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.
Anne (Alex Datcher)
Character Arc:
Working a night shift in a deserted gas station is not the most desirable gig, but Anne was a working woman trying to put herself through school and needed the coin. With her first night being in the midst of a serial killer spree, Anne probably should’ve had someone come keep her company, but instead she was subjected to the company of weirdos, drunks, and the homicidal maniac who tried his best to make her the latest trophy of his murder spree. Thankfully someone left their credit card and came back to retrieve it, knocking the killer oof his game long enough for Anne to eviscerate him in a more grotesque manner that would’ve probably made the maniac proud.
Fun Trivia
Anne was working outside of Haddonfield, which is Michael Myers’ slayground. The news reports didn’t mention Michael possibly due to rights issues (or the fact that during the time of the release of Body Bags, Haddonfield wasn’t celebrating Halloween), but it was a nice shout out from John Carpenter to remind people who came up with the small town with kids up and down the street enjoying Halloween.
Carpenter also recreated the shot from Halloween when Laurie is unaware that a Michael is rising up behind her.
Final Thoughts
I was slick shocked that Anne actually survived her ordeal in Body Bags, because the other protagonists in the anthology didn’t fare too well. But she’s a black final girl and kicked Robert Carradine’s ass and made him work for his kill, which he luckily didn’t get. Come on and take your seat at the Black Horror Survivors table, Anne!