Horror-streaming service Shudder, a favorite among genre enthusiasts, is about to roll out their first original documentary, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. This must-watch doc for cinephiles, film history buffs, and socially conscious people alike is based on Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman‘s book of the same name. The underrepresented area of study will be explored to examine the roles that Black people have played both on the screen and behind the camera for more than a century. I’m particularly interested in seeing how equality has slowly progressed since 1890 and which titles (like Night of the Living Dead and Get Out) will act as guideposts along the way.

Directed by Xavier Burgin (On Time) and featuring interviews with Ernest Dickerson (Bones), Rusty Cundieff (Tales from the Hood), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Tina Mabry (Mississippi Damned), Tony Todd (Candyman), Paula Jai Parker (Tales from the Hood), Tananarive Due (My Soul to Keep), and Dr. Coleman, Horror Noire arrives on Shudder February 7th.

Check out the first trailer for the must-watch documentary below:

Based on the acclaimed book of the same name by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, HORROR NOIRE takes a critical look at a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and embraced both black filmmakers and black audiences.

Dr. Coleman is an executive producer on the documentary, along with Tananarive Due, Phil Nobile Jr. (the current editor-in-chief of Fangoria, who knows a thing or two about horror), and producer/co-writer Ashlee Blackwell, who runs Graveyard Shift Sisters. Since Nobile Jr. and Blackwell are also contributors to Birth.Movies.Death, BMD also got to chat with Blackwell for some more insight into the project.

If you’re interested in picking up Dr. Coleman’s book, be sure to check out its synopsis at the purchase link here: