WHERE TRADITION MEETS TERROR
We believe that the power of horror lies not only in its ability to thrill and frighten but also in its capacity to reflect the complexities and diverse experiences of humanity.
Sacred Scares: 10 Indigenous Horror Films To Unsettle the Soul
From eerie folklore to contemporary nightmares, these must-watch movies provide a haunting glimpse into Indigenous perspectives on fear and the supernatural.
1. Slash/Back
If you loved 2011’s Attack the Block, you’re going to love Slash/Back. It offers the same gritty reality of marginalized youth whose experiences make them the unlikely heroes and saviors of their communities.
“When Maika and her ragtag friends discover an alien invasion in their tiny arctic hamlet, it’s up to them to save the day. Utilizing their makeshift weapons and horror movie knowledge, the aliens realize you don’t mess with girls from Pang.”
2. Crossers
Crossers is interesting because a lot of Native communities have found themselves in the position of deciding whether or not to watch episodes of popular ghost hunting shows that are exploring locations and topics that are considered taboo. I’m looking at you, Ghost Adventures! It’s this reality that makes Crossers such a horrific good time.
“You’re Native American. A story from your tribe is featured on a reality ghost chasing show amid controversy. You know you shouldn’t support it, but you decide to tune in anyways.”
3. The Smudging
The Smudging is one of my favorite Native horror flicks because it is set in an actual Native Community Center that is purported to be haunted and the crew did catch an unexplained entity while shooting the film. It adds to the creepy realism of this horror mockumentary that left some audiences unsure of whether it was an actual documentary or fictional film.
“A paranormal research group is called in to investigate the aggressive supernatural activity of a Native American cultural center.”
4.Blood Quantum
Essays could and have been written about the late Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum because it is such a layered film. It is not the typical zombie flick that strictly questions how survivors stay alive while keeping their humanity in tact, but questions the complexity of Indigenous identities and Blood Quantum in a world where only Indigenous people are immune.
“The dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi’kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.”
5. Violet
Violet is an unsettling exploration of how medical racism, sexism, and lateral violence was leveraged against Native women to discredit them and disappear them when necessary. It is a terrifying look at how the scars of yesterday’s injustices and violence bleed into our present and future.
“In 1984 a female patient known only as “subject 23″ escaped a mental institution. Three days later, her lifeless body was discovered under the home of her former doctor. Her death was never solved and forgotten. Thirty years later a mysterious box containing a secret recording or her last hours at the hospital resurfaces. Not the truth and perhaps something more sinister might be unleashed.”
6. Prey
Prey. I don’t even know where to begin with describing how incredibly important this film is, not just because it revitalized the Predator franchise, but in terms of the Native representation. It is an incredible showing of what can be done when Native people are allowed to represent themselves and their cultures. It’s been two years and it is still one of the movies that I find myself watching again and again.
“Naru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.”
7. These Walls
These Walls is really difficult to watch because it is a reminder that the real-life horrors that exist within our histories are more terrifying the horrors we can imagine, especially when they still have a powerful impact on our present day realities.
“Mary is catapulted into a horrific struggle to right old wrongs when she discovers the bones of the missing and murdered babies of an Indian residential school.”
8. Cornhusk
Nothing creeps me out more or has me on the verge of fearful tears than haunted dolls and creepy nuns. Cornhusk just happens to combine the two and will have you sleeping with the light on for nights to follow.
“A Native American family moves back to the reservation and recovers a doll buried on church grounds. Soon after strange demonic things start happening as the family discovers that the doll is from the Residential School era exposing all the horrors that the voiceless Native children have experienced. “
9. Trap Door in the Sun
Trap Door in the Sun is very cerebral and doesn’t relent in its quest to make you acknowledge the violent nature of colonization and the impact that it continues to have on Native communities. There is a very poignant scene that conveys the literal erasure of Native peoples and destruction of Native lands for the benefit of settler colonialism and capitalism.
“A Horror film about Colonization.”
10. Mirror Man
“Officer Jordan, a Native police officer, who is doubting her traditional faith, is called to a possible burglary but is met by a supernatural entity, Mirror Man, that leads her to a buried secret.”
A haunting, heart-wrenching movie from Ginew Benton that gives a glimpse into the horrors of the residential boarding school era and how recent discoveries of mass graves still impact and haunt Indigenous communities in the present.
Johnnie Jae is a rabble-rousing Otoe-Missouria & Choctaw artist, journalist, podcaster, and advocate. She is the Founder of A Tribe Called Geek and Grim Native.