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In some of our favorite horror films nobody's fate is certain and black characters usually do not survive.
There are several slasher flicks with token black characters who usually die early on in the film, from the untimely death of Jada Pinkett Smith's character in a movie theater in "Scream 2" to Mekhi Phifer's character being impaled with a hook in "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer." But there have been some exceptions.
Black horror films began in the '70s during the blaxploitation film era, and black actors were finally placed in major roles. This was considered revolutionary for the time but the characters still perpetuated negative stereotypes of either being violent or hyper-sexualized.
Despite the cliché characters in "Blacula," "Blackenstein" and "Night of the Living Dead," all of these films defied conventions with the portrayal of its black leading actors.
The 2006 film "Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror" closely resembles the popular series "Tales From The Crypt" and proves that even today horror films with black casts capitalize on urbanizing mainstream scary movies or TV shows by putting a spin on them.
Here are some of the most iconic black characters in scary movies, and no worries there are no spoilers!
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