Scream Queens! 15 Black Horror Film Leading Ladies Who Had Us Shook

Spooky season seems to always be in the atmosphere, whether it be the month of October, a very ironic Friday the 13th — hint! hint!— or the horrors of spending yet another dreaded Valentine’s Day alone. Then again, there’s always all the ghoulish festivities leading up to Halloween that make it all worthwhile!

One tradition that will always be on the schedule from season to season is a good horror movie marathon, and of course we have a special appreciation for the ones starring our favorite Black Hollywood stars.

Extra points if a leading lady is at the forefront of that fear!

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Women have done a lot to break barriers in the film industry throughout cinematic history, and we’ve seen that expressed in various ways when it comes to the horror genre. Whether playing the unfortunate victim or the ultimate villain of the situation, Black women in specific have represented on all levels of the “scare spectrum” in films that are considered classics, whether they had us begging for more or begging for it to stop.

Back in October 2021, Tyler Perry announced that he was teaming up with popular supernatural film production company Blumhouse for what will soon be released as the upcoming Chloe Bailey-starring thriller, Help, directed by Malcolm D. Lee. While we’re sure Perry is a genius at this point when it comes to making movies, he might need a few pointers as he dives deeper into the genre. Sure, he’s done a few quality thrillers with 2018’s Acrimony and A Fall From Grace in 2020, but this might be his first step towards giving us full slasher scenes!

In the event that he’s ready to go for the gore and needs some inspiration, we put together a roundup of 15 Black actresses that had us biting our nails as the leads in a handful of unforgettable scary movies.

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From vampire queens like Aaliyah and Grace Jones to game-changing “Final Girls” like Brandy and Sanaa Lathan, take a look back on 15 of the scariest sistas on film to get you in the mood for any spooky season:

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• Scream Queens! 15 Black Horror Film Leading Ladies Who Had Us Shook
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1. Vonetta McGee, ‘Blacula’ (1972)

Say what you want about the blaxploitation era, but Blacula was not only quite entertaining but inspired the idea of Black horror films in general. On Vonetta’s part, she was just sensational on all levels with her Afrocentric presentation.