and film going was like huge.

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That\'s where you get those
Universal Studio classics like

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\"Murders in the Rue Morgue\",
\"The Mummy\", \"Dracula\",

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\"Frankenstein\",
\"The Bride of Frankenstein\".

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I love all of those films
but clearly in the 1930s,

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they weren\'t really big
on racial representation.

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MARK H. HARRIS:
Back in the \'30s and \'40s

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in those days, you know,

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there were only a few roles
for black people.

00:10:36.400 --> 00:10:38.040
TINA MABRY: Yeah.
- It was like a quiet servant

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who\'s just basically furniture,
tribesmen like in Africa

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or voodoo priestesses,
that sort of thing.

00:10:43.520 --> 00:10:46.120
- Hmm... At the theatre.
- It was like...

00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:48.640
- It was like
the comedic buffoon

00:10:48.640 --> 00:10:51.440
who was like scared
of his own shadow.

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-[growling]
- [screams]

00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:55.680
- Mantan Mulan.
- Yes.

00:10:57.560 --> 00:10:59.160
- Was the last actor
to play that kind of character

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and that was
in spite of the baby,

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and after that, I would just say
they were ready to move on.

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ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
We are moving into this period

00:11:08.520 --> 00:11:10.480
of kind of the scientific
or atomic age.

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There\'s not a lot of room
for servants,

00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:16.120
so in laboratories,

00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:18.000
there\'s no really place
for blacks in that space.

00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.160
MARK H. HARRIS:
In the \'50s and \'60s,

00:11:21.160 --> 00:11:25.520
no studio wanted to put
a black scientist in there.That was a place where they felt
black people weren\'t allowed in,

00:11:25.520 --> 00:11:30.120
so like in hidden figures
how hard it was for black people

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to get into the space race
and that sort of things,

00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:35.360
so it has another reason I think
that black people

00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.520
would pretty much disappear
during the whole, you know,

00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:40.240
the decade or two.

00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:41.480
- In all of those
classic alien movies...

00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:43.440
like
\"The Day the Earth Stood Still\"

00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.600
and all that stuff,
there are no black people

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but the \"other\"
is this monster thing

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that I think is supposed to
represent all people

00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.520
that are not white.

00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:56.880
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
\"Creature from the Black Lagoon\"

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looks so much like
those advertisements

00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:01.680
from the \'20s and the \'30s
and the \'40s.

00:12:01.680 --> 00:12:05.160
The bulging lips looks
just like those awful ads

00:12:05.160 --> 00:12:09.600
for Nigger Head Shrimp.

00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.400
- It\'s like
first we weren\'t in it,

00:12:11.400 --> 00:12:12.720
we were played
by white people...

00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:13.880
- Yeah.
- Then we were in it

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but we looked like aliens.

00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:17.080
- [screaming]

00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:19.200
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:nSo here I am, this 10-year-old,

00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.440
in a drive-in theater
with my mom,

00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.680
but even then, I knew
that there was something

00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:25.880
that horror was saying to me
about blackness, about race.

00:12:25.880 --> 00:12:30.920
I knew that King Kong
was a metaphor for blackness.

00:12:30.920 --> 00:12:34.400
- [snarling]

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- Even as a kid,
there was something

00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:38.080
uncomfortable about it.

00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.880
- Monsters and aliens

00:12:39.880 --> 00:12:42.120
are stand-ins
for black folks

00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:45.120
but we\'re not actually
present in the story.

00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.760
- But then
there\'s this moment...

00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:49.280
NARRATOR:
\"Night of the Living Dead\".

00:12:49.280 --> 00:12:53.000
- It\'s 1968,
and that\'s important.

00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:56.320
- [dogs barking]

00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.160
[snarling dogs,
people screaming]

00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:06.600
ERNEST DICKERSON:
I don\'t scare easily.

00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:08.320
\"Night of the Living Dead\"
I think gave me nightmares.

00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.840
- It was a frightening,
frightening film,

00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.400
and the black and white of it...

00:13:14.400 --> 00:13:16.880
[gunshots]

00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:18.840
...play such a huge part
in what makes it scary.

00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:28.520
NARRATOR: All law enforcement
agencies and the military

00:13:28.520 --> 00:13:31.320
have been organized
to search out and destroy

00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:33.600
the marauding ghouls.

00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.080
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
There\'s a zombie apocalypse

00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.800
and we have
a small group of folks

00:13:39.800 --> 00:13:42.800
who all sort of converge
on a cabin house to survive.

00:13:43.640 --> 00:13:48.520
- It has a black protagonist
in Duane Jones.

00:13:48.520 --> 00:13:51.000
- You can be
the boss down there.

00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:52.520
I\'m boss up here.

00:13:52.520 --> 00:13:53.560
- He\'s in charge.

00:13:53.560 --> 00:13:57.280
- If you stay up here,
you take orders from me! - You can never quite tell
if the white woman

00:13:57.280 --> 00:14:00.200
who Duane Jones
is essentially saving

00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:03.040
is more creeped out by the fact
that there\'s zombies outside

00:14:03.040 --> 00:14:05.720
or the fact that there\'s
a black man in the house.

00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.200
- I was probably
way too young to see it

00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:10.600
but I was absolutely
fascinated by the fact

00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:14.000
that there is this a beautiful,
handsome black man.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.800
That was the first time
I probably saw somebody black

00:14:16.800 --> 00:14:20.480
in a movie,
and they weren\'t a criminal,

00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.160
and they weren\'t gangster,
and they were the hero.

00:14:23.160 --> 00:14:25.720
- At that time,
there was not a black character

00:14:26.400 --> 00:14:30.720
who was really a man,

00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.080
who was, again,
who took charge of his fate.

00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:38.800
Who wasn\'t waiting
for the white man to save him.

00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:41.440
TONY TODD: Duane Jones\'
performance stood out for me.

00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.400
By that point, I knew
I wanted to be an actor

00:14:44.400 --> 00:14:46.400
and I said, \"Okay,
I was gonna be fearless.\"

00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:49.160
- He\'s slapping white people up
inside the head.

00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:51.400
He\'s killing white zombie
after white zombie

00:14:52.800 --> 00:14:55.200
after white zombie.

00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:56.680
This had to be horrifying
to racists.

00:14:58.920 --> 00:15:03.760
- The \'60s was
a turbulent time, you know.

00:15:03.760 --> 00:15:06.800
We had assassination
after assassination.

00:15:06.800 --> 00:15:09.800
We had riot after riot.

00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:14.040
- Civil rights movement
and all those movements

00:15:14.040 --> 00:15:16.840
were combining together
and we were producing those men

00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:21.320
that were standing up
and saying, \"Not here.

00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.120
Not again. Not me.\"

00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.880
At the same time, he comes up
and he does this film

00:15:26.880 --> 00:15:30.800
and that\'s the character,
that\'s the man,

00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:32.880
that\'s the man I saw.

00:15:32.880 --> 00:15:34.160
\"Night of the Living Dead\"
was so important

00:15:35.640 --> 00:15:37.760
because for the first time,
we\'re not just the victims.

00:15:37.760 --> 00:15:41.360
We were the destroyers
and the protectors

00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.320
for other people
against monsters,

00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:44.520
That\'s a good point.

00:15:44.520 --> 00:15:46.280
TONY TODD: Years later,
I got to know George Romero.

00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:49.240
I asked him,
I said, \"Why Duane?\"

00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:51.760
and he said, \"The role
wasn\'t even written,

00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:53.520
it wasn\'t written black.

00:15:53.520 --> 00:15:55.040
Duane just happened to be
the best actor

00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:56.720
to show up on that day.\"

00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:58.480
MARK H. HARRIS:
This is like in the \'60s

00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.680
when people being hosed,
people in sit-ins

00:16:00.680 --> 00:16:04.120
and stuff like that.
- Jim Crow era.

00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:05.600
- Exactly.
- Yeah.

00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.720
- It just blew my mind that

00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.120
this was a black guy
who was doing all this,

00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:10.720
taking charge,
he was the hero,

00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.560
even though it didn\'t
turn out for him in the end.

00:16:12.560 --> 00:16:14.240
- Alright then,
hit him in the head,

00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.640
right between the eyes.

00:16:15.640 --> 00:16:16.560
[ gun shot ]

00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:18.640
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
I can remember seeing this

00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:20.440
and not being able to move.

00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:23.920
- Okay, he\'s dead.
Let\'s go get him.

00:16:23.920 --> 00:16:25.920
nThat\'s another one for the fire.

00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:27.760
TANANARIVE DUE:
He\'s killed by the white mob

00:16:27.760 --> 00:16:30.360
which had to look a lot
like white mobs

00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:32.760
that were roaming
throughout the South,

00:16:32.760 --> 00:16:35.040
menacing black folks
and terrorizing black folks.

00:16:35.040 --> 00:16:38.040
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
You see lynchings.

00:16:39.520 --> 00:16:42.240
You think of Emmett Till
and it\'s just too much.

00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.400
And so you are left
just sitting there going,

00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.280
\"My God.
Did this just happen?\"

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:59.880
George Romero tells the story
of putting the film cans

00:16:59.880 --> 00:17:03.360
in the trunk of his car,
driving to New York City,

00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:07.760
and they hear it.

00:17:07.760 --> 00:17:09.000
They hear it on the radio.

00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:10.840
RADIO ANNOUNCER: The Reverend
Dr. Martin King, Jr.

00:17:10.840 --> 00:17:12.920
was killed
by an assassin\'s bullet

00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:14.560
tonight
in Memphis, Tennessee.

00:17:14.560 --> 00:17:16.200
- And I can\'t imagine

00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:18.480
what happens in that car,
what that feeling is like,

00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.840
the crush, the blow,
the sinking,

00:17:21.840 --> 00:17:25.400
and I want to believe
that they know what they have.

00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:30.280
\"Night of the Living Dead\"
becomes what it is

00:17:30.280 --> 00:17:33.840
exactly because of what\'s
happening in this country

00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:38.520
while he\'s filming it.

00:17:38.520 --> 00:17:40.160
- I think
the tenseness of the time

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.360
and the turbulence
that was going on in society

00:17:42.360 --> 00:17:45.480
and the political drama
all fed into people

00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:49.880
all of a sudden having a need to
wanna see themselves on screen

00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.520
and that gave birth to
the blacksploitation period.

00:17:53.520 --> 00:17:56.480
[peppy music]

00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:01.280
- We call 1970s film

00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:03.240
\"blacksploitation\"
and it\'s really a portmanteau

00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:06.440
for \"black\" and \"exploitation\".

00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:09.760
Blacks are on the big screen.

00:18:09.760 --> 00:18:11.360
Black audiences are really
joyful for the inclusion

00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:15.560
but the representations
are sometimes just not right.

00:18:15.560 --> 00:18:19.200
KEITH DAVID: We went
from maids to pimps and hos.

00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:22.160
At that time,
we didn\'t use that word

00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:23.920
profile...
- No, no.

00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:25.280
- But we were
horrifically profiled.

00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:28.480
I like to wear hats
and I bought me a new hat

00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.400
and some white boy yells at me,
\"Hey, pimp!\" you know,

00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:35.600
and I think he\'s thinking

00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:37.280
that he thinks
he\'s complimenting me.

00:18:37.280 --> 00:18:39.760
RICHARD LAWSON:
The big hats and collars

00:18:39.760 --> 00:18:42.720
and they were images that were
perpetrated by white people

00:18:44.760 --> 00:18:49.680
who exploited these images
for their own gain.

00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:55.720
Sam Arkoff owned American
International Pictures, AIP,

00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.920
they were the great producers
of films

00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:05.000
that fell under
the blacksploitation period.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.680
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
There are studios who get in

00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:10.320
on the blacksploitation craze.

00:19:10.320 --> 00:19:12.680
And AIP\'s business model was,
\"We\'re not going to lead.

00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:16.760
We\'re going to look,
see what\'s happening out there,

00:19:16.760 --> 00:19:20.280
what might be popular,

00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:22.200
and then we\'re going to get on
kind of the back side of this

00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.120
and produce more of it.\"

00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:26.800
Theirs was a strictly
for-profit budget model,

00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:31.080
investing
as little as they could

00:19:31.080 --> 00:19:33.360
and hoping something stuck.

00:19:33.360 --> 00:19:35.120
Their films would go on just
a few screens in some cases,

00:19:37.120 --> 00:19:41.320
often in black neighborhoods,
very low investment,

00:19:41.320 --> 00:19:44.840
very low quality.

00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:46.920
- At the time,
I was astute enough

00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:49.080
to look up AIP\'s budget,

00:19:49.080 --> 00:19:51.360
but they weren\'t making
any money at all.

00:19:51.360 --> 00:19:53.200
I mean, the rumor was, was
that they were in deep water,

00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.160
and then \"Blacula\" brought in
a lot of money for them.

00:19:58.560 --> 00:19:59.880
- The name is Blacula!

00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:07.640
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
Starring William Marshall,

00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:09.240
a black actor,

00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:14.200
directed by William Crain,
a black director.
And so here\'s where you see

00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:16.000
how knowledgeable
black directors and actors

00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.200
can have an extraordinary
impact on a film.

00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.440
- They wanted to do
\"Count Brown\'s in Town\".

00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.480
- \"Brown\'s in Town\"? Really?
- Yeah.

00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.320
It was really...Yeah.
- \"Brown\'s in Town\"?

00:20:27.320 --> 00:20:28.600
- So, we decided we were
gonna do something else.

00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:30.480
I wasn\'t the favorite
person there for them...

00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.480
- No, of course not.
- ...because we had

00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.440
something else in mind.

00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:35.920
- The movie opens
with him with his queen

00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:39.120
trying to argue
with Count Dracula

00:20:39.120 --> 00:20:41.400
to end the transatlantic
slave trade.

00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:43.760
- To totally cease
the slave trade?

00:20:43.760 --> 00:20:46.440
TANANARIVE DUE:
When is the last time

00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:47.600
black audiences
had seen themselves

00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:49.680
expressed visually in the 1700s
as erudite and intelligent

00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:54.200
and holding court and trying to
discuss world affairs?

00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:58.640
- Slavery has merit,
I believe.

00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.840
- Merit? You find
\"merit\" in barbarity?

00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:06.360
- But it was a big deal!
- It was a big deal.

00:21:06.360 --> 00:21:08.360
I just remember
right out of school

00:21:08.360 --> 00:21:10.240
everyone say
Black Dracula.

00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.560
- Vampires,
I think they\'re possibly
the most fascinating of all.

00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:15.080
- That\'s all I remember.

00:21:15.080 --> 00:21:16.280
\"What? A black Dracula?\"

00:21:16.280 --> 00:21:18.720
And it gave you a sense of
something I can\'t even explain.

00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:21.040
I wanted to be an actor.
Something opened up

00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:23.120
\'cause I think that
affected me in a way

00:21:23.120 --> 00:21:25.120
that probably
I don\'t even understand.

00:21:25.120 --> 00:21:27.920
- I was still in high school

00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:30.000
and I had dreams of being
the first black Dracula.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.720
[laughs]

00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:34.840
- [Blacula laughs]

00:21:34.840 --> 00:21:36.880
- But when William Marshall,
who came out with it,

00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:40.080
I was like,
\"Who could be mad about that?\"

00:21:40.080 --> 00:21:42.000
I mean, it was--
because he was...

