i dunno

[twister#1]

why is it that in most horror films or like the horror genre the black man always dies ,why is that.i cant really think of any horror film where the black man survives,can u think of any?

for the record i am black

[Chris100682]

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle???

[jamesy boy]

Candyman!

[marwel7]

In Star Trek The Red Shirt always dies and sometimes the Red Shirt is black.

In Evolution the black man quotes this very convention.

I'm not a horror film fan so this is all I contribute.

[feebal]

Didn't LL Cool J survive in Deep Blue Sea? Or was it Halloween H20?

In terms of why the black man always dies, I suppose it's just lazy Hollywood script-writing informed by some form of conservatism. So in the most formulaic horrors you know that someone who smokes pot will get offed, a promiscuous girl will get offed, probably a fat Irish cop who eats donuts will get offed. It's pure exploitation - because that's what horror films are.

Some films have had fun with these conventions (someone mentioned Evolution, and the Scream films are all about this) or turned the idea on its head to make a political point (such as Night of the Living Dead where a resourceful black hero survives the zombies only to get shot by the local rednecks - sorry to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it). The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre also sees the last girl standing rescued by a black truck driver.

But basically Hollywood still often sees black characters as supporting characters. So if you want to see more black people alive at the end of a horror film they ought to be giving us more black heroes.

[jamesy boy]

Maybe you should write a film where the hero is a black ABer and saves the day with the aid of his short, white, speccy Northern sidekick, who could be called Jamesy Boy.

I think it's cos most horror film writers are youg white men, and so tend to make their protagonists the same.

[rancidapples]

doesn't the black guy survive in the remake of house on haunted hill?

[wooo12]

yeh the guy in haunted hill lives.

[campbellking]

Probably the same reason as in the sort of gentle plod-a long whodunnits made in America it's always the bloke with the English accent who did it.

[oldbadmod]

deep blue sea LL cool j survived did he not

[twister#1]

hmm yes but if u remember thats a 1 off cause samuel jackson died instead

[kevb0444]

erm.....i think you all forgot about the daddy of all horror films "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) where Kentotis "Ken" Foree plays a member of a Swat Team. He survives.