8 Horror Movies With Surprising Deeper Meanings
1. Demon Knight Broke Racial Barriers
Tales from the Crypt is a television series that aired on HBO in the late 80s and early 90s that paved the way for HBO to become the network known for supernatural creatures having sex and uncensored violence, a torch that continued to be carried next by True Blood and then by Game of Thrones. In 1995, the world decided that Tales from the Crypt's nudity and violence could not be confined to the small screen and Demon Knight was made.
The most anyone takes away from Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight is usually just a cheesy good time, however, the movie is actually exemplary of the way race should be represented in horror films.
The film is helmed by a black director, a rarity in 90s Hollywood. Demon Knight also features what is likely the first black “final girl” in Jada Pinkett-Smith, and no one in the film feels the need to constantly point out she is black. She just so happens to be a black character in a horror movie, with none of the tropes or stereotypes that usually entails.
Demon Knight was already an obscenely underrated horror movie featuring a great cast, including William Sadler taking his role way to seriously, Billy Zane at his Billy Zaniest and Pinkett-Smith knocking it out of the damn park. Considering its historical context, it may just be one of the best horror movies of the last 30 years.