Black People In Horror Movies?

Question

Who and when did this "Black people die first in movie nonsense start?
I always thought it was stupid since I can barely remember a movie where black people actually did first.

Here's a list. In some of these they survive & in others, many other people die before they do. In most cases, it's someone from another race (the random Latina or the nerdy Asain/wannabe black Asian kids)
Alien vs. Predator~Sanaa Latham is the ONLY human being who survives!
Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick
Anaconda and Anacondas: Hunt for the Black Orchid
Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
Night of the Living Dead (original and remake)
The Fog (2005)
Candyman~Tony Todd as Candyman survives for the sequels.
Species
Scream 2
Poltergeist
Pulse (2006)
The Beastmaster
The Stand (TV miniseries)
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Voodoo Moon
Mindhunters
Deep Rising
Predator and Predator 2
Alien tetralogy
Urban Legend and Urban Legends: Final Cut
It (TV miniseries)
Ganja & Hess
Jaws: The Revenge
Beware! The Blob aka Son of the Blob
Night of the Cobra Woman
Black Mamba
The Mummy Returns
King Kong (1933) and King Kong (Peter Jackson remake)
Deep Blue Sea
The Bermuda Depths
House of Wax (remake)
Live & Let Die
Blacula~It is his decision to (supposedly) end his life, but he rises for the sequel, Scream Blacula Scream.
Gothika
Terminator and T2: Judgment Day
Leviathan
Santa's Slay
Phantoms
King of the Zombies
I Walked With a Zombie
The Believers
Serpent & the Rainbow
Pulse (2006)
Deep Impact
Kingdom of the Spiders
One Dark Night
The Shining (miniseries)
Damien: The Omen 2
Firestarter
Vamp
Chronicles of the Mermaid 1: The She Creature
Time After Time
Mission to Mars
Queen of the Damned
The Breed
Blade trilogy
Hideaway
The Clairvoyant
What Lies Beneath
Gargoyles (TV movie)
Fallen
Sphere
The Supernaturals
From Dusk TIll Dawn and From Dusk TIll Dawn 3
The Omega Man
I Am Legend~Will Smith and Charlton Heston versions
I, Robot
The World, the Flesh & the Devil~One of the last three people left in the series is a black man who does not get killed off!
Bones (2001)
The Bone Snatcher
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ghosts of Mars
Sugar Hill
Snakes on a Plane
The Twilight People
The Beast Must Die
The Vindicator
The Crow series
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
The Golden Child
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
Phantom Killer
The Spider (1945)
Revenge of the Zombies
Resident Evil: Armageddon (I haven't seen the other two.)
Sorceress (1995)
Event Horizon
The Matrix series
Vegas Vampires
Bad Dreams (1988)
The People Under the Stairs
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Q aka The Winged Serpent
The Craft

These movies date from more than 60 years ago & I'm sure they're many more that I haven't named. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

Yes there is a pattern here, not just in horror movies but in all types of movies. I think its a spin off of the old "token black" thing. The non-black directors put blacks in a non-black setting to appear "progressive" in their racial attitudes. But blacks don't really fit into that setting. So death is used to remove characters played by blacks. I don't watch horror movies. In non-horror movies the "token black actors" play black people whose friends are non-black.



I feel sure some producers could make themselves big money by making movies with a black settings. I feel sure that would be a huge breathe of fresh air for black movie fans. To see movies about their world.

Answer 2

28 Days Later

House On Haunted Hill (the remake)



I think that stereotype arose from the olden days when they were starting to introduce diversity into their casts, but the main characters (and usually the sole survivors) of mega-popular movies were white. The "black person dies first" was an exaggeration, maybe, of the fact that if anyone survived it was usually a white person.



Even then there were plenty of exceptions.



I read through the list several times. I didn't see these titles, but I could have missed them. Apologies if you did have them listed already.

Answer 3

~ It is nonsense. I've seen that question a thousand times here. Most people don't watch enough films and try to stereotype everything