Maya Annik Bedward – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BLACK ZOMBIE – Review by Beth Accomando

September 6, 2026September 7, 2026 Beth Accomando Black Zombie, canadian films., documentary, George A. Romero, Haitian independence debt, Haitian Vodou, horror films, Maya Annik Bedward, slavery, Tananarive Due, zombie mythology

Black Zombie is a fascinating and enlightening documentary that looks to the roots of zombie mythology in Haitian Vodou. When zombies invaded our pop consciousness, they grabbed hold with ferocious tenacity. Vampire, mummies, and werewolves have long engaged the imagination throughliterature and film but their popularity seems to ebb and low. Zombies, on the other hand, keep rising from the dead to entrench themselves deeper and deeper in our collective consciousness.

Festivals Reviews

BLACK ZOMBIE (SXSW 2026) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 22, 2026March 26, 2026 Valerie Kalfrin Black Zombie, documentary, haiti, Haitian culture, John Russo, Maya Annik Bedward, SXSW 2026, vodoo, vodou, Wade Davis, William Seabrook, Zandashé Brown

Black Zombie doesn’t delve into the whole history of vodou over its one hour and 30 minutes, but what it does show through the dancing, music, and ritual artwork in long takes and medium and wide shots conveys respect, warmth, and joy. In one scene, a vodou priest in white navigates a spiral at the ruins of a sugarcane mill barefoot, slowly dancing and singing in Creole, as if commemorating those lost and celebrating liberation. Vodou helped unite African slaves and trigger the Haitian Revolution, which ended in 1804. Demonizing it is by design, one historian says, playing into White fears of Black power and payback.