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Beloved, directed by Jonathan Demme, is a horror film that blends together slavery and supernatural horror to create a great and educational film. This film is about a woman named Sethe, who lives in an apartment whose number is 124. Sethe used to be a slave but had a traumatic experience when trying to escape that emotionally and physically continues to haunt her. Living in her apartment with her daughter Denver, she believes it’s haunted by a spirit that calls itself “124,” named after her apartment number. When Sethe tried to escape slavery, she had to kill her infant, which haunts her to this day. One day a woman named Beloved appears outside her apartment door, whom Sethe believes is a reincarnation of her previous baby she killed. Beloved is a ghost that represents supernatural features such as grief, loss, and trauma. The usage of Beloved really intrigued me in this film, because I think bringing supernatural creatures such as this to relieve trauma really gives a film a deeper meaning. Towards the end of the film Beloved basically takes over Sethe and almost kills her, kind of representing a dark spirit taking over your body. When a spirit takes over an individual’s body in films, I think it’s so interesting and fun to watch the way their body acts and reacts differently. The characters acting really helps scenes like this if they put in a lot of emotion and movement. For example, Sethe’s character becomes very exhausted, visible, and hunched. She starts staring off into space and becomes physically weaker, dragging her body when she walks. Paul D is a character who knew Sethe when they were both slaves, and I think his character is so symbolic, like Beloved. Paul D represents Sethe moving forward in life, living happy and healthy, while Beloved is there to traumatize her and keep her in her past. One of my favorite moments from the film was when Paul D enters the apartment, and the trauma stops for a little. The apartment is happy for a while, which shows Paul D is a happy and stabilized place for Sethe. It reminded me a little bit of when Chris, from Get Out, got rescued by his friend, and he felt safe and happy once again. I really enjoy trying to find similarities between the films and readings there are in class just to show how all Black Horror can somehow be related in a sense.