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.
Sherman “Preacher” Dudley (LL Cool J)
Character Arc:
All Preacher wanted to do was cook his ass off while praising the Lord with his pet parrot on a research facility in the middle of the ocean. But no. People had to play God with one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet and he lost his bird over it. And nearly lost his own life as well. Thankfully, Preacher was resourceful enough to become one of two last men standing, because, let’s be honest, when Samuel L. Jackson bit the dust, we didn’t think he had a prayer to survive.
Fun Trivia:
Preacher was originally supposed to die, but director Renny Harlin – after demanding the studio to hire LL Cool J – decided to expand the character’s role to the very end of the film.
Based on the DVD commentary, Samuel L. Jackson was originally set to play Preacher, but his management team wasn’t cool about him playing a chef. Therefore, Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for the actor.
Final Thoughts:
In some respects, Preacher was basically the audience partaking in the film’s events. He voiced what we were thinking, and he stayed as far away from the drama as possible. It’s crazy that he’s one of the most recognizable black horror survivors, but that isn’t a bad thing. Just know that plenty came before him to show the world that black horror characters can partake in the action, and survive.
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