This “Revolutionary” Creature Feature Streaming On Shudder Gave Us an Iconic Final Girl
There are far too few Black final girls in horror. I doubt I’m blowing your mind with that statement. For every Black survivor of a genre film, there are a hundred white women taking down the killer. Often, their POC best friends sacrifice their own lives to save them. Cue the eye roll.
The excellent documentary, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, explored this very topic. In it, Ernest R. Dickerson’s Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight gets a good amount of discussion time, in part for one very important reason…it features one of the few—and iconic—Black final girls of the genre. And if you’ve managed to miss it, kiddies, it’s now streaming on Shudder for your viewing pleasure.
What’s Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight About?
Based on the TV series Tales from the Crypt, we meet Brayker (William Sadler), an immortal warrior dubbed a Demon Knight. He’s on the run from The Collector (Billy Zane), a high-level demon hellbent on retrieving a key containing the blood of Christ. With it, demons will once again rule the universe. Our hero eventually finds himself in the middle of nowhere at a bed and breakfast. The small group of patrons there doesn’t know it yet, but hell is about to arrive on their doorstep. Can they survive the night, or will they lose their souls in the ultimate battle of good vs evil?
An Iconic Black Final Girl
Amongst the cast of charismatic characters is Jeryline (Jada Pinkett Smith). One of the earliest film roles of her career, Jada brings a resourceful yet vulnerable presence to the film that draws the audience into this woman who shatters all convention. Clad in a white tank top and later covered in blood, she smashed onto the scene as a Black final girl when there was little to speak of.
Dread Central’s own Sharai Bohannon recently wrote about how Demon Knight was “revolutionary” for this, adding that the character works because “Dickerson and Pinkett refused to fall victim to the trending Black woman stereotypes of the era. They gave us a character instead of a caricature”.
Writer Vanessa Maki has also weighed in on the subject for Dread Central, calling Jeryline the “ultimate 90s final girl,” who avoids the strong Black woman stereotype and is “allowed to be visibly emotional, scared, courageous and strong when needed”.
We at Dread Central cannot praise Jeryline enough. Add in that Demon Knight also happens to be a scream loaded with delicious creature effects, and this is one you need to check out immediately on Shudder. You can also pick up this cult classic as a gorgeous ghoul-ector’s edition from Scream Factory.
It’s time more of you gave Jeryline her well-earned flowers.
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