00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.360
I\'ve loved William Marshall.

00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:46.920
- When I was a kid,

00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:48.480
the vampires and the Draculas
that had been going on

00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.160
were these really soft,
metrosexual white guys

00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:54.320
who didn\'t really have
an energy to them for me,

00:21:54.320 --> 00:21:57.080
and then, Blacula.

00:21:57.080 --> 00:21:59.200
Okay, so he\'s this yummy,
yummy chocolate, dark, sexy man

00:22:00.040 --> 00:22:04.360
and so it was sort of,

00:22:04.360 --> 00:22:05.680
it was this really
confusing thing as a child

00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.480
because I\'m like,
\"Oh, my God, I\'m scared!

00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:09.080
But I\'m excited.
But I\'m scared.

00:22:09.080 --> 00:22:11.040
But I\'m interested.
I think I wanna kiss him.\"

00:22:11.040 --> 00:22:13.440
And I hadn\'t really experienced
that with a \"villain\" before,

00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:17.480
so I would say Blacula
scared the fuck out of me.

00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:22.160
- I was proud
that a black man

00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.280
was kicking some butt.
- Was eating people.

00:22:24.280 --> 00:22:26.520
- Kicking butt, yeah.
- Hi, what\'ll you have?

00:22:26.520 --> 00:22:28.920
- Make is a Bloody Mary.

00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:30.640
- [laughs] He was
having a Bloody Mary!

00:22:30.840 --> 00:22:33.120
WILLIAM CRAIN: I found
a lot of tangible resistance

00:22:35.840 --> 00:22:39.120
and maybe even
tangible resentment...

00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:43.040
- Racism?
- Yeah. Well, for racism,

00:22:43.040 --> 00:22:45.200
I mean, nobody...
- Because I\'m sure your crew

00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:46.880
was predominantly white.

00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.400
- Everybody was white.
- All right.

00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:50.760
- Right now,
I can\'t remember

00:22:52.280 --> 00:22:53.440
anyone else black
that was on that set.

00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:55.280
WILLIAM MARSHALL: There was
something of a resentment

00:22:55.280 --> 00:22:56.480
on the part of many producers

00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:57.840
who didn\'t want our voices
to ring resonantly about

00:22:57.840 --> 00:23:02.440
and create a new kind of genre.

00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:04.560
[disco music]

00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:07.120
WILLIAM CRAIN:
Remember the night club scene?

00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:08.880
And the 150 actors
in that club scene, right?

00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:10.560
- Right, right, right.

00:23:10.560 --> 00:23:12.360
- And so, there was
a mix of white and black.

00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:15.400
PAUL JAI PARKER:
Right. Beautiful.

00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:16.640
WILLIAM CRAIN:
It really worked.

00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:18.120
And once the music
was supposed to start,

00:23:18.120 --> 00:23:21.440
kids were supposed to be dancing
and I watched the AD,

00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.560
the assistant director,
he had the black couples

00:23:24.560 --> 00:23:29.120
and he had white couples,
so I had this...

00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:31.520
- He didn\'t mix it up?
- No, he didn\'t. He didn\'t.

00:23:31.520 --> 00:23:33.840
They didn\'t have gloves
to throw down but I said,

00:23:33.840 --> 00:23:35.520
\"Hold up, we\'re not
gonna do this.

00:23:35.520 --> 00:23:36.720
This is what you\'re gonna do.

00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:37.720
You\'re gonna mix
these people up.\"

00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:39.280
And it went
all the way up to Sam Arkoff.

00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:43.880
- He got some resistance

00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:45.160
but his pushback helped
even the higher-ups

00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:47.800
doing this film understand
that he was making

00:23:47.800 --> 00:23:50.000
something really meaty
and meaningful.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.480
It makes the film so memorable
and impactful even to this day.

00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:56.360
WILLIAM CRAIN:
We\'re sitting in this wonderful

00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:00.160
old police station,
and I saw this long range

00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:04.320
of about at least 20 yards,

00:24:04.320 --> 00:24:08.400
and then I asked them

00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:09.480
for a high-speed camera.
- Okay.

00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.440
- Which would be
a slow-motion camera.

00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:12.560
- Right. Okay.

00:24:12.560 --> 00:24:16.360
- They didn\'t wanna do it.
I wasn\'t gonna get it. This went on
for at least a week.

00:24:16.360 --> 00:24:18.800
- Right.
- And so, I was waiting

00:24:18.800 --> 00:24:20.120
for this camera to show up.

00:24:20.120 --> 00:24:21.160
Never did show up.

00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:22.560
On the morning
that we got ready to do that,

00:24:22.560 --> 00:24:25.000
this extra van pulls up...

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.440
- And they gave it to you?
- And these guys come out

00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.400
with this high-speed,
slow motion camera.

00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.360
- Okay.

00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:32.400
- They decided
to give it to you.

00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.640
- I bet they did
after they start seeing

00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:35.280
those dailies, right?

00:24:35.280 --> 00:24:38.320
- People are still
talking about that shot. [screaming]

00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.840
TINA MABRY: And it created
kind of a cultural shift

00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:54.040
and to have that awareness
to say, \"Me, too,\"

00:24:54.040 --> 00:24:56.000
and then to come back with
\"Scream Blacula Scream\",

00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.120
Pam Grier and Richard Lawson\'s
first role.

00:24:59.120 --> 00:25:02.200
RICHARD LAWSON:
\"Scream Blacula Scream\"

00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:03.680
I did with William Marshall,
Pam Grier, Don Mitchell,

00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:08.400
and a host of other
wonderful black actors.

00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:11.640
PAULA JAI PARKER:
I\'m a Pam Grier fan.

00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:13.360
She ends up becoming
the lead of the film

00:25:13.360 --> 00:25:16.440
which to me is fun
because, in my opinion,

00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:20.120
it\'s one of the only times
they let her act,

00:25:20.120 --> 00:25:22.920
like she really got to be
a real person

00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:27.080
and not a sex symbol.

00:25:27.080 --> 00:25:29.400
- Stay away! Who are you?

00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.120
- This is when you start to see
women really emerge.

00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:36.640
Women are now starting to take
the center stage.

00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.240
- How about that?

00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:40.680
- She got to use her mind.
- Change her wardrobe,

00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:42.600
she used her mind,

00:25:42.600 --> 00:25:43.680
of course she saves
the two guys

00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:45.080
at the end.
- Yes.

00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:50.800
And she\'s like an historian
of black antiquity, you know...
- Exactly.

00:25:50.800 --> 00:25:52.120
PAULA JAI PARKER:
That whole diaspora.

00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:54.280
- In the white horror movies,

00:25:54.280 --> 00:25:59.320
the voodoo is always
like the evil force. - Yeah.
- And the villain.

00:25:59.320 --> 00:26:00.600
But in like
\"Scream Blacula Scream\"

00:26:00.600 --> 00:26:02.480
it was like the force of good,
it was kind of...

00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:04.840
- Exactly.
- They relied on that

00:26:04.840 --> 00:26:06.920
to conquer his curse basically.

00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.320
They were using it
to remove his curse.

00:26:09.320 --> 00:26:12.440
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
The cross horrors history voodoo

00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.320
is explicitly
a sign to black people.

00:26:15.320 --> 00:26:18.120
All black people know voodoo!

00:26:18.120 --> 00:26:19.800
And it\'s really helpful
if they\'re in Louisiana.

00:26:19.800 --> 00:26:23.440
- How do you kill
someone with voodoo?

00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.040
- You often see black women

00:26:27.040 --> 00:26:29.360
associated with voodoo
on screen.

00:26:29.360 --> 00:26:32.880
Commonly, we\'ve seen black women
be voodoo priestesses

00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.880
and things of that nature,
and always use it for ill-will.

00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:39.880
- A [indistinct] is gonna growl,
and rain is gonna rain.

00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:43.640
- Black women
were very much centered

00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:45.760
as frightening because
they wielded power.

00:26:45.760 --> 00:26:49.720
\"Abby\" the blacksploitation era
film, is a really good example

00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.920
of both fear of black women
in general

00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.360
but fear of black women\'s
sexuality in particular.

00:26:57.360 --> 00:27:01.200
- [growling]

00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:03.520
ABBY: You\'re mine now!
Mine!

00:27:03.520 --> 00:27:07.240
- Abby.
- That\'s Abby.

00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:09.520
This scared me so much
when I was a kid

00:27:09.520 --> 00:27:12.360
because she was pretty,
but then she went crazy.

00:27:12.360 --> 00:27:15.080
- [laughs]
- Yeah.

00:27:15.080 --> 00:27:16.760
- What do you think
of my powers now?

00:27:16.760 --> 00:27:19.800
[evil laughter]

00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:22.000
- Black women, of course,
have always been depicted

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.080
as highly sexualized.

00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:26.240
This is definitely something
that came to the fore with Abby.

00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:30.920
On the one level,
you could say she\'s sort of

00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:32.880
resisting her defined role
as sort of a church wife,

00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:37.560
becoming possessed
by a sex demon

00:27:37.560 --> 00:27:40.320
who basically attacks men
through sex. [laughs]

00:27:40.320 --> 00:27:44.200
It\'s a silly film,

00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:50.040
but what\'s not silly about it
is it does point to this fear of black women
and black womanhood.

00:27:50.040 --> 00:27:52.760
- There is this one, I think,

00:27:52.760 --> 00:27:54.480
kind of cool movie.
It\'s called \"Sugar Hill\".

00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:57.520
- [loud laughter]

00:27:57.520 --> 00:28:00.040
- Sugar\'s community
is under siege

00:28:00.040 --> 00:28:03.400
by some corrupt
white gangsters.

00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:06.400
- [grunting]

00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:08.840
MARK H. HARRIS:
She conjured this voodoo god

00:28:08.840 --> 00:28:11.120
to get revenge
on these gangsters

00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:13.280
who killed her boyfriend.

00:28:13.280 --> 00:28:14.720
- I want the power
to destroy my enemies.

00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.560
RICHARD LAWSON: It was
one of the early films

00:28:17.560 --> 00:28:19.920
where a black woman
was the lead.

00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:22.400
- Remember me?

00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:23.640
- She had made
her own determinations,

00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.520
was not suppressed by men
and the system.

00:28:26.760 --> 00:28:31.480
She was smart, powerful,
she was sexy,

00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:34.640
she was intelligent,
and she was willful.

00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:38.000
n- Show us what big man you are.

00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.120
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
This is a narrative

00:28:40.120 --> 00:28:41.400
that isn\'t entirely
unproblematic.

00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:43.160
It does resurrect
these early notions of black men

00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:48.400
lusting for white women.

00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.360
- [loud laughter]

00:28:50.360 --> 00:28:53.040
- And so,
for female audiences to watch

00:28:53.040 --> 00:28:55.600
these movies on the big screen,

00:28:55.600 --> 00:28:58.160
certainly came with
a bit of conflict.

00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.160
- So, the blacksploitation era

00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:02.800
probably gets mixed marks
in terms of, you know,

00:29:02.800 --> 00:29:06.040
overall how black life
was being portrayed,

00:29:06.040 --> 00:29:09.520
but you can see in even
just these horror films

00:29:09.520 --> 00:29:12.800
that there\'s an effort
to do more.

00:29:14.080 --> 00:29:18.440
- One movie from the \'70s

00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:21.040
that gets lumped in
with blacksploitation

00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:24.040
is \"Ganja & Hess\".

00:29:24.040 --> 00:29:25.720
It\'s really cool
and it\'s from a black director.

00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:28.120
Bill Gunn is his name.

00:29:28.120 --> 00:29:30.040
- Bill Gunn is a guy

00:29:30.040 --> 00:29:32.840
who a lot of people
don\'t know about

00:29:32.840 --> 00:29:34.320
because he was a playwright,
a screenwriter.

00:29:34.320 --> 00:29:37.520
He wrote the screenplay for
a movie called \"The Landlord\"

00:29:37.520 --> 00:29:40.400
that Hal Ashby did.

00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:42.480
Bill Gunn was in episodes
of \"The Outer Limits\",

00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.480
\"Man From U.N.C.L.E.\",
you know,

00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:46.680
they just wanted him to make

00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.200
a horror film.
- Right.

00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:49.480
- You know,
with black folks in it.

00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:51.240
And the story is that he just,

00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:54.360
I think the producers were
out of town or something,

00:29:54.360 --> 00:29:56.440
and he took the whole
cast and crew

00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:59.360
up to some place at New York
and rewrote it and shot it.

00:29:59.360 --> 00:30:03.440
- Wow.
- You know, to talk about

00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:05.920
the history of blood,
the history of African blood,

00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:08.520
and how it\'s passed down
to the ancestors.

00:30:08.520 --> 00:30:10.120
[scream]

00:30:10.120 --> 00:30:11.920
- This is a film about
a very erudite scholar

00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:15.240
who struggles with addiction,

00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:16.600
so he\'s using blood
as an addiction metaphor

00:30:16.600 --> 00:30:20.320
which is something
that spoke to this director

00:30:20.320 --> 00:30:22.560
and in his mind,
I\'m sure spoke to his community.

00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:24.920
- He was recently
turned into a vampire

00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:26.440
and he falls in love
with this woman

00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.520
and he kinda has to decide
whether to turn her

00:30:28.520 --> 00:30:31.400
and that sort of thing.

00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:35.480
And it\'s very slow
and meditative.

00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:39.800
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
Throughout the movie, Hess,

00:30:39.800 --> 00:30:42.040
no matter how wealthy he is,
no matter how educated,

00:30:42.040 --> 00:30:45.520
is still very fearful
of the police.

00:30:45.520 --> 00:30:48.040
- There\'s no possible way
for you to know this

00:30:48.040 --> 00:30:49.800
but I\'m the only colored
on the block, you see,

00:30:49.800 --> 00:30:53.640
and if another black man
washes ashore around here,

00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:56.800
you can believe

00:30:56.800 --> 00:31:01.000
the authorities will
drag me out for questioning.- The police still remain
a threat

00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.040
to even this very wealthy,
well-educated black man.

00:31:03.040 --> 00:31:06.560
- It got
like a standing ovation

00:31:06.560 --> 00:31:09.040
at the Cannes Film Festival.
- Yeah.

00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:10.760
- It played at Cannes
and got a lot of awards there.

00:31:10.760 --> 00:31:14.920
When it got to America,
not so much.

00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:18.040
- Hollywood hates this movie

00:31:18.040 --> 00:31:20.000
because it doesn\'t look
anything like

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.440
the blacksploitation films
of this period.

00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:25.360
Frankly, it\'s a little
too smart.

00:31:25.360 --> 00:31:27.320
It\'s a little too stylistic.

00:31:27.320 --> 00:31:29.560
The characters are really a bit
too developed and realized.

00:31:29.560 --> 00:31:34.160
They wanted something cruder.

00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:35.760
- They recut it. [indistinct]
before years, you know,

00:31:35.760 --> 00:31:38.720
I used to go some video stores
and it was recut as a movie

00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:42.560
called \"Blood Couple\".

