Four Reasons You Need To Read ‘The Black Guy Dies First’
Girl Thats Scary
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From the minds who brought us Horror Noire comes The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema From Fodder To Oscar. Written by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris, The Black Guy Dies First delivers analysis, humor, history, and a ton of movie references for horror fans to check out (or avoid). Since I opened the book, I haven’t been able to put it down. This book is a must-read for horror fans and students of film alike. Here are four reasons to dive into The Black Guy Dies First.
Information and accessibility
As an educator, I have a lot of respect for informative texts that make learning easy for the reader. The Black Guy Dies First does an excellent job of explaining the major points of the book using photos, timelines, examples, and humor. It keeps the reader engaged, which is half the battle for educators. The book offers quite a bit of information, but it never feels like you a reading a dry article from JSTOR. It balances personality with peer-reviewed works and direct sources of information.
Humor
I often say “ My laughbox is broken”. I don’t always connect with comedic texts or media. However, The Black Guy Dies First is hilarious. Sometimes I put the book down to laugh. From the pop culture references and comical comparisons to the descriptions of the faux funerals for each Black horror movie death, the use of humor keeps the reader drawn in. Wit is woven in through the informative text to keep the reader laughing and learning the whole time.
Analysis
There is a difference between presenting information and analyzing it. The Black Guy Dies First does both wonderfully. The writers give nuanced perspectives with concrete examples, historical context, and references to their lived experience as Black people with a deep connection to horror. You can’t hop on Wikipedia and receive the same nuance and care that Dr. Coleman and Harris put into this text. They are doing important work.
A Curated Watchlist
If you are new to horror, or Black horror specifically, this book is a fantastic starting point. It’s exhausting to navigate through tens of thousands of movies to find the Black characters, especially the characters that live to see the end. The Black Guy Dies First offers curated lists of movies focused on Black directors, deaths, tropes, and eras in horror. Readers can use this text to create a watchlist of movies to check out for future enjoyment or research.
I highly recommend The Black Guy Dies First. This book is available in bookstores, Amazon, Audible, or wherever you buy your books. It is an engaging journey through Black horror history that everyone, especially horror fans, should embark on.
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