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.
Simone Bethson (Tanedra Howard)
Character Arc:
Being a predatory loan lender is grounds for someone to fuck you up. Simone was one of those predatory lenders who ended up becoming the prey once Jigsaw got a hold of her. Having to chop off her arm to win one of Jigsaw’s diabolical traps, Simone survived her encounter with the King of Salty and lived to tell her story twice. Hopefully this was a lesson learned to not steal from or prey on the poor.
Fun Trivia
Tanedra Howard won the role of Simone by competing in a VH1 reality season called Scream Queens (not related to the FOX show of the same name), where challenges put the contestants in horror movie scenarios. So technically, Tanedra survived that show and Jigsaw.
Simone also appeared in Saw: The Final Chapter in a Jigsaw victims’ support group, making her tied with Reese Wilson (Urban Legend and Urban Legends: Final Cut) in coming back to a sequel and not dying.
Final Thoughts
Seeing Simone survive a Saw film was like seeing a unicorn frolicking in the meadow, a rare and beautiful sight. After enduring black folk get their throat slit, gutted, shot, and twisted every possible like a Stretch Armstrong doll by Jigsaw’s MO, I expected to see something just as gruesome to happen to Ms. Bethson. Luckily that wasn’t the case. Plus when you think about it, coming out only losing a limb is pretty much the best anyone can do in a Saw film, and the fact that Simone accomplished this feat and make it through two Saw movies is simply groundbreaking. Truly. Honestly…
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