00:31:42.560 --> 00:31:44.480
TANANARIVE DUE:
For the longest time,

00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:45.920
it was sort of
in this netherworld

00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.440
where the true version
of the film

00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:51.360
was at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.

00:31:51.360 --> 00:31:54.600
- It was a film
that I heard about for years

00:31:54.600 --> 00:31:56.880
before I was finally to see it.

00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:58.360
- Hmm-mm.

00:31:58.360 --> 00:32:03.000
- Actually, Bill Gunn,
when I was at Howard, came. He didn\'t come with
a print of the film.

00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:04.440
- He just came
to talk about it?

00:32:04.440 --> 00:32:05.720
- Yeah, \'cause
the only print was available,

00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:08.920
the only print in existence
was at the Museum of Modern Art.

00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:12.440
He was an interesting cat,

00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:14.000
and \"Ganja & Hess\"
was his chance

00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:15.680
to elevate a vampire story
into something more meaningful.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:22.560
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
\"Ganja & Hess\"

00:32:22.560 --> 00:32:25.400
is like this beautiful,
artistic film but it wasn\'t the only film
during that time

00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:26.840
that was making
these broad stroke statements

00:32:26.840 --> 00:32:29.280
about what was going on
in society.

00:32:29.280 --> 00:32:31.640
There\'s a lot of
blacksploitation horror films

00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:33.400
that kind of deal with kind of
involuntary experimentation

00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:36.200
and it doesn\'t feel
like a coincidence.

00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:38.160
The Tuskeegee Experiment
was this medical experiment

00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:43.080
that spanned a 40-year time.

00:32:43.080 --> 00:32:46.200
There were these tests done
on Southern men in the South,

00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:49.000
some had syphilis,
some didn\'t,

00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:50.680
but they all thought
they were being treated

00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:52.080
for what was called \"bad blood\".

00:32:52.080 --> 00:32:53.760
They were promised
free healthcare, free meals,

00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:58.240
free burial, but they weren\'t
even treated.

00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:01.640
They were pretty much
being tested

00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:03.080
to see the effects of syphilis
over a lifetime.

00:33:03.400 --> 00:33:06.520
Some of those men
lost their lives

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:11.160
without knowing what they were
fully consenting to, and there was
this big investigation

00:33:11.160 --> 00:33:12.760
and it came a halt
in early to mid-1970s.

00:33:12.760 --> 00:33:15.600
- You wanna use me for some typenof human guinea pig, is that it?

00:33:17.280 --> 00:33:20.200
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
\"Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde\",

00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:23.440
\"Blackenstein\",

00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:27.520
those are films that were
lackluster in quality and maybe even story,
but they are centered around

00:33:27.520 --> 00:33:29.920
medical experimentation
on black males.

00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:32.280
And so, you couldn\'t help
but notice

00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.000
those two things coming together
and kind of converging.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:38.600
- This could be a good chance
to try out that serum.

00:33:38.600 --> 00:33:40.600
- No, you can\'t
try that serum on a human.

00:33:40.600 --> 00:33:43.520
That\'s not right.

00:33:44.560 --> 00:33:47.000
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
Since blacks were brought here

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:48.320
during slavery,
we were treated as lab rats

00:33:48.320 --> 00:33:50.400
and for various,
different medical purposes,

00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:52.840
they treated us as inhuman,
as we were seen,

00:33:52.840 --> 00:33:55.680
and so, you see a lot of that
even today

00:33:55.680 --> 00:33:58.320
with movies like \"Get Out\".

00:33:58.320 --> 00:34:00.200
- Why us, huh?

00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:01.760
Why black people?

00:34:04.360 --> 00:34:06.120
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: Also
\"The Girl with All the Gifts\"

00:34:06.120 --> 00:34:07.520
and even \"The First Purge\".

00:34:07.520 --> 00:34:09.480
- Should you choose
to actively participate,

00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:11.520
we\'ll implant
a tracking device.

00:34:11.520 --> 00:34:13.600
After that, you\'ll be all set,
as they say, to purge.

00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:16.280
- As sort of bad as

00:34:18.240 --> 00:34:20.600
some of these
blacksploitation films were,

00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:23.400
they just simply got worse.

00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:24.840
- [screaming, grunting]

00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:26.240
- \"Blackenstein\" is so bad,

00:34:26.240 --> 00:34:28.120
literally,
you can\'t see the film.

00:34:28.120 --> 00:34:30.040
I mean, you\'re like,

00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:31.360
Did they purposefully
shoot it in shadow

00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:33.280
or just completely in the dark?

00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:36.040
In addition to that,

00:34:36.040 --> 00:34:37.480
civil rights groups
are protesting these films

00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:41.160
and saying that they\'re not good
for black culture,

00:34:41.160 --> 00:34:43.800
they\'re not good for
black representations.

00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:46.360
- We may not have
liked necessarily what we saw.

00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:50.400
- [screaming]

00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:51.440
- It was stereotypical,

00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:52.800
but those doors
slowly started to open.

00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:56.040
So, as all things in life,
there\'s a double-edged sword.

00:34:56.040 --> 00:34:59.640
- We\'re finally seeing
a number of movies

00:34:59.640 --> 00:35:02.360
where black people
are on the big screen.

00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:05.600
And so, you think, \"Okay,

00:35:05.600 --> 00:35:07.640
the momentum
is going to continue

00:35:07.640 --> 00:35:09.760
and maybe in the \'80s,

00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:11.200
we\'re going to get
these representations right.\"

00:35:11.200 --> 00:35:14.440
Exactly the opposite happens.

00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:16.760
- [grunting]

00:35:19.640 --> 00:35:24.400
- I always knew
that if there was somebody black

00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:27.240
in the horror film,
they will be the first to die.

00:35:27.240 --> 00:35:29.200
MIGUEL A. NUÑEZ: I remember
one of the first things I did

00:35:32.040 --> 00:35:33.880
was when I got the script

00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:35.320
was count the number of pages
before I died.

00:35:35.320 --> 00:35:37.880
[laughter]

00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:39.480
- If we\'re not dead
in the first 15 minutes,

00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:41.480
we\'re certainly dead
by the last 30 minutes.

00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:44.320
- It\'s like
the red shirt phenomenon

00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:46.480
in \"Star Trek\".

00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:48.040
You know you can\'t kill Spock,
you can\'t kill McCoy,

00:35:48.040 --> 00:35:50.640
you can\'t kill Captain Kirk
or Uhura,

00:35:50.640 --> 00:35:52.680
so this poor crew member
with the red shirt

00:35:52.680 --> 00:35:56.800
is the one who\'s going to die.

00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:58.280
And I think that\'s very much

00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:02.280
where blacks were kind of
stuck in horror for a while.

00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.520
It became such a joke
about first to die

00:36:05.520 --> 00:36:08.000
that there were these
sort of tongue-in-cheek

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:09.360
references to it.

00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.040
IRA KANE: Snag one.

00:36:11.040 --> 00:36:13.120
- Snag one?
- Yeah, snag one

00:36:13.120 --> 00:36:14.600
and put \'em in the bucket.

00:36:14.600 --> 00:36:17.160
- I seen this movie.
The black dude dies first.

00:36:17.160 --> 00:36:19.080
You snag it.

00:36:19.080 --> 00:36:20.200
- So, let\'s talk about
black people

00:36:20.200 --> 00:36:21.640
always die first
in horror movies.

00:36:21.640 --> 00:36:24.240
It\'s not entirely true.

00:36:24.240 --> 00:36:26.160
- Well, in \"Alien\",
Yaphet is actually

00:36:26.160 --> 00:36:28.040
the last male to die, you know?
- That\'s true. He is.

00:36:28.040 --> 00:36:31.720
Yeah, he makes it aways.

00:36:31.720 --> 00:36:33.920
- Get out of the room!

00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.920
- Sometimes they do die first.

00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:38.000
- [grunting]

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:39.520
- But I wanna kinda dispel
a little bit of that myth.

00:36:39.520 --> 00:36:42.320
It often happens.

00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:43.800
- [grunting]

00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:46.000
- But then, at the same time,

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:50.760
it can\'t always happen
because black people play a particular role
in horror films.

00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:54.360
For example, if you have
a really horrible, big,

00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:59.720
kind of badass monster,
how do you evidence

00:36:59.720 --> 00:37:03.680
that that creature
is as bad as it can get?

00:37:03.680 --> 00:37:08.120
You need a black guy.

00:37:08.120 --> 00:37:12.560
- I\'m Sergeant Buford Brown,
but my teammates call me Buba.- If the monster beats that guy,

00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:14.480
then that monster
must be a true badass.

00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:19.600
- You believe any of this
voodoo bullshit, Blair?

00:37:19.600 --> 00:37:21.560
- Well, you know, my first,

00:37:21.560 --> 00:37:25.240
my very first movie was
\"The Thing\". - Yes! Yes, yes.
- I lived to the very end.

00:37:25.240 --> 00:37:27.240
I survived.
- Yes.

00:37:27.240 --> 00:37:29.160
In my next movie, I did die
but not till the end.

00:37:30.560 --> 00:37:33.040
- Their roles are tokens,

00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:38.000
and so, they show up
as sidekicks,

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:40.720
incidental characters.

00:37:40.720 --> 00:37:43.080
- Which would be fine

00:37:43.080 --> 00:37:45.200
except that often,
they don\'t exist

00:37:45.200 --> 00:37:47.800
for any other reason
in the movie.

00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:49.760
They don\'t have wants,
needs of their own,

00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:53.320
their only concern

00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:54.680
is the welfare
of the white protagonists,

00:37:54.680 --> 00:37:56.560
and that\'s where
it becomes problematic.

00:37:56.560 --> 00:38:00.280
- I looked at it as I was
the chosen black person for the film.
- I know, that\'s right.

00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:01.680
- I didn\'t look at it
in a negative way.

00:38:01.680 --> 00:38:03.280
I looked at it like
I was chosen.

00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:04.640
- I didn\'t look at it
in a negative way, either,

00:38:04.640 --> 00:38:06.440
\'cause I was getting a check.
MIGUEL A. NUÑEZ: Absolutely.

00:38:06.440 --> 00:38:08.360
Everybody who had said
anything about it,

00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:09.600
I\'m in \"Friday the 13th\",
you\'re not,

00:38:09.600 --> 00:38:10.800
so I didn\'t look at it
like that.

00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:12.480
But it was really
a good thing to be black

00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:14.920
and, in any film,
in the \'80s,

00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:16.640
not much less a horror movie,
but any film.

00:38:16.640 --> 00:38:18.920
- I was like,
\"Hey, we\'re in this movie!\"

00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:20.400
[laughs] We\'re dying first.

00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:23.240
- [muffled scream]

00:38:23.240 --> 00:38:27.320
- Or we\'re sacrificing
ourselves.

00:38:27.320 --> 00:38:29.080
- [screaming]

00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:32.000
Or we\'re just a sidekick
or we\'re just being sassy.

00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:37.880
- Dan keeping you up again?

00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:39.880
Girl, you gotta put a lock
in that window.

00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:44.080
- Or we\'re not gonna appear
after the first act or whatever. But we were in it.
We were in it!

00:38:44.080 --> 00:38:47.160
It\'s such a powerful validation
of your existence

00:38:47.160 --> 00:38:50.240
and I think it\'s really
difficult for a lot of whites

00:38:50.240 --> 00:38:54.040
to even imagine
what it would feel like

00:38:54.040 --> 00:38:56.360
if you were surrounded
by entertainment

00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:58.440
that was nothing
but black people, right?

00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:01.120
- I got on set
and I read the script,

00:39:01.120 --> 00:39:03.560
and there was several little
racial things in there.

00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:05.520
- I see you!

00:39:09.040 --> 00:39:10.640
Chocolate man.

00:39:10.640 --> 00:39:12.560
- And so,
I, you know, I said,

00:39:12.560 --> 00:39:14.640
\"Okay, you know,
I\'m gonna be alone on this.\"

00:39:14.640 --> 00:39:16.600
- Scary, isn\'t it?

00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:21.840
- Back when
I was doing \"The Craft\",

00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:23.320
I definitely
was really nervous

00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:25.200
about how to portray
this character.

00:39:25.200 --> 00:39:26.920
Like Bonnie has burns,
or what\'s her name?

00:39:26.920 --> 00:39:31.080
Sarah!
[laughs] scars.

00:39:31.080 --> 00:39:34.200
And the other one is poor
and very angry

00:39:34.200 --> 00:39:36.480
and probably bipolar, right?

00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:38.360
So when I first auditioned,

00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:39.680
I had a big monologue
about being anorexic

00:39:39.680 --> 00:39:42.040
and then I think
once they decided to cast me,

00:39:42.040 --> 00:39:44.640
that is when they made
race her issue,

00:39:44.640 --> 00:39:48.480
but for me, I was like,
\"I don\'t have an issue.\"

00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:51.280
I didn\'t think it was
a big enough problem

00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:52.680
for her to have.

00:39:52.680 --> 00:39:56.720
Although, in retrospect,
I actually think it\'s fantastic they had it in because
that is the kind of racism,

00:39:56.720 --> 00:40:00.240
whether it was subtle or big,
that I went through,

00:40:00.240 --> 00:40:04.200
I\'m sure you went through,
and everyone went through,

00:40:04.200 --> 00:40:06.200
but isn\'t it interesting
that I was able to

00:40:06.200 --> 00:40:07.760
compartmentalize it
and be like, \"What?

00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:09.720
She doesn\'t have a problem,\"
because it\'s so ingrained in me

00:40:09.720 --> 00:40:12.000
that that\'s a part of me
that I\'m gonna go into a store

00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:14.000
and someone\'s
gonna be horrible to me

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:15.520
or somebody white\'s gonna say
something terrible.

00:40:15.520 --> 00:40:17.920
- Why are you doing this
to me, Laura?

00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:19.520
n- Because I don\'t like Negroids.

00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:23.800
- To this day,
people come up to me

00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:25.200
and tell me how much it meant.

00:40:25.200 --> 00:40:28.680
I was getting off a train,
this little girl was getting on and she would,

00:40:28.680 --> 00:40:32.480
\"Yo... yo.. you were
in the Crafts movie!\" And I realized,
\"Oh! Oh, oh!\"

00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:35.080
I wasn\'t even thinking
that like I\'m now in a movie,

00:40:35.080 --> 00:40:38.320
so these girls don\'t have to
go through what I did

00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:40.400
which was, you know,
watching \"Pretty in Pink\"

00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:42.520
and going, \"There\'s no one
who looks like me,

00:40:42.520 --> 00:40:44.040
or acts like me,
or sounds like me.\"

00:40:44.040 --> 00:40:46.480
I am going to be that
for these girls.

00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:48.920
- I drink of my sisters

00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:51.240
and I ask for the ability
to not hate those who hate me,

00:40:51.240 --> 00:40:55.880
especially racist pieces
of bleach blonde shit

00:40:55.880 --> 00:40:59.280
like Laura Lizzie.

00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:00.720
- I think what Rochelle did
was she gave us...

