Essential Horror Films From Black Directors
by IMDb-Editors | created - 02 Feb 2022 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicCelebrate Jordan Peele's script for 'Get Out' topping the WGA’s list of the "101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century" with a list of essential horror films from Black directors.
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1. Blacula (1972)
PG | 93 min | Fantasy, Horror, Romance
An 18th-century African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula, finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles.
Director: William Crain | Stars: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala
Votes: 7,862 | Gross: $3.00M
Director: William Crain
2. Ganja & Hess (1973)
R | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
After being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor's assistant finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.
Director: Bill Gunn | Stars: Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Bill Gunn, Sam L. Waymon
Votes: 2,595 | Gross: $0.02M
Director: Bill Gunn
3. Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
R | 92 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
High-level demons collect low-level demons as warriors in attempt to obtain a key containing the blood of Christ. The key is guarded by immortal warriors called Demon Knights.
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson | Stars: Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brenda Bakke
Votes: 26,307 | Gross: $21.09M
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
4. Welcome II the Terrordome (1995)
R | 90 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Racial violence breaks out in a huge, black ghetto - triggered by a white woman living there with a black man.
Director: Ngozi Onwurah | Stars: Suzette Llewellyn, Saffron Burrows, Felix Joseph, Valentine Nonyela
Votes: 353
Director: Ngozi Onwurah
5. Tales from the Hood (1995)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A funeral director tells four strange tales of horror with an African American focus to three drug dealers he traps in his place of business.
Director: Rusty Cundieff | Stars: Clarence Williams III, Corbin Bernsen, Joe Torry, De'aundre Bonds
Votes: 9,596 | Gross: $11.80M
Director: Rusty Cundieff
6. Bones (2001)
R | 96 min | Crime, Horror
Over 20 years after his death by a gunshot, Jimmy Bones comes back as a ghost to wreak revenge on those who killed him and to clean up his neighborhood.
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson | Stars: Snoop Dogg, Pam Grier, Michael T. Weiss, Clifton Powell
Votes: 8,188 | Gross: $7.31M
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
7. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)
Not Rated | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
An anthropologist awakes with a thirst for blood after an assistant stabs him with a cursed dagger.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Stephen Tyrone Williams, Zaraah Abrahams, Rami Malek, Elvis Nolasco
Votes: 1,945
Director: Spike Lee
8. Get Out (I) (2017)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener
Votes: 696,409 | Gross: $176.04M
Director: Jordan Peele
9. The First Purge (2018)
R | 97 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
America's third political party, the New Founding Fathers of America, comes to power and conducts an experiment: no laws for 12 hours on Staten Island. No one has to stay on the island, but $5,000 is given to anyone who does.
Director: Gerard McMurray | Stars: Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Steve Harris
Votes: 70,994 | Gross: $69.49M
Director: Gerard McMurray
10. Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary
A look at the history of black horror films and the role of African Americans in the film genre from the very beginning.
Director: Xavier Burgin | Stars: Rusty Cundieff, Ernest R. Dickerson, Robin R. Means Coleman, Jordan Peele
Votes: 2,093
Director: Xavier Burgin
11. Sweetheart (I) (2019)
PG-13 | 82 min | Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
A woman washes ashore a small uninhabited island after an accident. The situation turns from bad to worse when she realizes there is a mysterious creature hunting at night.
Director: J.D. Dillard | Stars: Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Andrew Crawford
Votes: 9,691
Director: J.D. Dillard
12. Atlantics (2019)
TV-14 | 106 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future. Among them is Souleiman, the lover of Ada, promised to another.
Director: Mati Diop | Stars: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore, Nicole Sougou
Votes: 10,499
Director: Mati Diop
13. Us (II) (2019)
R | 116 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Adelaide Wilson and her family are attacked by mysterious figures dressed in red. Upon closer inspection, the Wilsons realize that the intruders are exact lookalikes of them.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker
Votes: 340,947 | Gross: $175.08M
Director: Jordan Peele
14. Bad Hair (2020)
Unrated | 102 min | Comedy, Horror, Music
In 1989 an ambitious young woman gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career may come at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.
Director: Justin Simien | Stars: Zaria Kelley, Corinne Massiah, Elle Lorraine, Moses Storm
Votes: 4,327
Director: Justin Simien
15. His House (2020)
TV-14 | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A refugee couple makes a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, but then they struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface.
Director: Remi Weekes | Stars: Sope Dirisu, Wunmi Mosaku, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba, Matt Smith
Votes: 48,435
Director: Remi Weekes
16. Candyman (2021)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
A sequel to the horror film Candyman (1992) that returns to the now-gentrified Chicago neighborhood where the legend began.
Director: Nia DaCosta | Stars: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo
Votes: 75,730 | Gross: $61.19M
Director: Nia DaCosta
17. Nope (2022)
R | 130 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott
Votes: 265,638 | Gross: $123.28M
Director: Jordan Peele
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