The Den Population 24
Celebrating Black Heroes in Horror Part 1
Hey Survivor,
Well, we are one month done in this wild Apocalypse called life. It’s a New Year, a new government, and a “Post-TikTok Is Gonna Die” Era. Honestly, it’s crazy to think about how fast things can change. You have it set in your head, this is my life, and this is how it will always be, and then the universe steps in, and now you’re fighting to get air, or you’re surviving and helping others do the same. This year is all about thriving for me. I’ve been surviving for a long time. I’ve been working for a long time, and now is the season to see all that work pay off.
Okay, I’m gonna come down from my hippie-dippie cloud and get to today’s newsletter. It is February, and that’s Black History Month in America. Now, we go hard for Black Heroes 365 in The Den, but in February, we go extra hard. So, I want to celebrate some of my favorite Black Heroes in Horror. When I say heroes, I’m not just talking about the ones on the page or the screen. I’m also talking about the minds that help bring these stories to life, the creators who champion these projects, and the people who love them. So here are some Black Heroes In Horror that you should know about Part 1.
I’ve always wanted to meet Tony Todd. I tell the story of him being my own personal boogeyman growing up. His portrayal of Candyman really got me to fall in love with horror as well as lose a lot of sleep at night. Sadly I never got the chance to meet Tony and let him know the impact he had on me.
Tony Todd’s acting career includes far more roles than just ones within the horror genre, but I personally felt like that was home for him. The community loved him. He had a way of bringing every character to life and chilling you with that voice. From his role as Candyman to Ben in the remake of Night of The Living Dead, Tony Todd helped pull a lot of Black children into horror and really gave us the dream of making horror and storytelling our careers and lives. If you don’t know who Tony Todd is, then you missed out on a chance to see and thank an icon while they were still with us, but take the time to enjoy his craft and get lost in the stories he helped bring to life, especially Candyman
The world has been going crazy over Tananarive Due’s latest novel, The Reformatory (Which is amazing), but she’s been pouring into the horror community for decades. Due has this skill of blending real-world horrors into these supernatural tales of overcoming and taking back your power.
There is nothing within the horror industry that Tananarive hasn’t done. She’s published books, screenwriting, and directing, produced things like Horror Noire, and even teaches a class at UCLA about Black horror and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” Do you know what I would have done if I went to college and saw this class, fainted, and then I’d sign up and most likely stayed in college? Tananarive is an amazingly creative historian of Black horror. A pure gift to the genre and the Black community.
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Candace has to be the nicest person In the Indie Horror Space. I would even say the horror space as a whole. She constantly posts motivational things, pushes people forward, and creates new things to help authors be seen. She’s made a review space, a publishing house, and several anthologies to help authors get their work out there and in front of people.
Candace is a ball of love and sunshine who writes the darkest, goriest, and creepiest things. The cover of Zipper is creepy as all hell, and I love it. Candace is big on shining a light on other indie authors and bringing us together. I love that about her.
The first time I saw Evol Tyrone, he was interviewing someone in the horror community, and I thought, this is really cool, getting people’s faces out there. Then he interviewed some of my friends, and I was like, “Why Not Me!” Apparently, it’s because I didn’t ask. Once I did, I was on his show the next week. Tyrone is one of the coolest and most down-to-earth people I’ve come across online, and he is just trying to find more people in the community and bring them together. Check out his channel and his wild horror prompts.
It took me a while to watch Sugar Hill, but it is definitely a comfort movie for me because there is something about Sugar being an all-around badass that just makes my soul happy. There are some movies that I watch and I think, “My dad would have loved this,” and Sugar Hill is one of them. It definitely brought me back to watching revenge movies like Death Wish with my dad. We have an awesome supernatural revenge horror where Diana “Sugar” Hill loses the love of her life to a greedy mobster and his gang, so she turns to a VooDoo Queen to summon the loa, Baron Samedi, and like every good movie, they decide to use zombies to get their revenge… I mean, why not?
I don’t think people understand the power behind having a Black female lead in a horror movie. Horror movies are about survival, about overcoming the darkest things the universe can throw at you. Watching Sugar deal with loss, being overlooked in her industry, and plotting revenge was a really powerful experience. The greatest survivors on this planet are Black women, and Sugar is just one who proves it.
Well, that’s all the heroes I got for you today. Do you have any you feel should be on the list? Add them in the comments below and as always:
Stay safe.
Stay woke.
And Stay alive!
Until the Next Nightmare,
-Sylvester
The Black Geek Couple Podcast is BACK! Be sure to follow me and my wife Angel as we dive into horror that you can stream today, as well as all things geeky, pop culture, and maybe some true crime. Listen to our first episode today as we recap Episodes 1 & 2 of Paramount+’s School Spirits.