00:41:00.720 --> 00:41:03.880
she gave us a way to kind of
talk about our own experiences

00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:06.240
and be comfortable with them

00:41:06.240 --> 00:41:10.840
because a lot of us were
in like all-white spaces. - I live in a white world.

00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:14.240
I mean, most of the time,
all I\'m around is white people. A lot of times,
when you\'re living in the world,

00:41:14.240 --> 00:41:16.080
so you don\'t think of it being,
\"Oh, I\'m a token,\"

00:41:16.080 --> 00:41:18.600
or anything like that.

00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:22.640
You\'re just thinking, \"Oh,
I finally got a position in this and it\'ll bring me
other positions,\"

00:41:22.640 --> 00:41:24.600
so I think you think positively
about what you\'re doing.

00:41:24.600 --> 00:41:29.280
KEN SAGOES: It didn\'t
really matter to me

00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:30.680
because we were working.

00:41:30.680 --> 00:41:35.040
I was so happy that I had
a check but, on the set, it was absolute...
I was the only black there.

00:41:35.040 --> 00:41:37.520
And I think minorities
all over the world

00:41:37.520 --> 00:41:40.040
felt that Kincaid
was their hero.

00:41:40.040 --> 00:41:42.120
Let\'s go kick
the motherfucker\'s ass

00:41:42.120 --> 00:41:43.360
all over dreamland.

00:41:43.360 --> 00:41:45.320
RICHARD LAWSON:
Every script that I read

00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:47.200
and the leading man,

00:41:47.200 --> 00:41:48.240
that was my part!

00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:50.920
That\'s the part
I shoulda played!

00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:52.320
But I understood where it was.

00:41:52.320 --> 00:41:54.360
There was no resentment.

00:41:54.360 --> 00:41:55.400
It was like, \"In due time.\"

00:41:55.400 --> 00:41:58.600
- Perhaps the quintessential,

00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:01.440
although it pains me to say,
token character,

00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:04.160
is Scatman Crothers
in \"The Shining\".

00:42:04.160 --> 00:42:06.760
- No problem, Mr. Urban,

00:42:06.760 --> 00:42:08.120
I was just getting
to the ice cream.

00:42:08.120 --> 00:42:10.520
- It pains me to say it because
he\'s a terrific performer.

00:42:10.520 --> 00:42:14.480
[♪♪♪]

00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:17.040
TANANARIVE DUE: The character
played by Scatman Crothers

00:42:17.040 --> 00:42:19.560
who is a psychic in the book
survives, but in the film,

00:42:19.560 --> 00:42:23.800
to set up a danger
for the important characters,

00:42:23.800 --> 00:42:27.120
meaning the child and the wife,

00:42:27.120 --> 00:42:29.680
Scatman Crothers
got an axe to his chest

00:42:29.680 --> 00:42:32.080
the minute the brother
walked through the door.

00:42:32.080 --> 00:42:34.040
- [manic shouting]

00:42:34.040 --> 00:42:35.720
[screaming]

00:42:35.720 --> 00:42:37.440
- Always bothered me
\'cause I was always thinking,

00:42:39.320 --> 00:42:40.720
\"Oh, if he\'s shinin\', how come

00:42:40.720 --> 00:42:43.120
he didn\'t see it coming?\"
- He should see that.

00:42:43.120 --> 00:42:44.720
- He shoulda ducked that axe.

00:42:44.720 --> 00:42:46.080
- At the time, I mean,

00:42:46.080 --> 00:42:48.000
I thought it was
an unusual choice

00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:49.800
because I knew it hadn\'t
happened that way in the novel.

00:42:49.800 --> 00:42:52.240
I didn\'t understand
that I was seeing a trope called

00:42:52.240 --> 00:42:54.240
the sacrificial Negro.

00:42:54.240 --> 00:42:55.760
- The sacrificial Negro

00:42:55.760 --> 00:42:57.160
is just the character
who literally just like

00:42:57.160 --> 00:42:59.760
puts themselves
in the face of danger

00:42:59.760 --> 00:43:01.880
and dies in order for
the white character to survive.

00:43:01.880 --> 00:43:05.760
- In the first \"Annabelle\",

00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:07.640
poor Alfre Woodard
has no investment in the film

00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:10.560
other than helping
the white characters...

00:43:10.560 --> 00:43:12.400
- No, no!
- [screams]

00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:15.120
TANANARIVE DUE: And I was like,
\"That\'s a little retro,\"

00:43:15.120 --> 00:43:16.720
because you don\'t see
that so much anymore.

00:43:16.720 --> 00:43:19.480
- It was literally
Alfre Woodard saying,

00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:21.680
\"Oh, I have lived my entire life
just to save you.\"

00:43:21.680 --> 00:43:24.720
And it\'s just like,

00:43:24.720 --> 00:43:26.680
[laughs] \"Oh, my God,
that drove me nuts!\"

00:43:26.680 --> 00:43:29.800
- I\'m over that.

00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:30.920
I\'ve seen that
in almost every movie

00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:32.480
I grew up with as a child
where, you know,

00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:34.800
the desexualized
black woman mammy figure

00:43:35.640 --> 00:43:40.720
gives her life so that
the little white girl can live.

00:43:40.720 --> 00:43:45.120
That\'s noble, I guess,
but I just feel like,

00:43:45.120 --> 00:43:48.520
Why can\'t everybody live?
Or everybody die?

00:43:48.520 --> 00:43:51.640
- I think it really
honestly goes back

00:43:51.640 --> 00:43:53.800
to that era of
the \"Birth of a Nation\"

00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:56.720
where you have
the faithful servant trope.

00:43:56.720 --> 00:43:59.080
That faithful servant trope
is a really important image

00:43:59.080 --> 00:44:03.840
for a lot of races
because it shows them

00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:07.920
that slavery and Jim Crow
weren\'t so bad!

00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:11.280
Sometimes those
secondary characters

00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:12.840
are just gonna have to die
because if they don\'t,

00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:15.120
the audience won\'t believe

00:44:15.120 --> 00:44:19.200
something scary is about to
happen to the real characters who are not
the black characters,

00:44:19.200 --> 00:44:21.040
which is what I think
gives birth to this other

00:44:21.040 --> 00:44:24.120
horrible trope
which is the magical Negro.

00:44:24.120 --> 00:44:26.280
- Molly, you in danger, girl.

00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:29.080
- They have super wisdom

00:44:29.080 --> 00:44:30.800
that helps like these
white characters kind of thrive.

00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:33.560
- It\'s one of those boxes
that black people get put in,

00:44:33.560 --> 00:44:35.800
the sort Uncle Remus thing,

00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:38.080
where we\'re somehow afforded
some mystical wisdom.

00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:43.160
- Alex,
your friend\'s departure shows

00:44:43.160 --> 00:44:46.680
that death has a new design
for all of you.

00:44:46.680 --> 00:44:50.360
- Then you have the other side
of a terrible coin

00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:53.040
which is invisibility.

00:44:53.040 --> 00:44:54.840
- I remember being
when I was younger...

00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:56.280
- Yeah.
- Like around that age,

00:44:56.280 --> 00:45:00.000
like seven to eight grade and
like discovering scary movies like, \"You know what,
I\'m not gonna die

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:03.160
\'cause I\'m not even in this.\"
- [laughs]

00:45:03.160 --> 00:45:05.120
MONICA SURIYAGE: It\'s like
all my friends at the sleepover

00:45:05.120 --> 00:45:06.680
should be scared
\'cause they\'re all white

00:45:06.680 --> 00:45:08.480
and no one\'s coming for the man
who looks like me!

00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:10.720
- No one\'s coming for us.
Exactly.

00:45:10.720 --> 00:45:12.200
- \'Cause I\'m not even in it!

00:45:12.200 --> 00:45:13.480
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
It\'s the Reagan era

00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:17.160
and black people
become the face

00:45:17.160 --> 00:45:20.360
of what is bringing
this country down.

00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:22.920
The nation is led to believe

00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:25.000
that their good,
hard tax dollars

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:28.200
are being put
into these young women

00:45:28.200 --> 00:45:31.240
who are having babies
and collecting welfare checks

00:45:31.240 --> 00:45:34.720
and it\'s a propaganda message

00:45:34.720 --> 00:45:36.840
that really encourages
the nation

00:45:36.840 --> 00:45:40.320
to turn its back
on social programs.

00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:43.240
Black people become monstrous
in a real way in the political.

00:45:43.240 --> 00:45:48.440
NEWS ANCHOR: Horton fled,
kidnapped a young couple,

00:45:48.440 --> 00:45:50.440
Nstabbing the man and repeatedly
raping his girlfriend.

00:45:50.440 --> 00:45:53.760
- On the big screen then,

00:45:53.760 --> 00:45:56.480
what is encouraged
is that white, fleety urban.

00:45:56.760 --> 00:46:01.720
\"A Nightmare on Elm Street\",
\"Amityville Horror\",

00:46:01.720 --> 00:46:05.560
\"Halloween\",
all have pushed us out

00:46:05.560 --> 00:46:08.200
into the suburban,
away from the urban,

00:46:08.200 --> 00:46:10.800
and so we have to imagine
new monsters.

00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:13.080
- [growling]

00:46:13.080 --> 00:46:14.480
- Take a movie like
\"Poltergeist\",

00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:16.600
\"Our homes are built
on Indian burial grounds

00:46:16.600 --> 00:46:19.760
and somehow it\'s radiating up
and affecting us in awful ways

00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:24.240
not because
we\'re inherently evil

00:46:24.240 --> 00:46:26.520
but because
black and brown people

00:46:26.520 --> 00:46:28.920
were still the source of evil.\"

00:46:28.920 --> 00:46:31.520
- One horror film
with a lot of black faces in it

00:46:31.520 --> 00:46:33.360
that stands out
from the 1980s is

00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:35.560
directed by Wes Craven,

00:46:35.560 --> 00:46:37.640
and Wes Craven, I would say,
was one of those filmmakers

00:46:38.920 --> 00:46:42.240
who really did try to be
inclusive in his films.

00:46:42.240 --> 00:46:44.800
He also did \"Vampire Brooklyn\"

00:46:44.800 --> 00:46:46.280
and he did
\"The People Under the Stairs\".

00:46:46.280 --> 00:46:49.120
KELLY JO MINTER:
\"The People Under the Stairs\"

00:46:49.120 --> 00:46:50.920
you had a young black kid

00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:53.640
leading a major film
for Universal.

00:46:53.640 --> 00:46:57.240
It was ahead of its time.

00:46:57.240 --> 00:46:59.000
- I remember seeing it
on the VHS and I\'m being like,

00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:02.520
\"This movie has a black
child actor as the lead?

00:47:02.520 --> 00:47:06.400
What\'s going on here?\"

00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:08.080
- I don\'t wanna kill you

00:47:08.080 --> 00:47:10.240
but I will \'cause
I don\'t like you much, anyway.

00:47:10.240 --> 00:47:13.320
- One of the things
that movie really captures is,

00:47:13.320 --> 00:47:16.200
you know, black fear
of white spaces, you know,

00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:20.120
this thing we\'re talking about.

00:47:20.120 --> 00:47:21.760
And this particular white space,
you know, this is stereotypical

00:47:21.760 --> 00:47:25.200
but like, you know, this idea
of like sadomasochism

00:47:25.200 --> 00:47:28.800
and leather
like psychosexual shit,

00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:32.320
like this torturing stuff.

00:47:32.320 --> 00:47:35.200
It all seemed
very white, you know?

00:47:35.200 --> 00:47:38.240
- There\'s no community here.

00:47:38.240 --> 00:47:40.280
All I see you
are a couple of n...

00:47:41.800 --> 00:47:45.320
[indistinct] ass bitch.
You can.

00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:47.440
- What are you gonna do?

00:47:49.120 --> 00:47:51.120
Shoot us all?

00:47:51.120 --> 00:47:52.160
- They had Roach in there,

00:47:52.160 --> 00:47:54.520
in the walls, as a victim,
and that, I think,

00:47:54.520 --> 00:47:58.440
was the most powerful

00:47:58.440 --> 00:48:01.040
and terrifying part
about that movie.

00:48:01.040 --> 00:48:03.920
You look at \"Get Out\",

00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:06.720
it\'s clear that my deepest,
deepest fears

00:48:06.720 --> 00:48:10.200
come to this idea
of confinement.

00:48:10.200 --> 00:48:12.240
- And then we get
this beautiful renaissance

00:48:12.240 --> 00:48:15.080
called the \'90s.

00:48:15.080 --> 00:48:16.480
- I actually am not afraid
to say Candyman.

00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:19.520
- Candyman.

00:48:19.520 --> 00:48:20.520
- Candyman.

00:48:20.520 --> 00:48:21.680
- Candyman.

00:48:21.680 --> 00:48:22.680
- Candyman!

00:48:22.680 --> 00:48:24.160
- [girl shouting]
No, no.

00:48:24.160 --> 00:48:27.000
- I\'m a really hard person
to scare

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:29.280
and \"Candyman\" was like

00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:31.520
one of the first things
in a while that got me.

00:48:31.520 --> 00:48:34.520
- That really got to you?

00:48:34.520 --> 00:48:38.720
- Yeah, I mean,
that shot with the open mouth inside the vacated apartment.

00:48:38.720 --> 00:48:42.240
- I guess we kinda knew
that we had something

00:48:42.240 --> 00:48:44.280
but we didn\'t know what.

00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:46.360
We had Tony Richmond,
was our DP,

00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:48.120
who did
\"The Man Who Fell to Earth\",

00:48:48.120 --> 00:48:49.880
we had Philip Glass

00:48:49.880 --> 00:48:51.400
whose incredible score
kicked off the film,

00:48:51.400 --> 00:48:54.080
we had the beautiful city
of Chicago as our backdrop,

00:48:54.080 --> 00:48:58.160
and we had a interracial
conflict.

00:48:58.160 --> 00:49:01.200
TANANARIVE DUE: Tony Todd
is such a powerful actor

00:49:02.440 --> 00:49:06.520
and brings such gravitas
to that role.

00:49:06.520 --> 00:49:09.280
- Be my victim.

00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:11.680
- Candyman is Tony Todd,

00:49:11.680 --> 00:49:13.360
and Tony Todd is Candyman,
for a lot of us.

00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:15.840
- Out of the blue, I get
a call from my manager

00:49:15.840 --> 00:49:17.800
at the time, saying
there\'s a script on their table,

00:49:17.800 --> 00:49:20.920
it\'s called \"Candyman\"
and I kinda...

00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:24.560
in my cockiness, I hung up
the phone because I said,

00:49:24.560 --> 00:49:28.640
\"What are we talking about?

00:49:28.640 --> 00:49:33.040
Is this Sami Davis, Jr.\'s story
we doin\'? I\'m way too tall.\"

00:49:33.040 --> 00:49:34.000
- Do I know you?

00:49:35.560 --> 00:49:37.600
- No, but you doubted me.

00:49:37.600 --> 00:49:40.840
- Tony\'s got a great
screen presence.

00:49:40.840 --> 00:49:42.920
- He does.
- Candyman\" was, you know,

00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:44.680
it was obviously unique

00:49:44.680 --> 00:49:46.480
because that was the first
black supernatural killer.

