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.
Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala)
Character Arc:
A perfect blend of Shaft and Van Helsing, Dr. Gordon Thomas was the first person to smell supernatural fuckery afoot when bodies started turning up with puncture marks in their necks and drained of blood. He didn’t need a Scooby Doo gang to determine that what they were dealing with in L.A. at the time was vampires. Thomas was also aware that the brother walking around with a cape looking out of place as fuck has to be the main suspect. Enlisting the help of his girlfriend Michelle and his friend and police lieutenant Peters, the trio set out to take Blacula down before he turned more of the L.A. denizens into bloodthirsty vamps. He didn’t expect to lose his girlfriend’s sister Tina in the battle. But nonetheless Thomas saved the day, and the night.
Final Thoughts
The fact that Dr. Gordon Thomas saw what the situation was at hand, utilizing rare common sense and suspension of belief for the sake of safety, makes him a certified hero in the veins of Duane Jones’s Ben. Usually it is the black man who either does not believe in the vampires and other supernatural events taking place, or are the ones scared shitless. Instead, Rasulala’s Thomas was a great foil for William Marshall’s Blacula and if this movie is ever remade, I pray they retain his character. Just drop the “F” bombs. And I don’t mean “fuck.”
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