SCREAMING STREAMING REVIEW - SHUDDER'S HORROR NOIRE
Lived experience is a great starting point for horror stories, and up until recently there has been a lack of diversity regarding the experiences of non-white folks. While there are examples of diversity in horror pre-2010 onward, it has never been embraced as closely as it has been the past few years. Hell, the recent popularity of shows like South Korea’s SQUID GAMES and Nia DaCosta’s CANDYMAN reboot serve as only a few examples of how the genre is starting to embrace narratives, characters, and points of view that it traditionally hasn’t. So after SHUDDER’S outstanding HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR documentary from 2019, it was only a matter of time that there was a follow up that put the spotlight on new stories from new filmmakers offering perspectives of horror from the Black experience. As a lover of anthology films I was genuinely excited to find that 2021’s HORROR NOIRE was adopting that approach, but the question remains; is this anthology a satisfying entry into a sub-genre known for its unevenness?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Showcasing stories of Black horror from Black directors and screenwriters, Horror Noire features six stories presented together as a two-hour film starring LESLEY-ANN BRANDT (Lucifer, Spartacus), LUKE JAMES (The Chi, Thoughts of a Colored Man), ERICA ASH (Survivor’s Remorse, A Black Lady Sketch Show), BRANDON MYCHAL SMITH (Four Weddings and a Funeral, You’re the Worst), SEAN PATRICK THOMAS (Macbeth, The Curse of La Llorona), PETER STORMARE (American Gods, Fargo), MALCOLM BARRETT (Genius: Aretha Franklin, Timeless), TONY TODD (Candyman, Night of the Living Dead), and RACHEL TRUE (The Craft, Half & Half), among others.
The new and adapted stories are written by husband-and-wife writing duo TANANARIVE DUE (My Soul to Keep, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror) and STEVEN BARNES (Lion’s Blood), EZRA CLAYTAN DANIELS (BTTM FDRS), VICTOR LAVALLE (The Ballad of Black Tom, The Changeling), SHERNOLD EDWARDS (All Rise, Anne with an E) and AL LETSON (Reveals). The six stories featured in the anthology are: “Daddy,” “Bride Before You,” “Brand of Evil,” “The Lake,” “Sundown” and “Fugue State.”
I think it’s best to start bluntly in saying that this was somewhat of a letdown. I had no real expectations of what this anthology was going to be like, so it wasn’t as if the film failed to meet certain expectations, it’s just that the stories all feel incomplete. That’s not to say that all the stories are bad, but they miss more often than hit. Before going into them though, it is worth mentioning that this is a few minutes shy of 2.5 hours. As far as anthology films go this might be the longest one out there, or at least the longest one I’ve ever watched to be sure. There is no overarching narrative binding the stories together, which is fine, and each story is presented almost episodically. I found the length of each story to be fine, but what I had issue with was the pacing of the majority of them.
The ones that stood out are easily the last one (SUNDOWN) and the third one (BRIDE BEFORE ME). While the former is the best of the bunch, and worth watching even on its own, the latter is a truly unique tale that blends history, perspective, and horror in a way that I found endearing and exciting. It also “goes there” when it comes to weird, and has an ending that left me scratching my head despite how much I enjoyed the journey. SUNDOWN is an absolute treat that takes a nasty bit of American history (Sundown towns) and merges it with a really great horror concept that we’ve seen before just not presented in this way. In fact, it’s the only story of the bunch that I felt hit all the marks that the anthology is intended to. The horror elements aren’t unique, but it’s how they are used in combination with the Black experience that make this one stand out. It’s good enough to warrant an entire feature-length film, but that could ruin the charm that it brings in it’s compact 25 +/- runtime. Almost all of these stories offer some sort of subtext about the Black experience, particularly in America. In that way they share something in common with the outstanding 1995 film TALES FROM THE HOOD. Some of the subtext was easier to pick up than others, but it’s there and adds depth to the anthology overall.
As far as the rest are concerned, where to even begin. The first story, THE LAKE, seems to end just as its getting started. It’s baffling because we spend so much time getting to know the character of the teacher, and we are treated to maybe 2 minutes of terror at the end. It’s also worth noting that this segment contains some highly questionable content that seems to place our protagonist as a pedophile. I don’t want to pass judgement, but I’m genuinely wondering what the filmmaker intended here with this aspect of their character. The second story, BRAND OF EVIL, is a step up from the first even if it does feel a bit silly until you get to the end reveal. This one felt most like an episode of SHUDDER’S CREEPSHOW series more than anything else. FUGUE STATE, the fourth entry, is frustrating because of how many loose ends it leaves. It almost feels like it was meant to be longer, but they had to shrink it down to fit into a specific runtime. This story throws so many ideas at you that it fails to explain or even deliver on that by the end you’re left wondering what the point of it all was. To its credit, RACHEL TRUE and TONY TODD are great even if the latter is sparingly used. The fifth story, DADDY, feels like an incomplete campfire tale. It spends a lot of time helping us understand the commitment that this dad has to his child, only to end so quickly and without any tension that I couldn’t help but think something was missing. I must commend the actors in each segment though as they all did great, the real culprit of quality lacking here is the storytelling. Perhaps there are things about these stories I’m missing, but it’s hard to tell.
LAST RITES
SHUDDER’S HORROR NOIRE anthology is more uneven than most anthologies despite some bright spots in the middle and end. At almost two and a half hours, it's a shame that there weren’t more stories that drew me into the perspective and world that some of the others create. I do hope they make more, just so long as they are better than these.
THE GORY DETAILS
Horror Noire is produced by Swirl Films, and Executive Producers include ID8 Multimedia’s SHELBY STONE and DEREK DUDLEY, in addition to ERIC TOMOSUNAS, founder of Swirl Films and RON ROBINSON. DR. ROBIN R. MEANS COLEMAN, author of the groundbreaking book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present, is consulting on the anthology, as well as Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror documentary producers ASHLEE BLACKWELL, PHIL NOBILE JR. and KELLY RYAN.
Where can you watch it?
SHUDDER’SHORROR NOIRE is streaming NOW on SHUDDER!
