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Best Black Halloween Movies Picked by NMBLC

October 24, 2023
Shannon Moreau

halloween

Just in time for Halloween weekend, the New Mexico Black Leadership Council folks share their favorite Black Halloween movies.

This week on the blog, NMBLC picks the five best Black Halloween movies to get your spooky season movie night right. The article “Talkin’ to the Screen on Halloween” first appeared in the October 2023 edition of NMBLC’s monthly newspaper, the UpLift Chronicles.

For more great articles about the people, places, and happenings of New Mexico’s Black communities, subscribe to the UpLift Chronicles.

The following piece was written by Shannon Moreau.

Talkin’ to the Screen on Halloween

NMBLC Folks Pick the Best Black Halloween Movies

Night of the Living Dead

This zombie classic is one of Deputy Director Kindra Hill’s favorite horror movies. It starred a Black actor as the hero, a big deal in 1968. “The script didn’t even describe the character as Black,” says Kindra. “Duane Jones was cast because, as said by director George A. Romero, ‘Jones was the best actor we met to play Ben.’”

J.D.’s Revenge

“Unconventional choice,” says UpLift Director Jack Champagne. Glynn Turman and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this 1976 horror Blaxploitation flick about a law student who gets possessed by the spirit of a WWII era Bourbon Street hustler. “It’s just my kind of silly.”

Eve’s Bayou

Not feeling the hard core horror vibe? Lead Communications Coordinator Hal David Roberts has your back. This 1997 Southern gothic has a powerhouse cast: Jurnee Smollett, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Diahann Carroll. It’s also got seriously dark themes. “I definitely watched it when I was too young.”

They Cloned Tyrone

“The craziest mash-up of sci-fi, comedy, horror, and Blackness I’ve seen since Get Out,” says Chronicles Managing Editor Sean Cardinalli. Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, and John Boyega are the unlikely trio thrust into a government conspiracy caper. “It’s eerie and entertaining while acknowledging every Black viewer with a wry wink.”

Get Out

“I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this,” says Cathryn McGill, NMBLC Founder/CEO. “But it was FIYAH!!!!” Jordan Peele’s directorial debut made a star of Daniel Kaluuya and spawned deep conversations about racial microaggressions. “I know so many people who are drinking the tea and living in the sunken place.”