00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:49.160
I loved Clive Barker,
and Candyman being

00:49:50.680 --> 00:49:54.160
sort of like the patron saint
of urban legends.

00:49:54.160 --> 00:49:57.560
You know, I thought that was
just such a beautiful invention,

00:49:58.360 --> 00:50:02.720
such a beautiful monster.

00:50:02.720 --> 00:50:04.320
- Candyman
is not a bogeyman.

00:50:04.320 --> 00:50:05.720
He was an artist who was
happily doing his thing.

00:50:05.720 --> 00:50:09.880
He happened to fall in love with
a woman that wasn\'t his race

00:50:09.880 --> 00:50:13.040
and he was lynched
because of it,

00:50:13.040 --> 00:50:14.640
and not only that,
they cut off his art hand.

00:50:14.640 --> 00:50:18.040
TANANARIVE DUE: Bernard Rose
directed \"Candyman\"

00:50:18.040 --> 00:50:21.360
based on a short story
set in the UK by Clive Barker.

00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:25.320
They changed the original story

00:50:25.320 --> 00:50:27.440
from sort of
a class conversation

00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:30.480
to one that is rooted
in American racial history.

00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:34.360
- It dealt with
the social things.

00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:36.560
You have this white woman,
you got this black guy,

00:50:36.560 --> 00:50:39.320
you got this backstory
about this black guy

00:50:39.320 --> 00:50:41.400
and this white woman
and kind of, you know,

00:50:41.400 --> 00:50:45.040
how he is attacked
because of this relationship.

00:50:45.040 --> 00:50:49.240
- It was a very terrifying film,

00:50:49.240 --> 00:50:51.400
a film that I loved
but a film that, you know,

00:50:51.400 --> 00:50:54.600
is kind of problematic.

00:50:54.600 --> 00:50:59.480
CANDYMAN: We shall die together
in front of their very eyes. ASHLEE BLACKWELL: Here again,
we have a movie

00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:01.120
that echoes what happened
in \"King Kong\" in the \'30s.

00:51:01.120 --> 00:51:04.120
There is this black bogeyman

00:51:04.120 --> 00:51:06.080
and he\'s in pursuit
of this blonde white woman.

00:51:06.080 --> 00:51:09.440
- He becomes obsessed,

00:51:09.440 --> 00:51:11.240
recirculating the same tropes.

00:51:11.240 --> 00:51:14.080
- I don\'t think that character

00:51:14.080 --> 00:51:15.920
would go after
poor black people.

00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:18.440
- Right.
- This is where you can tell

00:51:18.440 --> 00:51:20.000
that \"Candyman\" came
from the mind of a white person.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:22.720
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN:
He chooses to haunt,

00:51:22.720 --> 00:51:24.680
to disrupt the lives
of blacks in Chicago

00:51:24.680 --> 00:51:28.240
in the Cabrini-Green Projects.

00:51:28.240 --> 00:51:30.520
When really,
right across the tracks,

00:51:30.520 --> 00:51:32.520
are essentially
the representatives,

00:51:32.520 --> 00:51:34.840
the sort of, the folks
who would have been responsible,

00:51:34.840 --> 00:51:38.000
their ancestors,
for his lynching.

00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:40.280
- He is a personification
of racism in the United States,

00:51:40.280 --> 00:51:42.640
like what it looks like
and what it can conjure,

00:51:42.640 --> 00:51:44.560
like all that negative energy,

00:51:44.560 --> 00:51:46.040
like what does it look like,
and what does it do?

00:51:46.040 --> 00:51:47.680
- Keep away from me!

00:51:47.680 --> 00:51:49.240
TONY TODD:
For me, it\'s a character.

00:51:49.240 --> 00:51:50.600
I don\'t live and breathe
and die by it.

00:51:50.600 --> 00:51:53.040
I\'m happy
that I was able to do him

00:51:53.040 --> 00:51:55.560
and hopefully I did him right.

00:51:55.560 --> 00:51:58.600
- It was very empowering to me

00:51:58.600 --> 00:52:01.280
to feel like we could... like
black people can do anything.

00:52:01.280 --> 00:52:04.840
We\'re not in this box.

00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:06.480
We can be the Freddie
of a movie.

00:52:06.480 --> 00:52:09.000
- [screams] No!

00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:11.480
- I remember
Vondie Curtis-Hall

00:52:11.480 --> 00:52:13.720
who was married to Kasi Lemmons
who was in the film.

00:52:13.720 --> 00:52:18.360
In the original screening,
he shook his head, he says,

00:52:18.360 --> 00:52:21.320
\"Man, you realize,\"
and I said, \"What?\"

00:52:21.320 --> 00:52:25.800
\"You gonna be Candyman forever.\"

00:52:25.800 --> 00:52:28.640
ANNOUNCER: Candyman,
Day of the Dead.

00:52:28.640 --> 00:52:31.000
- Unfortunately,
I think the sequels

00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:32.520
kind of get overlooked.

00:52:32.520 --> 00:52:34.040
It gives Candyman
a sympathetic backstory.

00:52:34.040 --> 00:52:36.680
He is the spirit that\'s conjured
from the history of racism

00:52:36.680 --> 00:52:40.360
and white supremacy
in the United States.

00:52:40.360 --> 00:52:43.120
- [screaming]

00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:45.720
- I feel like the sequel

00:52:48.280 --> 00:52:49.360
helps you understand
the original

00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:50.680
a little bit better maybe.

00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:57.040
TANANARIVE DUE:
The \'90s were a renaissance

00:52:57.040 --> 00:52:58.360
not just in film,
I want to point out,

00:52:58.360 --> 00:53:00.600
but also in literature.

00:53:00.600 --> 00:53:05.120
This is the era that Spike Lee
helped give birth to. Spike Lee was like
the Terry McMillan in film

00:53:05.120 --> 00:53:08.800
as what Terry McMillan
was doing in publishing.

00:53:08.800 --> 00:53:11.400
You know, black people
are going to see movies.

00:53:11.400 --> 00:53:13.880
MARK H. HARRIS: There was
a push for black filmmaking

00:53:13.880 --> 00:53:16.080
started by like Spike Like
and John Singleton

00:53:16.080 --> 00:53:18.200
and people like that,

00:53:18.200 --> 00:53:19.800
and I think it was kind of
a response to the \'80s

00:53:19.800 --> 00:53:24.680
where black people were
kind of marginalized.

00:53:24.680 --> 00:53:28.200
- In the early 1990s,

00:53:28.200 --> 00:53:29.800
you kind of saw like
a lot of black filmmakers

00:53:29.800 --> 00:53:31.920
kind of come into the fold
and not just make comedies

00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:34.480
and dramatic films
but also horror films,

00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:36.520
and I think
what they were doing

00:53:36.520 --> 00:53:37.680
with the horror films
at the time,

00:53:37.680 --> 00:53:40.880
they were making movies
that were kind of socially conscious
and more directly in tune

00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:43.440
with what was going on
in the outside world.

00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:45.680
- What you saw today,
young brother,

00:53:45.680 --> 00:53:47.480
were victims of economics,

00:53:47.480 --> 00:53:50.080
environment Reganomics.

00:53:51.400 --> 00:53:55.040
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
Joel as the main character,

00:53:55.040 --> 00:53:56.600
this up-and-coming
and soon to be minister.

00:53:56.600 --> 00:53:58.760
He goes and visits his cousin
that lives in New York City.

00:53:58.760 --> 00:54:01.760
It really centers around
Joel and his crisis of faith.

00:54:01.760 --> 00:54:04.440
\"Do I stick with
kind of like my Bible

00:54:04.440 --> 00:54:06.880
and Christian fundamentalism,

00:54:06.880 --> 00:54:08.640
or do I kind of stray a little
and have a little fun?\"

00:54:08.640 --> 00:54:11.480
- No, I wouldn\'t.
Fornication is a sin.

00:54:11.480 --> 00:54:15.280
- It gets even more
extreme than that

00:54:15.280 --> 00:54:16.600
because his, literally,

00:54:16.600 --> 00:54:20.520
his soul is at stake
with a demon who is like looking to immediately
kind of eradicate him.

00:54:20.520 --> 00:54:22.680
- [laughs]

00:54:22.680 --> 00:54:24.200
- It is super biblical,
now that I think about it,

00:54:24.200 --> 00:54:26.480
\'cause she\'s basically
the parallel of the devil.

00:54:26.480 --> 00:54:28.560
- [screams] No!

00:54:28.560 --> 00:54:29.880
- \"Def by Temptation\"

00:54:29.880 --> 00:54:31.560
is all about that battle
between good and evil.

00:54:31.560 --> 00:54:35.080
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN: So,
this is also a morality tale.

00:54:35.080 --> 00:54:37.360
These are the lessons
that mirror so closely

00:54:37.360 --> 00:54:40.240
to what Michaeux
and Spencer Williams

00:54:40.240 --> 00:54:43.280
were offering up
in earlier decades.

00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:46.440
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
I love that connection

00:54:46.440 --> 00:54:47.400
that \"Def by Temptation\"

00:54:47.400 --> 00:54:51.000
has with those older films
from the 1940s. It was unique for the time
because you weren\'t seeing

00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:53.240
a lot of black horror films
made in 1990, if any.

00:54:53.240 --> 00:54:56.360
That\'s what makes it
a real landmark.

00:54:56.360 --> 00:54:57.880
[♪♪♪]

00:54:59.280 --> 00:55:00.640
I feel like
\"Tales from the Hood\"

00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:09.040
did more to kind of cement
black horror for the \'90s. - Welcome to hell!

00:55:09.840 --> 00:55:13.120
- \"Tales from the Hood\"
was groundbreaking.

00:55:14.720 --> 00:55:16.480
- Oh, the shit!
[laughs]

00:55:16.480 --> 00:55:19.000
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
\"Tales from the Hood\"

00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:19.920
was this anthology horror film.

00:55:19.920 --> 00:55:23.880
There\'s four short stories
with one wraparound story.- My dad used to drag me
to march after march

00:55:23.880 --> 00:55:27.200
if it had black, colored,
or Negro in the title,

00:55:27.200 --> 00:55:29.480
he was a member.

00:55:29.480 --> 00:55:31.040
So, when I, you know,
started to look at horror

00:55:31.040 --> 00:55:35.680
as something to do myself,
I\'m like,

00:55:35.680 --> 00:55:38.800
Well, I gotta have
something in there to...

00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:43.280
we gotta do,
we gotta mix it up.

00:55:43.280 --> 00:55:45.040
Not just have horror
for horror\'s sake.

00:55:45.040 --> 00:55:46.920
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
It deals with spousal abuse

00:55:46.920 --> 00:55:48.480
and then child abuse
in the home.

00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:50.600
It deals with gang violence.

00:55:50.600 --> 00:55:52.040
It deals with
racist politicians.

00:55:52.040 --> 00:55:54.200
- Can\'t we all
just get along?

00:55:54.200 --> 00:55:57.800
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
It deals with police brutality.

00:55:57.800 --> 00:55:59.360
So, all of these things
kind of intertwine

00:55:59.360 --> 00:56:01.920
and create this kind of
supernatural tale

00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:04.240
about revenge and retribution.

00:56:04.240 --> 00:56:07.040
- [screaming]

00:56:07.040 --> 00:56:09.560
MARK H. HARRIS: It deals with
a lot of different things.

00:56:09.560 --> 00:56:12.160
The anthology format is actually
really good in terms of

00:56:12.160 --> 00:56:15.600
you can address a lot of
different issues

00:56:15.600 --> 00:56:17.280
with short stories.

00:56:17.280 --> 00:56:18.880
- You have
a racist politician.

00:56:18.880 --> 00:56:21.280
ANNOUNCER:
An original American.

00:56:21.280 --> 00:56:23.240
Isn\'t it about time?

00:56:23.240 --> 00:56:24.640
- That\'s great.
I\'d even vote for me!

00:56:25.920 --> 00:56:28.800
- Is it really that
farfetched

00:56:28.800 --> 00:56:33.080
that someone would have that
as a campaign slogan today?- I always tell my kids,

00:56:33.080 --> 00:56:39.680
I\'m like, you know,
people in grave... the dead people and the spirits
are not gonna mess with you. It\'s livin\'...

00:56:39.680 --> 00:56:41.560
- It\'s living people
you gotta worry about, yeah.

00:56:41.560 --> 00:56:43.040
- Yes, that\'s what
we gotta worry about.

00:56:43.040 --> 00:56:44.320
[scary music]

00:56:47.880 --> 00:56:53.080
That\'s how we kinda twisted
when we started to do \"Tales\",

00:56:53.080 --> 00:56:57.000
we gotta turn the tables
and make the horror redemptive.

00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:00.520
- [screaming] No!

00:57:03.760 --> 00:57:08.240
- This movie is kind of like

00:57:08.240 --> 00:57:12.680
helping us see justice happening
when we\'re not seeing it happenoutside of a movie screen
or a movie theatre.

00:57:12.680 --> 00:57:15.800
There\'s cops being acquitted
and there\'s LA riots

00:57:15.800 --> 00:57:18.160
and it just seems like
things are so hopeless

00:57:18.160 --> 00:57:19.840
but then you kind of like
exercise retribution

00:57:19.840 --> 00:57:23.000
in a horror film for,
you know, for justice,

00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:25.680
for racial justice,
and I think that\'s super dope.

00:57:25.680 --> 00:57:27.880
- You tackled, you know,
subjects that are horrific.

00:57:29.160 --> 00:57:33.360
- Right. Right.

00:57:33.360 --> 00:57:34.560
- We\'re running around

00:57:34.560 --> 00:57:35.600
looking for
ghosts and vampires

00:57:35.600 --> 00:57:38.400
when the vampire is,
you\'re married to him.

00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:41.160
- You\'re married to him.
Exactly.

00:57:41.160 --> 00:57:45.160
- You know,
he\'s sucking you dry, you know, and beating you,

00:57:45.160 --> 00:57:47.040
and also hurting
and destroying your child.

00:57:47.040 --> 00:57:51.240
That, and I was so young,
I learned a lot on that set.

00:57:52.720 --> 00:57:56.840
- [groans]

00:57:56.840 --> 00:57:59.000
[screams]

00:57:59.000 --> 00:58:00.440
- I always liked
David Alan Grier as a comedian--

00:58:00.440 --> 00:58:02.560
- Yeah.

00:58:02.560 --> 00:58:07.480
- --but realizing
what he could do as an actor. That really, that really...

00:58:07.480 --> 00:58:09.520
and then I found out
that he was Shakespearian...

00:58:09.520 --> 00:58:11.680
- Shakespearian trained.
- Shakespearian trained.

00:58:11.680 --> 00:58:13.600
- Yeah, I, you know,
I used to do standup,

00:58:13.600 --> 00:58:16.720
so I kinda knew David
from the comedic thing

00:58:16.720 --> 00:58:19.040
but I also knew that he had
this Shakespearian background,

00:58:19.040 --> 00:58:22.480
and when I was thinking of
who to play that part,

00:58:23.400 --> 00:58:27.880
I purposefully wanted someone

00:58:27.880 --> 00:58:30.800
that everyone looked at
as a nice guy.

00:58:30.800 --> 00:58:34.520
There was an interesting thing
that happened

00:58:34.520 --> 00:58:36.600
when we screened that episode.

00:58:36.600 --> 00:58:39.000
- I\'m gonna teach you
and that boy some respect.

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:41.680
RUSTY CUNDIEFF:
When David Allen Grier

00:58:41.680 --> 00:58:43.200
was first hitting Paula,
these kids were laughing.

00:58:43.200 --> 00:58:46.640
- Wow.
- And you know what happens,

00:58:46.640 --> 00:58:49.640
particularly I think
as a black teenager,

00:58:49.640 --> 00:58:51.600
as someone that
goes through the world,

00:58:51.600 --> 00:58:53.240
you\'re always on the lookout

00:58:53.240 --> 00:58:55.360
for how something
is gonna mess with you.

00:58:55.360 --> 00:58:57.600
You\'re not trying to
show your vulnerability.

00:58:57.600 --> 00:59:01.720
- Right.

00:59:01.720 --> 00:59:02.840
- And the easiest way
to do that is to

00:59:02.840 --> 00:59:04.600
- Laugh it off. Yeah.
- laugh at something.

00:59:04.600 --> 00:59:06.120
And laugh at something.

00:59:06.120 --> 00:59:07.360
- [groaning]

00:59:07.360 --> 00:59:08.840
- As the beating went on,

00:59:08.840 --> 00:59:10.440
it got quieter and quieter
and quieter

00:59:10.440 --> 00:59:13.160
until it felt like
they were about to cry.

00:59:13.160 --> 00:59:15.760
- When I rewatch this film,

00:59:15.760 --> 00:59:17.840
it really stands
head and shoulders above

00:59:17.840 --> 00:59:21.040
a lot of black horror
up to that point

00:59:21.040 --> 00:59:23.400
because in those four segments,
what Rusty Cundieff is doing

00:59:23.400 --> 00:59:27.480
is using that metaphor
to tell stories

00:59:27.480 --> 00:59:30.440
that were about
real-life problems

00:59:30.440 --> 00:59:32.560
facing the black communities.

00:59:32.560 --> 00:59:34.160
- It kind of became more kind of

00:59:34.160 --> 00:59:35.440
a genre classic or something
that, you know,

00:59:35.440 --> 00:59:38.000
the black community kind of
like talked about

00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:39.840
and it was kind of
a word of mouth thing

00:59:39.840 --> 00:59:42.040
but maybe it is because of
\"Get Out\" that it got

00:59:42.040 --> 00:59:44.680
this kind of resurgence
and then got a sequel.

00:59:44.680 --> 00:59:47.200
- This shit
ain\'t over yet, bitch!

00:59:47.200 --> 00:59:49.920
- \"Tales from the Hood 2\",

00:59:49.920 --> 00:59:52.680
you know, Darren and I
have been trying

00:59:52.680 --> 00:59:54.240
to get this thing made forever.

00:59:54.240 --> 00:59:56.280
- I think it\'s gonna be
quite amazing!

00:59:56.280 --> 00:59:59.800
RUSTY CUNDIEFF:
We\'re back to telling [laughs]

00:59:59.800 --> 01:00:01.520
...back to telling stories

01:00:01.520 --> 01:00:03.080
that hopefully deal with
some issues that people have.

01:00:03.080 --> 01:00:06.720
This one I think is,

01:00:06.720 --> 01:00:08.040
there\'s some stuff
that\'s a little headier.

01:00:08.040 --> 01:00:10.520
It\'s a different
kind of \"Tales\" story,

01:00:10.520 --> 01:00:13.120
touches people
in a different way,

01:00:13.120 --> 01:00:15.440
though it is scary.

01:00:15.440 --> 01:00:16.760
- [screaming]

01:00:16.760 --> 01:00:20.160
[♪♪♪]

01:00:20.640 --> 01:00:22.920
- You start to see more women
on screen in the 1990s.

01:00:25.720 --> 01:00:28.560
TANANARIVE DUE:
\"Eve\'s Bayou\", Kasi Lemmons,

01:00:28.560 --> 01:00:30.280
which is one of my favorite.

01:00:30.280 --> 01:00:31.760
Some people
don\'t consider it horror

01:00:31.760 --> 01:00:33.280
but I do because it\'s just,

01:00:33.280 --> 01:00:36.440
really, it\'s one of those great
interchanges of human horror

01:00:36.440 --> 01:00:39.880
and hints of the supernatural.

01:00:39.880 --> 01:00:42.720
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
During the time,

01:00:42.720 --> 01:00:46.160
it was still super rare to see
black women be directors, so Kasi Lemmons
really pushing to direct

01:00:46.160 --> 01:00:48.240
was really groundbreaking
and really important.

01:00:48.240 --> 01:00:51.760
TANANARIVE DUE: It has that
beautiful cinematography.

01:00:51.760 --> 01:00:54.520
The whole thing
is like a poem, really,

01:00:54.520 --> 01:00:55.920
it\'s just so beautiful.

01:00:55.920 --> 01:01:00.720
The script by Kasi Lemmons
is just fantastic. I\'ve taught it in my black
horror class at UCLA

01:01:00.720 --> 01:01:03.200
and when I teach it,

01:01:03.200 --> 01:01:06.920
I like to tweet out lines
from the script.It\'s just so beautifully
written.

01:01:06.920 --> 01:01:08.720
- That opening scene
and the first thing you hear...

01:01:08.720 --> 01:01:12.400
EVE BATISTE: The summer
I killed my father,

01:01:12.400 --> 01:01:13.760
I was ten years old.

01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:15.360
RUSTY CUNDIEFF:
...it\'s just brilliant,

01:01:15.360 --> 01:01:16.880
and it was a different
kind of scary movie.

01:01:16.880 --> 01:01:20.080
- Bad girl.

01:01:20.080 --> 01:01:22.000
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: It\'s a movie
about what memory means

01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:24.000
in the eyes of
a black young girl

01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:25.480
and how she tries to help
keep her family together

01:01:25.480 --> 01:01:29.680
and also kind of heal any wounds
that are kind of lingering

01:01:29.680 --> 01:01:33.920
within, her father\'s,
you know, infidelity,

01:01:33.920 --> 01:01:36.920
and also maybe that kind of
like touchy subject of,

01:01:36.920 --> 01:01:39.920
\"Is he being inappropriate
with one of his daughters?\"

01:01:39.920 --> 01:01:42.200
- That Debbi Morgan character,

01:01:43.320 --> 01:01:44.840
you feel so...
so much strength from her.

01:01:46.320 --> 01:01:49.000
But you feel so much pain
because of what she\'s lost.

01:01:51.400 --> 01:01:55.120
- Sometimes I feel like
I\'ve lost so much,

01:01:55.120 --> 01:01:57.520
I have to find new things
to lose.

01:01:57.520 --> 01:02:00.800
TANANARIVE DUE: Magic steps in
to sort of take the place

01:02:00.800 --> 01:02:03.440
of those harder questions

01:02:03.440 --> 01:02:05.200
about what\'s really
happening in that house.

01:02:05.200 --> 01:02:07.480
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: I think
what Kasi Lemmons does

01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:08.880
and what she
kind of inspired

01:02:08.880 --> 01:02:13.360
for a lot of the black women
horror filmmakers that I talk to is we do have a story to tell
and don\'t be afraid

01:02:13.360 --> 01:02:17.680
to kind of like, you know,
\"Oh, because a studio exec

01:02:17.680 --> 01:02:21.040
or higher ups may not like
seeing an all-black cast

01:02:21.040 --> 01:02:23.920
or a film centered around
black women,

01:02:23.920 --> 01:02:26.560
then I can\'t do this.\"

01:02:26.560 --> 01:02:29.440
And I think what
Kasi Lemmons\' film did,she says,
\"No, we can do this,\"

01:02:29.440 --> 01:02:30.920
and to not be afraid
of any pushback,

01:02:30.920 --> 01:02:33.240
to keep pushing
for your story, your voice,

01:02:33.240 --> 01:02:35.600
which she did for a generation
is tell them

01:02:35.600 --> 01:02:37.160
that their voice
really does matter.

01:02:37.560 --> 01:02:39.000
- Horrible, isn\'t it?

01:02:42.880 --> 01:02:45.000
- There\'s Billy
and there\'s Jada.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:46.360
- Billy and Jada.

01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:47.240
- Do we have a deal?

01:02:48.400 --> 01:02:50.000
ERNEST DICKERSON:
She did surprise me, though.

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:51.560
She called me up,
\"Ernest, I colored my hair.\"

01:02:51.560 --> 01:02:53.520
\"What?\"

01:02:53.520 --> 01:02:55.600
\"I hope it doesn\'t
mess you up too much.

01:02:55.600 --> 01:02:58.600
I made it
kind of like platinum.\"

01:02:58.600 --> 01:03:01.040
I said, \"Oh, Jada, Jada.\"

01:03:01.040 --> 01:03:03.680
- [screams]

01:03:04.880 --> 01:03:06.080
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: In 1995,

01:03:06.080 --> 01:03:08.680
something really
groundbreaking happens because we kind of see this
like first like contemporary

01:03:08.680 --> 01:03:11.760
black final girl,
and it\'s Jada Pinkette.

01:03:11.760 --> 01:03:14.400
The final girl is this term
coined by Carol Clover.

01:03:14.400 --> 01:03:17.040
She wrote this book called
\"Men, Women, and Chainsaws,

01:03:17.040 --> 01:03:19.080
Gender in The Modern
Horror Film\"

01:03:19.080 --> 01:03:20.880
and the final girl is basically
the last girl standing

01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:23.680
and the common theme was
that they were all white.

01:03:23.680 --> 01:03:28.160
- I know
that the producers wanted

01:03:28.160 --> 01:03:31.080
another actress,
a white actress, for that role

01:03:31.080 --> 01:03:34.680
but I had just seen Jada
in \"Menace to Society\"...

01:03:35.720 --> 01:03:40.440
And I just said,
\"Oh, she\'s my Jeryline,\"

01:03:40.440 --> 01:03:42.280
so I had to campaign hard
to get her in there.

01:03:42.560 --> 01:03:47.320
I said, you know,
it\'s the perfect setup

01:03:47.320 --> 01:03:52.520
because everybody\'s gonna think,
\"Oh, she\'s gonna die.\"- Right.

01:03:52.520 --> 01:03:55.280
- She\'s dead already,
you know? We know that.And she winds up
being the sister

01:03:55.280 --> 01:03:58.600
that winds up
saving the world.

01:03:58.600 --> 01:04:00.560
- [screams]

01:04:00.560 --> 01:04:03.760
- That was just like,
\"Oh, crap.\"

01:04:03.760 --> 01:04:05.720
You wouldn\'t have
seen that in \'80s.

01:04:05.720 --> 01:04:08.280
Fearless women on screen
have been on the rise

01:04:08.280 --> 01:04:10.080
ever since Kira in
\"The Invitation\",

01:04:10.080 --> 01:04:13.840
Aaliyah in
\"Queen of the Damned\",

01:04:13.840 --> 01:04:16.480
Sennia Nanua in
\"The Girl with All the Gifts\".

01:04:16.480 --> 01:04:18.840
They\'re black women
and they\'re survivors.

01:04:18.840 --> 01:04:21.160
Seeing Saana Lathan
side by side with the predator

01:04:21.160 --> 01:04:23.800
and just killing aliens
was just like,

01:04:23.800 --> 01:04:26.320
\"Wait a minute,
so her and this predator

01:04:26.320 --> 01:04:28.800
are gonna start like...\"
[laughs]

01:04:28.800 --> 01:04:30.520
That was so cool

01:04:30.520 --> 01:04:32.200
because I think she was like
the last person alive

01:04:32.200 --> 01:04:34.120
and like he made her
kind of a tribeswoman,

01:04:34.120 --> 01:04:38.000
like she was a part
of their crew now.

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:39.680
Right around the turn
of the 21st century,

01:04:42.040 --> 01:04:44.240
hip hop-inspired horror films
started to come out.

01:04:44.240 --> 01:04:46.600
- Then it\'s just add Z.

01:04:46.600 --> 01:04:48.400
So \"Wolvez\" with a Z,

01:04:48.400 --> 01:04:52.120
\"Vampz\" with a Z,

01:04:52.120 --> 01:04:53.800
so there\'s just Zs
exploding all over the place

01:04:56.640 --> 01:04:59.280
but the Zs are there to indicate

01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:02.320
that it\'s kind of
a hip-hop kind of thing.

01:05:02.320 --> 01:05:04.720
You have rappers just
showing up in horror movies.

01:05:04.720 --> 01:05:08.320
LL Cool J
is in \"Halloween H20\".

01:05:08.320 --> 01:05:12.440
- Yeah?

01:05:12.440 --> 01:05:13.600
SHIRL JONES:
What\'s going on, baby?

01:05:13.600 --> 01:05:14.800
- I don\'t know.

01:05:14.800 --> 01:05:17.840
- You had \"Anaconda\",
you know, Ice Cube. - Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff

01:05:17.840 --> 01:05:19.680
and it\'s a send-up to the film
\"Nightmare on Elm Street\"

01:05:19.680 --> 01:05:23.000
and the \"Geto Boys\"
who are from Houston

01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:25.000
who have really significant
horror themes.

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:28.440
It\'s kind of a natural pairing.

01:05:28.440 --> 01:05:30.480
They\'re fans,
they\'re rapping about it,

01:05:30.480 --> 01:05:32.800
and eventually,
they end up on set.

01:05:32.800 --> 01:05:35.080
[♪♪♪]

01:05:35.080 --> 01:05:37.800
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: One highlight
from the early 2000s was \"Bones\"

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:42.120
which was this kind of this
blacksploitation throwback.

01:05:42.120 --> 01:05:44.400
It comments on what drugs did

01:05:44.400 --> 01:05:45.800
to the black community
specifically.

01:05:45.800 --> 01:05:47.800
We had Snoop Dogg
as this title character.

01:05:47.800 --> 01:05:50.200
ERNEST DICKERSON:
He\'s involved in gambling

01:05:50.200 --> 01:05:52.040
and stuff like that,
but he ain\'t somebody

01:05:52.040 --> 01:05:54.160
who always tried to give back
to his community.

01:05:54.160 --> 01:05:58.160
But for me, one of the most
interesting things

01:05:58.160 --> 01:06:00.360
about doing \"Bones\"
was the love story.

01:06:00.360 --> 01:06:02.600
- [gasps]

01:06:04.080 --> 01:06:06.000
- But just the idea, you know,
of reviving a love

01:06:06.000 --> 01:06:08.600
that had been lost
and it\'s one of the things

01:06:08.600 --> 01:06:12.280
that the studio
really kind of downplayed.

01:06:12.280 --> 01:06:15.360
- Really?
- Yeah, when they...yeah.

01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:18.880
Yeah, I think they wanted kind
of like a cheap horror film,

01:06:18.880 --> 01:06:23.240
you know, and I think we gave it
more than they anticipated.

01:06:23.520 --> 01:06:27.920
But I gotta tell you this,

01:06:29.040 --> 01:06:31.160
you haven\'t lived until
you\'ve seen Snoop blush.

