28 Years Later, the answer to the cure can be found in George A. Romero’s 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead.
by Tracie Reddick
Psychiatrist William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs claimed living in an oppressive, racially-charged society could release the beast in black men, causing them to unleash an unfathomable fury upon society.
Exposed in their book, Black Rage (1968), it’s a theory that was embraced by serial sniper Mark Essex, who killed nine people and wounded 12 others in 1972.
In 1993, lawyers used the concept as a defense for Colin Ferguson’s shooting rampage on a Long Island Railroad car, which left six people dead and 19 others wounded.
Lauren Hill evoked the concept in her 2014 song, Black Rage, and the idea was recently brought up after Gwendolyn White, 57, shot two lawyers outside a Raleigh, North Carolina, courthouse after her case involving a neighborhood dispute was dismissed.
Before any of that, it became the model for George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), which was filmed during the backdrop of the civil unrest of the turbulent 1960s.
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Like the Planet of the Apes, also released in 1968, Night of the Living Dead was a cautionary tale that fed into mainstream fears of a black uprising.
- Night of the Living Dead. Prior to Romero’s landmark film, black men in horror films were typically depicted as entertaining jesters or violent molesters who preyed upon white women. Then along came Duane Jones’ character Ben, a belligerent, unbossed, gun-toting badass.
In a twisted turn of events, the hero was turned into a villain. Or simply put, a nigga with an attitude who was killed by the police. It sent a not so subtle message about what happens to black men who step out of line. From that point on, black men became the prototype for raging black zombies.
- 28 Days Later (2002). A picture is worth a thousand words and the most memorable zombie image in the Danny Boyle directed film written by Alex Garland, was Mailer. Portrayed by Marvin Campbell, Mailer was a mix of old and new stereotypes, turning the scary, bug-eyed antics of Mantan Mooreland into the bloodshot pupils of the furious, feared fiend. Not to mention, the film took as back to using monkeys as metaphors for black people. If you recall, the virus was created in a lab where primates were injected with rage. Mailer was later used as a guinea pig to determine the life cycle of the virus.
- 28 Weeks Later. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s infected tale revamped the image of Ben, allowing black men to be fully represented as hero’s rather than villainous tropes. Unlike Ben, neither character is killed in reel time, thus preserving their dignity. Although it doesn’t receive the credit it deserves, 28 Weeks represented a more logical follow-up to the original film than the subsequent 28 Years Later movies.
- 28 Years Later (2025). Boyle and Garland revived the old trope of the monstrous, black male. Samson represents the feared dark menace that needs to be wiped from society. Big dick swinging, he is the epitome of the over-sexualized, violent, black brute running wild and creating mayhem. How do you contain such a threat? Well, shooting it is overkill. But, taming it, now that’s a thought that’s been years in the making. The Bone Temple (2026) explores a solution for a rage antidote via drug sedation, thus turning Samson into the docile darkie of yore, much like the women reverted to subservient roles in the 28 Years Later sequel.
That being said, it will be interesting to see the next step in Samson’s evolution, which will have lasting implications of how black men are viewed in horror films.
