Stream to Scream: Horror Noire and Ghost Summer

 

Horror often puts a supernatural mask on our own very real fears, exploring our own very real phobias through a narrative that we convince ourselves is trapped in its pages and can’t escape them once the book is closed. And we can also close the newspaper, turn off social media, but that news, and the consequences of what’s happening, is still out there. Many times, horror often creates a more palpable way to consider and even discuss these real world terrors by putting them in the guise of a killer clown of vengeful spirit. A master of this is Tananarive Due, who has not only written scholarly works on the genre, but is also an accomplished author of horror fiction. Her skills in relevant and revealing storytelling are revealed in the anthology movie Horror Noire and in Due's short story collection Ghost Summer.

Following up on the Horror Noire documentary that looks at the many black voices in horror, this anthology that shares the same name features six supernatural stories that explore contemporary societal issues and monsters that may or may not be supernatural (the first entry “The Lake” is a prime example of this). The stories run the gamut from Southern Gothic tales like “Bride Before You” and more comedic horror fare in “Sundown.” As with many anthology stories, the quality of the tales can be uneven, with “Brand of Evil” and “Daddy” being some of the lesser quality ones, but all the stories do evoke a moral  in a way that doesn’t sound pedantic, which is a true accomplishment in storytelling.

Ghost Summer is an obvious collection to link with this movie anthology because Due’s story “The Lake” can be found at the beginning of the book. While “The Lake” tricks the reader into sympathizing with the monster who is also the protagonist, stories like “Summer” explore how our own emotional burdens can create monstrous thoughts. There are also stories that look at the pervading effects of America’s history of racism. The story “Ghost Summer” excavates the consequences of a town’s brutally racist past with a breezy coming-of-age tale about a boy determined to discover ghosts on his grandparents’ property. “Free Jim’s Mine,” on the other hand, is a historical tale that explores how freedom can come with a very terrible price. “Trial Day” explores what black people in the racist South to be if not accepted then at least tolerated. Due’s fiction and Horror Noire both explore darker parts of our history that might make some people uncomfortable, but the fact that these feelings and attitudes are still rippling across current events means they are still worth tackling.