01:06:31.160 --> 01:06:33.560
[laughs]

01:06:33.560 --> 01:06:34.600
\'Cause Snoop, Snoop,

01:06:34.600 --> 01:06:36.360
first day,
Snoop had to kiss Pam Grier.

01:06:36.360 --> 01:06:38.360
- For real?

01:06:38.360 --> 01:06:41.920
ERNEST DICKERSON: And he kissed
her and they were into it, they were into it,
they were into it,

01:06:41.920 --> 01:06:43.480
I said, \"Cut,\"
and Snoop just...

01:06:43.480 --> 01:06:45.200
[laughs] I said,
\"You blushing, man?\"

01:06:46.440 --> 01:06:49.560
He said, \"Hey, man, I grew up
dreaming about this woman.

01:06:49.560 --> 01:06:52.760
Now I get to kiss her?\"

01:06:52.760 --> 01:06:54.240
- [laughs]
Yeah, that\'s a good day.

01:06:54.240 --> 01:06:56.640
ASHLEE BLACKWELL: But then,
things started to change

01:06:58.080 --> 01:06:59.560
and more black characters
are starting to be centralized

01:06:59.560 --> 01:07:01.720
or even if they were
secondary characters,

01:07:01.720 --> 01:07:03.640
they were much more prominent,

01:07:03.640 --> 01:07:05.640
more seen, not just
as window dressing,

01:07:05.640 --> 01:07:08.000
but very integral
to the story.

01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:09.800
ERNEST DICKERSON:
\"Attack the Block\",

01:07:11.800 --> 01:07:15.120
I loved this film, man.
This was the kind of movie I would have loved
to have seen as a kid.

01:07:15.120 --> 01:07:17.760
- Now that you mention,

01:07:17.760 --> 01:07:20.800
I wanna make sure
I show it to my kids. - But also growing up
in a housing project

01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:22.720
and seeing a film that says,
\"Yeah, we can be heroes, too.\"

01:07:22.720 --> 01:07:26.440
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
It\'s a story about

01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:27.760
working class youth in London

01:07:27.760 --> 01:07:29.920
and literally,
there\'s an alien invasion

01:07:29.920 --> 01:07:32.280
that comes crashing down
on your neighborhood.

01:07:34.280 --> 01:07:38.440
Moses,
played by John Boyega,

01:07:38.440 --> 01:07:40.160
basically saves
his neighborhood.

01:07:40.160 --> 01:07:42.080
Every time I see this movie
at the end, it gives me chills.

01:07:42.080 --> 01:07:45.240
Moses is in a cop car
with his friend Pest

01:07:45.240 --> 01:07:47.480
and all he hears outside
is his name being chanted

01:07:47.480 --> 01:07:50.160
over again.
\"Moses, Moses!\"

01:07:50.160 --> 01:07:52.000
CROWD: Moses! Moses!

01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:53.280
- His friend looks at him,

01:07:53.280 --> 01:07:54.360
he\'s like,
\"Hey, that\'s for you.\"

01:07:54.360 --> 01:07:55.440
PEST: That\'s for you, man.

01:07:55.440 --> 01:07:57.920
ASHLEE BLACKWELL:
This is why John Boyegais in \"Star Wars\", right?

01:07:57.920 --> 01:08:02.040
That\'s why he\'s this big star
because he looks up and he has this smile
on his face,

01:08:02.040 --> 01:08:03.400
this innocent, pure,
child-like smile.

01:08:03.400 --> 01:08:06.640
He gets to feel like he matters
in his neighborhood.

01:08:06.640 --> 01:08:10.200
A lot of young black kids
don\'t feel like they matter.

01:08:10.200 --> 01:08:12.280
I think that\'s really
the core of this film.

01:08:12.280 --> 01:08:14.840
He gets to be the hero.

01:08:16.080 --> 01:08:17.880
- I think something
really important

01:08:17.880 --> 01:08:19.400
happens in the 2000s.

01:08:19.400 --> 01:08:22.000
When you have these
more self-reflexive horror films

01:08:22.000 --> 01:08:24.920
that are looking back
and saying,

01:08:24.920 --> 01:08:27.120
\"That was the stereotype,\"
or, \"That was the cliché,\"

01:08:27.120 --> 01:08:30.240
or, \"That\'s the trope
we are always relying on.\"

01:08:30.240 --> 01:08:33.760
So, in exposing
those kinds of well-worn,

01:08:33.760 --> 01:08:37.840
kind of well-trodden
knowns about horror,

01:08:37.840 --> 01:08:42.440
horror also had to catch up
and mature

01:08:42.440 --> 01:08:44.520
if it was going to
continue to thrive.

01:08:44.520 --> 01:08:47.240
EDDIE PARKS: It\'s all over.

01:08:47.240 --> 01:08:48.880
MELANIE: It\'s not over.
It\'s just not yours anymore.

01:08:48.880 --> 01:08:51.920
ERNEST DICKERSON:
Now you gotta see this film,

01:08:51.920 --> 01:08:53.320
\"The Girl with All the Gifts\".

01:08:53.320 --> 01:08:57.000
- I mean, I watched this
\'cause you recommend it. - Really well-done
British horror film

01:08:57.000 --> 01:09:00.720
with this young black girl
as the main character.

01:09:00.720 --> 01:09:04.360
It\'s after a disease
that\'s hit humanity

01:09:04.360 --> 01:09:06.360
where it\'s turned into everybody
into like these feral animals.

01:09:06.360 --> 01:09:10.560
- [screams]

01:09:10.560 --> 01:09:12.240
- It\'s a zombie movie.

01:09:12.240 --> 01:09:13.440
Sort of. It\'s terrifying.

01:09:13.440 --> 01:09:15.360
It\'s an apocalyptic future
where we\'re no longer us

01:09:15.360 --> 01:09:18.240
but again it\'s probably
white people\'s fear, right?

01:09:18.240 --> 01:09:21.800
That they\'re losing dominion,
you know,

01:09:21.800 --> 01:09:25.760
that the manifest destiny thing
isn\'t quite working

01:09:25.760 --> 01:09:29.200
like it used to.

01:09:30.240 --> 01:09:32.920
TANANARIVE DUE: That character
was not written as black.

01:09:32.920 --> 01:09:35.160
That happened during
the casting process.

01:09:35.160 --> 01:09:37.080
It\'s a very similar process
as to what happened

01:09:37.080 --> 01:09:38.800
in \"Night of the Living Dead\".

01:09:38.800 --> 01:09:43.640
She just killed the audition,
so she got the part,and it creates such a difference
in the film

01:09:43.640 --> 01:09:46.280
to have this black child.

01:09:46.280 --> 01:09:48.640
- I read the book
before I saw the movie,

01:09:48.640 --> 01:09:50.680
so when I saw the movie

01:09:50.680 --> 01:09:52.280
and they had cast
a little black girl,

01:09:52.280 --> 01:09:54.320
I was like, \"Oh, my God,
this is amazing!\"

01:09:54.320 --> 01:09:56.680
- We\'re alive?

01:09:56.680 --> 01:09:58.560
- Yes.

01:09:59.560 --> 01:10:01.440
- Then why should it be us
who die for you?

01:10:01.440 --> 01:10:03.800
TANANARIVE DUE:
I talked to Mike Carey,

01:10:03.800 --> 01:10:04.880
the writer/screenwriter.

01:10:04.880 --> 01:10:06.840
This is a sharper
social commentary

01:10:06.840 --> 01:10:09.000
even maybe than
that he had intended.

01:10:09.000 --> 01:10:11.320
You see a story about
a character, a black girl

01:10:11.320 --> 01:10:13.480
who faces
some insurmountable odds

01:10:13.480 --> 01:10:16.200
where it seems impossible
but you come up with plans

01:10:16.200 --> 01:10:19.440
and you execute your plans.

01:10:19.440 --> 01:10:21.320
This is the stuff that helps us
get through life.

01:10:21.720 --> 01:10:23.360
RACHEL TRUE:
That\'s the kind of opportunity

01:10:26.560 --> 01:10:28.440
that I would have killed for
in the \'90s,

01:10:28.440 --> 01:10:30.840
reading script after script
after script

01:10:30.840 --> 01:10:32.280
and wanting to read
for the lead girl

01:10:32.280 --> 01:10:34.520
but going, \"Oh, no, okay,
I\'m the friend,

01:10:34.520 --> 01:10:37.160
so I\'m gonna say,
\'Are you okay?

01:10:37.160 --> 01:10:39.680
Oh, are you okay?

01:10:39.680 --> 01:10:41.280
Are you okay?\'\"

01:10:41.280 --> 01:10:42.760
- Are you okay?

01:10:42.760 --> 01:10:43.800
- Yeah.

01:10:43.800 --> 01:10:45.160
- I mean, six million
different ways to Sunday,

01:10:45.160 --> 01:10:47.280
I have to figure out a million
different line readings

01:10:47.280 --> 01:10:49.320
for the same line because
whatever thing is going on,

01:10:49.320 --> 01:10:52.360
it\'s not about the black people
we\'re going through,

01:10:52.360 --> 01:10:54.720
it\'s, \"Are you, white person
in peril, okay?\"

01:10:54.720 --> 01:10:57.360
So when I saw that movie,

01:10:57.360 --> 01:10:59.120
I was like,
\"Okay, things are shifting.\"

01:10:59.120 --> 01:11:01.680
TANANARIVE DUE: We\'ve shifted
from being the focal point

01:11:01.680 --> 01:11:04.160
of the fear, other,
to being the heroes, right?

01:11:04.160 --> 01:11:08.440
To being the icons.

01:11:08.440 --> 01:11:09.760
To being the one
that you in the audience

01:11:09.760 --> 01:11:11.520
are looking up to.

01:11:11.520 --> 01:11:12.760
That\'s been very exciting
to watch unfold.

01:11:12.760 --> 01:11:15.120
- If you have to ride
in the back of the bus

01:11:15.120 --> 01:11:17.080
for 90% of history, it takes
a little bit to get in front.

01:11:17.240 --> 01:11:21.600
- Black is in fashion.

01:11:22.120 --> 01:11:23.160
MARK H. HARRIS:
\"Get Out\" I think,

01:11:26.720 --> 01:11:32.360
is kind of like
a perfect movie of its time.It came out like the transition
between the Obama administration

01:11:32.360 --> 01:11:34.880
and the Trump administration.

01:11:34.880 --> 01:11:35.880
- Yeah.

01:11:35.880 --> 01:11:36.880
- So, I mean,

01:11:36.880 --> 01:11:38.200
I remember when
Obama was elected.

01:11:38.200 --> 01:11:41.080
People were actually
having debates about whether

01:11:41.080 --> 01:11:43.320
racism is dead now
and that sort of thing.

01:11:43.320 --> 01:11:45.680
Is this a post-racial world
and all that?

01:11:45.680 --> 01:11:48.120
As Trump\'s campaign came along,

01:11:48.120 --> 01:11:50.680
I think the public
came to be aware like,

01:11:50.680 --> 01:11:54.520
\"Uh-oh, you know,
racism still does exist.\"

01:11:54.520 --> 01:11:57.440
- A horrific scene
in Charlottesville, Virginia.

01:11:57.440 --> 01:12:00.360
The hate boiling over
white supremacists

01:12:00.360 --> 01:12:03.240
and countered protestors
fighting with fists and clubs,

01:12:03.240 --> 01:12:06.840
confederate flags
on full display.

01:12:06.840 --> 01:12:09.400
DONALD TRUMP: I think
there\'s blame on both sides

01:12:09.400 --> 01:12:11.280
and I have no doubt about it.

01:12:11.280 --> 01:12:13.000
- You will not replace us.

01:12:13.000 --> 01:12:15.560
White lives matter!

01:12:15.560 --> 01:12:16.880
White lives matter!

01:12:16.880 --> 01:12:18.400
LORETTA DEVINE:
It sort of like shows you

01:12:18.400 --> 01:12:19.720
where the culture is
right now

01:12:19.720 --> 01:12:21.440
as far as black men
are concerned.

01:12:21.440 --> 01:12:23.000
- Yes.

01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:26.720
- And a lot of the fears
that we go through being a part of the black race.

01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:29.680
JORDAN PEELE: When I think about
the fears that we deal with,

01:12:32.080 --> 01:12:35.800
I think that anything
that we suppress as people,

01:12:35.800 --> 01:12:40.240
anything that we push down
and hold deep is gonna explode.

01:12:41.000 --> 01:12:45.640
It\'s gonna come out
in a nasty way

01:12:45.640 --> 01:12:49.440
if it\'s held on to
long enough.

01:12:49.440 --> 01:12:53.760
So, I think we need these valves
for our fears.

01:12:54.720 --> 01:12:59.120
- Sink into the floor.

01:12:59.120 --> 01:13:00.440
- Wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait.

01:13:00.440 --> 01:13:01.480
- Sink.

01:13:03.120 --> 01:13:07.560
- Floored me right to the...

01:13:07.560 --> 01:13:09.600
I had no idea what to expect.

01:13:09.600 --> 01:13:11.680
PAULA JAI PARKER: Is this
something that we, as a people,

01:13:11.680 --> 01:13:13.920
always talk about.
- Exactly.

01:13:13.920 --> 01:13:16.360
- Like, you know, it\'s like
you told our secret.

01:13:16.360 --> 01:13:18.800
- [laughs]
- That we do have a fear

01:13:18.800 --> 01:13:22.720
that these people [laughs]
are trying to steal our souls.

01:13:24.280 --> 01:13:29.040
TINA MABRY:
It\'s an auction, you know.

01:13:29.040 --> 01:13:30.880
It\'s an auction block

01:13:30.880 --> 01:13:32.600
and she\'s disguised
in a different way.

01:13:32.600 --> 01:13:34.880
- [applause]

01:13:34.880 --> 01:13:37.880
- What the maid to me
represented in \"Get Out\"

01:13:37.880 --> 01:13:40.520
is just what maids has been
doing through history.

01:13:40.520 --> 01:13:44.280
They\'ve been trying to tell you.

01:13:44.280 --> 01:13:46.720
- Oh, no. No. No.

01:13:47.600 --> 01:13:52.560
No, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no.

01:13:52.560 --> 01:13:55.720
- They\'ve been
sitting at the table

01:13:55.720 --> 01:13:57.280
with the white people
and saying look,

01:13:57.280 --> 01:13:59.800
\"We ain\'t gonna do this.
Get the hell out of here.\"

01:13:59.800 --> 01:14:02.200
KELLY JO MINTER: I think
one of my favorite parts

01:14:03.600 --> 01:14:05.240
is when the girl is smiling
and crying at the same time.

01:14:05.240 --> 01:14:09.400
- My favorite part is when
he was beatin\' their ass!

01:14:09.400 --> 01:14:11.200
- [grunts]

01:14:11.200 --> 01:14:12.600
RACHEL TRUE: I was like,
\"Oh, you didn\'t get

01:14:14.360 --> 01:14:16.040
that he was like picking
cotton out of the chair?\"

01:14:16.040 --> 01:14:19.480
Or, \"You didn\'t get,
like he killed him with a buck.

