Thread by @VanityFair

Fear can feed hate, prejudice & injustice. These storytellers—@victorlavalle, @TananariveDue, @BushRenz, @NiaDaCosta—are using fear to fight those things.

More on the Black Horror Renaissance: vntyfr.com/WmRrKG9

After Get Out, movies such as @antebellumfilm, the upcoming @CandymanMovie retelling, and other tales of terror and the macabre are part of a cultural exorcism centuries in the making: vntyfr.com/WmRrKG9

In the spirit of reclamation, Antebellum director @gerardbush used actual camera lenses from Gone With the Wind to make his slavery horror story:

“We need to correct the record with the same weapon that was used to misinform and mislead," says Bush. vntyfr.com/WmRrKG9

For director @NiaDaCosta, using the horror genre to tackle serious themes must be done with caution:

“Candyman’s about lynching—period... It was really important to very carefully balance the humanity and real life with the horror," DaCosta tells V.F. vntyfr.com/WmRrKG9

“People are beginning to understand the relationship between horror & processing universal emotions,” says
@TananariveDue

Her mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, adored the genre. "It was therapeutic to her, and helped her slough off some fear & anger”

.@victorlavalle's graphic novel Destroyer fuses #BlackLivesMatter with Frankenstein—following a grief-stricken scientist who resurrects her young son after he is murdered by police.

Today’s new wave of Black horror is building on a legacy of African American history in frightening screen stories—and growing larger, with each hit making Hollywood studios and book publishers eager for more. vntyfr.com/WmRrKG9