We may truly be in a golden age for horror films — especially horror by Black creators.

Black voices and faces are underrepresented in the horror genre, both onscreen and in the director's chair. Fortunately, the recent success of films like Jordan Peele's "Get Out" (2017) and "Us" (2019) and Xavier Burgin's documentary "Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror" (2019) have helped shine a spotlight on some of the high points of the genre.

As we wait for more horror films to be released — including Nia DaCosta's highly anticipated "Candyman" remake — here are some of the best horror movies created by Black directors. 

William Crain's "Blacula" (1972) inspired a wave of Black-created horror films in the 1970s.

William Crain's feature directorial debut was the iconic blaxploitation film "Blacula," starring William Marshall.

Marshall played an African prince named Mamuwalde who is turned into a vampire against his will by Count Dracula and locked in a coffin for nearly 200 years. When he emerges, it is the 1970s and he has been transported to Los Angeles.

The film was a box-office success and won the award for best horror film at the Saturn Awards. It also spawned a sequel, "Scream Blacula Scream" (1973), and inspired a wave of Black horror films in the 1970s.

"Ganja and Hess" (1973) was restored with director Bill Gunn's original cut in 2018.

"Ganja and Hess" (alternately cut and renamed "Blood Couple"), was written and directed by playwright, actor, and novelist Bill Gunn and starred Duane Jones and Marlene Clark.

On the surface, the film is about a Black vampire couple: Ganja Meda (Clark) and Dr. Hess Green (Jones). Hess is a wealthy anthropologist who gains immortality when his assistant stabs him with an ancient blade. After waking up with a thirst for blood, he meets his now-former assistant's widowed wife, Ganja. 

Gunn's original film used vampires to tell a story about drug addiction. But "Ganja and Hess" was recut after premiering at Cannes Film Festival, and the version that was released in theaters played up the sensual scenes of the film.

According to The Village Voice, the director requested that his name be left off of the recut version.

In 2018, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and The Film Foundation restored the film with its original cut.

Rusty Cundieff's "Tales from the Hood" (1995) is now considered a cult classic, even if it wasn't an instant success in the 1990s.

"Tales from the Hood" is a horror-comedy anthology directed by Rusty Cundieff and cowritten by Cundieff and Darin Scott.

The frame story follows three men as they visit a mortuary in search of drugs. There they meet a quirky mortician named Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III) who tells them four stories about the recently deceased. The segments deal with social issues of racism, police brutality, domestic abuse, and gang violence.

Due to poor marketing and a studio that just "didn't get it" according to Cundieff, the film did not do that well at the box office in 1995.

But it has since become a cult hit and spawned a sequel.

"Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight" (1995) by director Ernest R. Dickerson was the first feature film in the HBO franchise.

Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson and starring Jada Pinkett Smith, William Sadler, and Billy Zane, "Demon Knight" is another horror film that is now considered a cult classic — but was not well-received upon its initial release.

In the film, a town in New Mexico is caught in the middle of a hellish battle between The Collector (Zane) and Frank Brayker (Sadler), the keeper of an ancient key with the power to start the apocalypse.

It was the first feature film under HBO's "Tales from the Crypt" banner and is remembered as one of the first (and still one of the few) horror movies to have a Black "final girl."

Kasi Lemmons' classic drama "Eve's Bayou" (1997) is preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

It's officially listed online as a drama, but "Eve's Bayou" still earns a place on any horror list.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Lisa Nicole Carson, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lynn Whitfield, and Samuel L. Jackson, the film is about a 10-year-old girl named Eve Batiste (Smollett-Bell) and her family in 1960s Louisiana.

The adultery, voodoo, and other elements come second to the well-acted family drama.

"There has never been a film quite like Kasi Lemmons' shimmering 1996 [sic] debut film," critic Kevin Thomas wrote for the Los Angeles Times in 1998.

Decades after its release, the film was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Snoop Dogg starred in Dickerson's 2001 horror flick, "Bones."

With thematic and aesthetic nods to the blaxploitation era, Dickerson's "Bones" starred Snoop Dogg as the silky-haired Jimmy Bones, a neighborhood legend who was murdered in 1979 and returns to exact his revenge.

The film also starred Clifton Powell, Pam Grier, and Khalil Kain.

If you want to see Snoop stroll through a smoke-filled alley while holding the still-talking head of one of his victims, then this is the film for you.

Peele's "Get Out" (2017) was nominated for four Oscars.

Peele's directorial debut is a critic favorite with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes. 

If you still haven't seen "Get Out," here's a spoiler-free synopsis: An interracial couple, Chris and Rose (Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams), visit Rose's family for the first time. What begins as an awkward encounter with a well-off white family escalates into something more sinister.

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture, and Peele won for best original screenplay.

 

"The First Purge" (2018) by director Gerard McMurray is the fourth film in the horror franchise.

"The First Purge" is the fourth film in the franchise and serves as a prequel to the original "The Purge," released in 2013.

Directed by "Fruitvale Station" (2013) producer Gerard McMurray and starring Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, and Marisa Tomei, the film depicts the first contained Purge experiment in a predominantly Black neighborhood on Staten Island.

The basic premise is that for 12 hours, residents are free to commit any crime they want without repercussions. People can leave the island before The Purge begins, but if they stay (and survive) they receive a cash prize.

With a worldwide gross of nearly $140 million, it's essentially the most financially successful installment to date.

"Us" (2019) is another critically acclaimed horror movie from Peele.

Peele set the bar pretty high with "Get Out," so the pressure was on for his second film, "Us."

Starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex, the film follows a family on vacation as they are confronted by doppelgängers and, ultimately, the matriarch's past.

There is still a debate as to which of Peele's films is best, but both were critical and financial successes, and both require several viewings to unpack all of their references and themes.

Just make sure to steer clear of fun houses and mirrors after watching "Us."