01:14:19.480 --> 01:14:21.840
Did you not know
that black men were called bucks

01:14:23.160 --> 01:14:24.800
during slavery?\"

01:14:24.800 --> 01:14:26.040
- I felt like
I wanna make the movie

01:14:27.280 --> 01:14:30.160
as answering every
disappointed black person

01:14:30.160 --> 01:14:33.680
that goes to a theater
and watches, you know,

01:14:33.680 --> 01:14:37.800
white protagonists
make dumb decisions.

01:14:37.800 --> 01:14:39.720
- No, no, no, no, no.

01:14:39.720 --> 01:14:40.920
No, no, no, don\'t do that!

01:14:40.920 --> 01:14:42.800
- And that sense
of marginalization

01:14:42.800 --> 01:14:44.600
that sense of,
\"Can we just...?

01:14:46.440 --> 01:14:49.520
If there was a brother in here,
that would never happen.

01:14:49.520 --> 01:14:51.760
That would never happen.

01:14:51.760 --> 01:14:53.160
If there was a sister,
would never let this...

01:14:53.160 --> 01:14:55.080
she would be out of the house.\"

01:14:57.400 --> 01:15:01.560
Spoiler alert,

01:15:01.560 --> 01:15:06.120
but there\'s no good white people
in this movie. [laughs] That white savior trope
always pops up.

01:15:06.120 --> 01:15:09.640
There\'s always
one good white person.

01:15:09.640 --> 01:15:12.040
I saw this as obviously
this opportunity

01:15:12.040 --> 01:15:14.120
to use that to my favor.

01:15:14.120 --> 01:15:17.560
The audience is expecting,
though, you have to have

01:15:17.560 --> 01:15:19.720
one good white person
in the film, right?

01:15:19.720 --> 01:15:22.600
- You know I can\'t give you
the keys, right, babe?

01:15:24.400 --> 01:15:26.240
- I couldn\'t believe
what I was watching.

01:15:30.720 --> 01:15:35.680
- I made \"Get Out\"
for everybody in the audience,

01:15:35.680 --> 01:15:40.200
you know, I didn\'t want anybody
to see the film and not get it,

01:15:40.400 --> 01:15:45.200
but I really made it
for black audiences,

01:15:45.200 --> 01:15:48.240
that meaning, if black audience
didn\'t get it,

01:15:48.240 --> 01:15:51.800
and didn\'t get like it,
that\'s a fail, you know.

01:15:51.800 --> 01:15:54.920
- Not surprisingly
but kind of surprisingly,

01:15:54.920 --> 01:15:58.200
the white guy next to me
and all the audience members

01:15:58.200 --> 01:16:01.480
who were white
were cheering for Chris.

01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:03.680
That empathy
that we have so often

01:16:07.280 --> 01:16:10.880
had to extend to characters
who didn\'t look like us,

01:16:10.880 --> 01:16:13.880
white audience members were
extending their empathy to him.

01:16:14.080 --> 01:16:17.400
JORDAN PEELE:
The ending of \"Get Out\"

01:16:18.800 --> 01:16:21.640
was very inspired by
\"Night of the Living Dead\",

01:16:21.640 --> 01:16:26.520
although I didn\'t necessarily
know it when it happened.

01:16:26.520 --> 01:16:30.040
You know,
it was common knowledge

01:16:30.040 --> 01:16:31.520
that my intention was to have
Chris go to jail

01:16:31.520 --> 01:16:35.680
and that the cops would come out
and take him away.

01:16:35.680 --> 01:16:38.000
- Get up here!

01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:38.920
[soft piano music]

01:16:41.440 --> 01:16:44.720
- Now most realistic ending is
he\'s shot on the road.

01:16:44.720 --> 01:16:47.160
- [gunshot]

01:16:48.560 --> 01:16:53.080
- No one wants to watch that.

01:16:53.080 --> 01:16:54.320
That\'s headlines,
that\'s hashtags.

01:16:54.320 --> 01:16:56.840
Prison would have been
a little bit more of a mercy

01:16:56.840 --> 01:16:59.600
but even so, I have seen
enough black men

01:16:59.600 --> 01:17:01.720
in prison orange.

01:17:01.720 --> 01:17:03.240
I could go my whole life
without seeing another film

01:17:03.240 --> 01:17:06.200
or television program
about black men in prison.

01:17:06.200 --> 01:17:08.360
JORDAN PEELE: By the time I
showed the film to an audience,

01:17:10.680 --> 01:17:14.720
the culture [inaudible]
were at change, okay,

01:17:14.720 --> 01:17:16.520
so Black Lives Matter
had become a presence

01:17:16.520 --> 01:17:19.680
and there was now attention
to racial violence

01:17:19.680 --> 01:17:22.600
in a way that there hadn\'t been
when I first wrote it.

01:17:22.600 --> 01:17:25.560
- The lights of the car said
it was the cops coming

01:17:25.560 --> 01:17:29.040
and it was a whole another
rash of fear.

01:17:29.040 --> 01:17:32.040
It was almost like
the Klan is coming.

01:17:32.040 --> 01:17:33.760
Because it was like,

01:17:33.760 --> 01:17:37.200
\"Oh, my God, if it\'s the cops,
he doesn\'t have a chance.\"- Black people also were
expressing this like,

01:17:37.200 --> 01:17:41.320
\"Yo, we need a hero.
We need a release.

01:17:41.320 --> 01:17:44.000
We need a cheer,\"
and so I listened to that.

01:17:44.000 --> 01:17:46.000
ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN: To have
Rod show up and save him,

01:17:49.040 --> 01:17:51.880
that lets you know
that there will be no Chris

01:17:51.880 --> 01:17:56.440
being speared by meathooks,
being burned on a pyre.

01:17:56.440 --> 01:17:59.880
There will be no lynching today.

01:17:59.880 --> 01:18:01.920
That\'s the power of \"Get Out\".

01:18:02.240 --> 01:18:03.520
- The fact that this movie
had never been made,

01:18:07.160 --> 01:18:09.680
not only \"Get Out\" itself,
the fact that there\'s, you know,

01:18:09.680 --> 01:18:14.000
a small handful of films
led by black people,

01:18:14.560 --> 01:18:19.120
to me,
was the horror itself.

01:18:19.120 --> 01:18:23.640
It\'s no mistake
that the sunken place

01:18:23.640 --> 01:18:26.640
feels and looks like
a darkened theatre, right?

01:18:26.640 --> 01:18:30.800
We\'re allowed to buy a ticket
and yell at the screen

01:18:32.200 --> 01:18:37.160
but we\'re never going to get
that representation.

01:18:39.400 --> 01:18:40.520
- What\'s going on, man?

01:18:43.760 --> 01:18:44.840
I can\'t see myself.

01:18:46.360 --> 01:18:48.600
- I\'m afraid that\'s one of
the misfortunes of the cursed.

01:18:48.600 --> 01:18:51.920
- This really ain\'t hip!

01:18:51.920 --> 01:18:53.840
I mean, a man has
got to see his face!

01:18:53.840 --> 01:18:56.640
RICHARD LAWSON: Probably
of any line in that film,

01:18:56.640 --> 01:18:58.360
that line reverberates.

01:18:58.360 --> 01:19:02.000
\"A man has got to be able
to see himself,\"

01:19:02.000 --> 01:19:05.320
is really a prophetic line

01:19:05.320 --> 01:19:09.440
\'cause it represents
black people

01:19:09.440 --> 01:19:12.840
and black people\'s history
and legacy and journey

01:19:13.240 --> 01:19:18.000
and the ability
to see yourself today.

01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:20.760
- It\'s finally dawning on
the powers that be

01:19:20.760 --> 01:19:23.840
that horror
is a valid genre, right?

01:19:23.840 --> 01:19:27.080
It\'s not just some little
odd thing over there

01:19:27.080 --> 01:19:29.520
that low budget people make,
and make a little money on,

01:19:29.520 --> 01:19:32.680
and we make fun of.

01:19:32.680 --> 01:19:33.840
MIGUEL A. NUÑEZ:
Because of \"Get Out\"

01:19:36.080 --> 01:19:38.440
I think black is the new green.

01:19:38.440 --> 01:19:40.160
I think any little
remaining shades of,

01:19:40.160 --> 01:19:43.200
\"Uh, if he\'s black,
do you think it\'ll work?

01:19:43.200 --> 01:19:45.120
You know, if it\'s a black cast,
you think it\'ll work?

01:19:45.120 --> 01:19:46.840
If it\'s a black director,
you think it\'ll work?\"

01:19:46.840 --> 01:19:48.360
All those little bitty
remaining barriers

01:19:48.360 --> 01:19:50.720
have been completely removed.

01:19:50.720 --> 01:19:52.920
There\'s some people right now,
and I know this to be a fact,

01:19:52.920 --> 01:19:55.040
that are changing
some of their white scripts

01:19:55.040 --> 01:19:57.120
to make them black now.

01:19:57.120 --> 01:19:58.760
- There\'s less and less of this,

01:19:58.760 --> 01:20:00.000
\"Oh, well, black people
don\'t like,

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:01.480
watch,
or make horror films.\"

01:20:01.480 --> 01:20:03.040
I think that\'s a conversation
that\'s becoming obsolete.

01:20:03.040 --> 01:20:07.200
A part of the work that I do
that I love doing is

01:20:07.200 --> 01:20:09.240
I get to talk to these new
and up-and-coming filmmakers

01:20:09.240 --> 01:20:12.160
who are making these
really fun and funny

01:20:12.160 --> 01:20:15.280
but also scary
and introspective films.

01:20:15.280 --> 01:20:18.600
- Just so many up-and-coming
talents out there

01:20:18.600 --> 01:20:22.160
that\'s, you know,
that\'s pretty exciting

01:20:22.160 --> 01:20:24.320
and gives me hope
for the future that we\'re...

01:20:24.320 --> 01:20:28.360
- We\'ll help other and...

01:20:28.360 --> 01:20:29.480
- Yeah!
- ...and change the game.

01:20:29.480 --> 01:20:31.520
- We just need to all
get in the door, you know.

01:20:31.520 --> 01:20:34.320
There\'s so many stories
and so many genres

01:20:34.320 --> 01:20:36.680
that we belong to.

01:20:36.680 --> 01:20:38.200
- I just have
so many people like say,

01:20:38.200 --> 01:20:39.760
\"I got a horror film.
I got a horror film.

01:20:39.760 --> 01:20:41.360
I got a horror film,\"

01:20:41.360 --> 01:20:42.440
and this is way before
\"Get Out\".

01:20:42.440 --> 01:20:44.840
And now, maybe
they\'ll get a chance

01:20:44.840 --> 01:20:46.480
to actually get that out
to the public.

01:20:46.480 --> 01:20:49.080
- These are stories

01:20:49.080 --> 01:20:50.360
by black creators
for black viewers.

01:20:50.360 --> 01:20:54.880
If whites want to enjoy it,
fine,

01:20:54.880 --> 01:20:57.160
but it\'s not about them, right?
It\'s about us.

01:20:57.160 --> 01:21:00.200
KEN FOREE: I think
the entire film industry

01:21:00.200 --> 01:21:03.000
are ready for us
to open up the doors.

01:21:03.000 --> 01:21:06.560
MARK H. HARRIS: Just seeing
black heroes and leads on screen

01:21:07.000 --> 01:21:11.640
like the next generation
won\'t think,

01:21:11.640 --> 01:21:13.280
\"Oh, that\'s weird.\"

01:21:13.280 --> 01:21:15.040
They\'re gonna think,

01:21:15.040 --> 01:21:18.920
\"That\'s perfectly normal
to have the black lead,the black person
save the day.\"

01:21:18.920 --> 01:21:20.440
- If we can use
what we\'ve experienced,

01:21:20.440 --> 01:21:23.560
we can tell stories that people
have never seen before,

01:21:23.560 --> 01:21:26.680
so that\'s what I\'m excited
to see coming.

01:21:26.680 --> 01:21:29.480
- There\'s a draw
and a connection there

01:21:29.480 --> 01:21:34.400
in the minority experience
for these horror films.

01:21:34.400 --> 01:21:37.640
The industry\'s realized,
\"Oh, yeah,

01:21:37.640 --> 01:21:40.400
white people will see movies
about non-white people.\"

01:21:42.720 --> 01:21:45.520
They will. They\'ll see.
You just have to make \'em.

01:21:55.360 --> 01:21:59.680
- Mic.
- Thank you.

01:21:59.680 --> 01:22:01.280
- Are we rolling?

01:22:01.280 --> 01:22:03.400
Why didn\'t somebody tell us
we were rolling?

01:22:03.400 --> 01:22:04.920
No one said anything!

01:22:04.920 --> 01:22:08.440
We just sitting here talking...
I didn\'t know we were rolling. No one said Action.

01:22:08.440 --> 01:22:09.520
- That always got me up like

01:22:09.520 --> 01:22:10.840
I don\'t know about
the fashion of the time,

01:22:10.840 --> 01:22:12.600
but I\'m like, you know,

01:22:12.600 --> 01:22:17.200
these murders going around,
people with bites in their neck, and no one\'s suspecting
the guy with the cape. [laughs]

01:22:17.200 --> 01:22:19.360
- Nobody!
- They did the mash...

01:22:19.360 --> 01:22:22.000
BOTH:
They did the monster mash!

01:22:22.000 --> 01:22:23.640
- Horra? Horror?

01:22:23.640 --> 01:22:26.760
It\'s like rhymes
with torah, right?

01:22:26.760 --> 01:22:28.240
Horra? Torah?

01:22:28.240 --> 01:22:30.440
I cannot horror.
I love talking horra.

01:22:30.440 --> 01:22:34.160
Oh, shit.
I love talking horror.

01:22:34.160 --> 01:22:37.000
BOTH:
They play the monster mash!

01:22:37.000 --> 01:22:39.040
[laughter]

01:22:39.040 --> 01:22:41.200
- Brown\'s in Town!
[grunts]

01:22:41.200 --> 01:22:43.760
- \"Return of the Living Dead\"
was one of my favorite films.

01:22:43.760 --> 01:22:46.120
I didn\'t know anything
and the entire film,

01:22:46.120 --> 01:22:50.000
I was supposed to be walking
around with a naked girl.

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:52.880
- Right.
- So, if you watch it,

01:22:52.880 --> 01:22:56.480
go back to the movie, \'cause
when the scenes were on her, most people lookin\' at her but
next time, when you watch it,

01:22:58.280 --> 01:23:01.600
look at me
and I\'m gonna be like this.

01:23:01.600 --> 01:23:03.560
[Kelly Jo Minter laughs]

01:23:03.560 --> 01:23:04.880
- Every scene I was like that!

01:23:04.880 --> 01:23:07.000
- So, any of you filmmakers,

01:23:07.000 --> 01:23:09.080
if you wanna include
a couple of old timers,

01:23:09.080 --> 01:23:11.240
hey, you know,
my number still works. Okay?

01:23:11.240 --> 01:23:14.720
- Our numbers still work.
- You know what I mean?

01:23:14.720 --> 01:23:16.760
- Are we finished? \'Cause I
wanna watch this whole movie.