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So your book has been adapted into a documentary.
How are you feeling about it?My husband said, MaybeHorror Noirewas too early.
I said, No, it was right on time.
It sets up the conversation.
Almost every year theres another moment where you go, This is something we need to pay attention to.
Were bringing a seriousness and a credibility to it.
It is fun and its entertaining, but it is really instructive and thought provoking.
It is the black horror ofColor AdjustmentorBlack Is … Black Aint.
And you said no, it is that new.It is that big of a deal.
The bookHorror Noirestarts with 1890.
From my vantage point as a scholar, a historian would say, No, weve always been there.
Now, what happens thats a watershed is thatGet Outbecomes like aSilence of the LambsorRosemarys Baby.
It gets the big awards.
Thats important when youre talking about going mainstream, right?
Thats kind of the litmus test.
An Academy Award is the most important award.
This is a renaissance period for horror, particularly for black horror.
We havent seen it before.
In a postGet Outlandscape, do you see this as a more sustainable turning point?
There are two things that we can point to.
The first is what Jordan Peele is doing.Get Outis not a flash in the pan.
Peele is producinga reimagining ofCandyman.
Hes doing theTwilight Zone.
We now see kind of mainstream Hollywood and New York saying, Wait.
We need to be paying attention to this.
Peele was the catalyst.
The person who is helpful in this is Miguel Nunez.
Can we get a sister in here?
They are rescripting and rewriting and being more inclusive.
So, its not just that its riding on the incredible talent of Peele.
Now were seeing a real kind of integration of blacks into the mainstream.
So I absolutely think its sustainable.
And that goes all the way back toBirth of a Nation.
That really underscores how if you didnt seeGet Outas a horror movie then you missed the whole damn point.
And of course,Jordan Peele said, Get Outis a documentary.Exactly right.
The art is derived from that constant experience.Thats really important.
But in doing that they implicated black and brown bodies.
InThe Shining, the Overlook Hotel is built on an Indian burial ground.Poltergeist, its an Indian burial ground.
Id like to see that go away.
In the suburbs, hes stripped of home.
Hes stripped of his kinships.
Hes stripped of his bonds.
He says, I just want to get home, but safety and salvation is black Brooklyn.
Initially it looks like, Wait, all black people know each other?
I mean black folks were hugging TSA agents in the airport for real after that movie!
Thats now the white suburbs.
Thats the important parallel there I think.
So what do you see as the next step for depiction of black homes in horror?
And I hope that doesnt sound all white-savior.
Well see what happens withCandyman, becauseCandymanhas the potential to do that.
This is why I like Kasi LemmonssEves Bayou.
So, it could be the urban.
Those stories have yet to be told, and weve been writing these stories for very long time.
We will no longer tolerate anAngel Heart.
We will no longer tolerate aSerpent and the Rainbow.
