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garfield_furby's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
vacantbones's review against another edition
4.0
Genuinely an excellent, must-read book for horror fans. Though the utilization of lists leads to a repetitive summarization of certain movie plots, the meat of the book is really just so interesting and important.
lalawoman416's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Repetitive. This honestly could have been a long form essay.
katiescho741's review against another edition
4.0
The tone of this book is bang on - plenty of information but delivered with a dash of dry humour, which makes it a pleasure to read.
Some of the chapters were more interesting than others, but overall this was a fascinating look at black cinema and black people in cinema. I enjoyed the discussions about hood horror, the black stereotypes that still exist today, and even how traditionally black and African religions have been used as horror tropes.
I liked the list pages dotted throughout each chapter, and that the authors are objective about various black horror films - there's no blind praising or worshipping certain films, and even B-movies from the 00s get their dues!
A great read for any horror fan.
Some of the chapters were more interesting than others, but overall this was a fascinating look at black cinema and black people in cinema. I enjoyed the discussions about hood horror, the black stereotypes that still exist today, and even how traditionally black and African religions have been used as horror tropes.
I liked the list pages dotted throughout each chapter, and that the authors are objective about various black horror films - there's no blind praising or worshipping certain films, and even B-movies from the 00s get their dues!
A great read for any horror fan.
emily_gaynier's review against another edition
4.0
If I had a nickel for every time I've read a book analizing horror movies (even though I don't like watching movies and horror gives me nightmares) I'd have two nickels
maireadsbooks's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
I’m not the target audience for this book, and that’s on me. I’m not a horror movie girl, but thought this book would be more general. I felt my lack of normal really hindered my enjoyment of the book. For the films I’ve seen I enjoyed the analysis, and the general discussion.
katnortonwriter's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
At times, I found the organization of this a little hard to follow, but I will admit... I haven't watched a lot of movies. I mean that in a general sense, although horror is a genre I really enjoy, so I had seen more of the movies discussed here than I expected.
I really loved "It Came from the Closet," a queer anthology about horror that was one of my favorite reads last year. I'd seen even fewer of those movies, but I really enjoyed the analysis, so not having seen films isn't necessarily an issue for me. For the most part, I found Means and Harris's analyses of tropes and stereotypes to be pretty easy to follow based on the descriptions included in the book. Likewise, most of their takeaways apply to other genres of media (e.g., books, which I read in abundance), so while I was sometimes bewildered by their tongue-in-cheek plot summaries, I could still follow the thread of their argument. I expect that true film buffs will catch more Easter eggs than I did.
All this to say that, while this book was not what I expected---there were so many lists of films that fall into each given category, and sometimes into more than one category---I still enjoyed the writing style and the overall discussion of Blackness as it is portrayed in horror films of every flavor. The authors include a lot of their own commentary within the text, which sometimes was confusing if I hadn't seen the movie in question, but which in most cases made it feel like two friends were talking to me about their hyperfixations. xD
I did write down a few titles that they described/recommended, although, spoiler alert: many of the films they discuss have PROBLEMS. This does get a tiny bit intersectional, especially toward the end, although I'd definitely say that it focuses on film analysis more than social justice issues... it's thoughtful but still lighter fare, and the humor adds to that tone. It took me months to read this, going chapter by chapter and then setting it aside for a while, but I don't think it's designed to sit down and chug through it anyway.
I really loved "It Came from the Closet," a queer anthology about horror that was one of my favorite reads last year. I'd seen even fewer of those movies, but I really enjoyed the analysis, so not having seen films isn't necessarily an issue for me. For the most part, I found Means and Harris's analyses of tropes and stereotypes to be pretty easy to follow based on the descriptions included in the book. Likewise, most of their takeaways apply to other genres of media (e.g., books, which I read in abundance), so while I was sometimes bewildered by their tongue-in-cheek plot summaries, I could still follow the thread of their argument. I expect that true film buffs will catch more Easter eggs than I did.
All this to say that, while this book was not what I expected---there were so many lists of films that fall into each given category, and sometimes into more than one category---I still enjoyed the writing style and the overall discussion of Blackness as it is portrayed in horror films of every flavor. The authors include a lot of their own commentary within the text, which sometimes was confusing if I hadn't seen the movie in question, but which in most cases made it feel like two friends were talking to me about their hyperfixations. xD
I did write down a few titles that they described/recommended, although, spoiler alert: many of the films they discuss have PROBLEMS. This does get a tiny bit intersectional, especially toward the end, although I'd definitely say that it focuses on film analysis more than social justice issues... it's thoughtful but still lighter fare, and the humor adds to that tone. It took me months to read this, going chapter by chapter and then setting it aside for a while, but I don't think it's designed to sit down and chug through it anyway.