This February, Midnight Social Distortion will be celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black horror characters, in particular Black horror survivors, throughout the twenty-eight day period. Each day will feature one black male and one black female survivor in horror and sci-fi to bring light to the positive, albeit still problematic, black champions of representation in horror. Some disclaimers first: obvious spoilers ahead, and not all horror survivors will be featured this go round, but will appear in later posts down the line.
Jeryline (Jada Pinkett Smith)
Character Arc:
Doing community service to fulfill a court ordered sentence, Jeryline wanted to travel the world and be surrounded by the latest fashions. Instead she ended up being the de facto maid for a rundown boarding house in the middle of nowhere occupied by misfits of all types. Head strong and slightly hot tempered, Jeryline just wanted to escape her past and run towards her future. But she didn’t expect to become the next in a line of Immortal fighters tasked to battle demons hellbent on taking over the world. By the end of the hellish night at the boarding house, Jeryline would not only be THE last person standing, but she would also become the poster child of the ultimate Black Final Girl for years to come. And Muva.
Fun Trivia:
Demon Knight was directed by Ernest Dickerson, a black filmmaker. The role of Jeryline was originally supposed to be for a white woman, and even Cameron Diaz was considered for the role. However, Dickerson wanted another route and Pinkett won the role. Thank God…
Significance to Black Horror Characters: Jeryline was the first black horror character I saw to survive a horror movie 1) alone, and 2) fighting the entire time and not screaming every five minutes for someone to save her.
Final Thoughts:
Jeryline represented a rarity in horror films: a black woman surviving the horrific events in the movie while also being a headstrong, competent fighter the entire time. She had resolve (not letting the Collector posses her through mind games), she had brains (protecting the bus once she boarded it), and she had a strong will to survive (and travel the world as she planned to do). This is why Jeryline is on top of most black horror fans lists of favorite horror characters to make it to the credits without worrying about a gotcha scare to take away the fact that she did indeed walk away scot free.
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