Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book expands on conceptualizations of the horror genre by adding two categories to its definition. The first is “Blacks in horror” films, and the second is “Black horror” films. “Blacks in horror” films as a category include Black characters and, at times, references Blackness, even if the horror film is not wholly or substantially focused on either one. Nevertheless, these films possess a particular discursive power in the kinds of meaning-making about Black life and culture that they prompt. These films have historically, and typically, been produced by non-Black filmmakers for mainstream consumption. The book examines the use of horror conventions by filmmaking innovator George Melies, an illusionist and cinematographer who introduced one of the earliest “Blacks in horror” films on record.