Cinema Scholars checks in from the 2026 SXSW Film and TV Festival with Black Zombie director Maya Annik Bedward. Black Zombie is an official selection in the Documentary Spotlight category.
Introduction
When modern-day horror hounds think of zombies, the typical ravenous, flesh-eating mayhem immediately comes to mind. However, true cinemaphiles know that the long tradition of the reanimated dead comes from a much more ominous and sedate beginning on the silver screen. In the new documentary Black Zombie, director Maya Annik Bedward explores even further into 1700s Haiti to unveil the real history and often problematic ramifications of the enduring genre.
Bedward introduces her film with a dramatization of slaves wandering the sugar cane fields of Haiti, where the terrible legend of the silent, wide-eyed possessed human was born. This initiation then veers into Hollywood’s fascination with the topic, featuring a litany of clips from familiar horror fare. From old school depictions like the OG silver-toned White Zombie or the nightmarish I Walked With A Zombie to contemporary takes like horror/comedies Zombieland and Shaun Of The Dead, the oddly irresistible trope has been a mainstay since the golden age of cinema.
Soon, however, the film takes us to vibrant present-day Haiti to debunk the entertainment industry’s sensationalism. Followers, spiritual leaders, and even a priestess speak of a vital and revered tradition in the mysticism of “Vodou” that is completely lost in the contemporary craze. Originally brought to the west from Africa during the slave trade, denizens were forced to cloak their idols and accoutrements under the veil of accepted Catholicism, secretly continuing their faith to escape deadly retribution from white owners.
The Legend Begins
The practice of Vodou remained mostly a mystery until 1927 when the tabloid writer William Seabrook visited the fabled island and returned with his groundbreaking tome The Magic Island. From there, the sacred practice took on a most sinister reputation as Seabrook’s account focused on the darker “left-handed” branch of the religion versus the mostly prevalent “right-handed” positive aspects. And just like that, Vodou in its most sinister form became pop culture fodder for decades of captivated fans.
Black Zombie is a gorgeously compelling historical account of a curiously enduring craze. The juxtaposition of black and white dramatizations of 1700’s Haiti with the modern entertainment zeitgeist illustrates how far the concept has strayed from its origins. While much of the film is narrated by historians and practitioners of the faith, Bedward additionally uses gorgeous choreographed sequences and rituals to break up any monotony.
While the authentic accounts and spellbinding backstory provide the meat and bones of the story, it’s hard to deny that the sequences focused on Hollywood’s obsession give the film its sparkle. Exhilarating clip montages from popular movies spanning decades are exciting and reminiscent. And interviews with Night of the Living Dead co-writer John Russo and self-proclaimed gore maestro Tom Savini mark the transition from simple possessed walkers to crazed flesh eaters in the cinematic pantheon.
Discussion
As with many documentaries, Black Zombie suffers from a touch of over-indulgence. The 90-minute running time feels even longer as some subject matter is rehashed in the third act. While the historical relevance of Vodou and Haitian history is central to the story, the plot gets a bit lost in the minutiae of the exhaustive account. Yes, stock footage and expert analysis are appreciated and help transcend the typical doc voyeurism, but the film could use a careful trim out of the weeds nonetheless.
Despite this lull in the backstory, Black Zombie sticks the eventual landing. With a fascinating origin story, biting commentary on racial attitudes, the debunking of Vodou’s dark side, and fun clips from movies the legend spawned, Black Zombie is not to be missed.
Cinema Scholars Rebecca Elliott had a chance to sit down and chat with Black Zombie director Maya Annik Bedward about her documentary. They talk about finding the balance between zombie fact and fiction, honing an incredible panel of experts, and her favorite film from the genre.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
Hey, Maya. So thankful you could join me today to talk about Black Zombie. It’s such a cool movie. And congrats on South by Southwest. Are you excited to have this movie finished and show it a festival audiences?
Maya Annik Bedward:
Yeah, it’s a great feeling. I’ve been working on this film for a long time, so to have it finally out in the world feels really good.
Rebecca Elliott:
I bet! I hope you get to enjoy the festival a little bit, too, while you’re in town and in the middle of the madness. So, I have to ask, of course, about inspiration. Were you a zombie film fan, or was it more about dispelling the misconceptions about Vodou and its influence on the zombie genre? Or is it both?
Maya Annik Bedward:
Yeah, that’s a great question. My background, I’m Afro-Caribbean. My father was born in Jamaica, and I’ve always been interested in stories and the history of our people. And looking at our traditions and cultures and history through a lens that is Eurocentric and colonialist. Our connection to West Africa and the traditions that were brought from there. Often we’re told that history is no longer with us. It’s been erased, it doesn’t exist. But that’s really not true. It exists in our music, in our food, and most powerfully in our spiritual traditions.
Maya Annik Bedward (cont.):
I’ve always been interested in learning about Vodou, learning about Santeria, all these African-derived spiritual traditions. When I learned that the zombie was connected to Haitian vodou, and it was actually a metaphor for slavery, my mind was blown. I was like, How do I not know this? I started doing more research and then learned about the story of how it was taken from Haiti and brought to Hollywood and then became the phenomenon we know today. It was just like, wow, there’s such an important story to tell here. A lot of people don’t know where the zombie really comes from, that history.
But the legacy of what those early zombie films did to Haitian Vodou. And our perception of Vodou, or Voodoo, and how we see it as this form of black magic and evil and sorcery. That comes from this story, from these early zombie films. So I thought it was really important to tell. And then, of course, as I started doing my research, I had to watch every zombie film ever made. And I was never a horror person. But the more I watched, I started to have a new appreciation for horror.
I think horror is an incredible vehicle to tell some really meaningful stories. When I made this film, films like Get Out, then came out and some other really incredible horror stories. I actually have developed a huge appreciation for the genre. Since then, I even met my partner through this. He’s a horror guy. So yeah, I think you can tell some really meaningful, powerful stories through horror. But you can also tell and exploit and really disparage cultures as well. So you have to be very intentional in what you’re doing.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yep, absolutely. I am a horror fan, and I’m always amazed that it is such a great vehicle for important social commentary. I’m like, no, the really good ones are telling you something a lot of times. I love how your film dissected all of that. It was a lot, but it was so fascinating. You use a variety of storytelling styles from the dramatizations to beautiful interpretive dance sequences.. You have an animation sequence plus stock footage. Tell me about breaking from a traditional talking head style documentary and how you chose different mediums for different sequences.
Maya Annik Bedward:
Well, I always knew I wanted to center on Haitian Vodou practitioners in the film. I really want to make sure Haiti and Haitian Vodou wasn’t represented in the way we often see it. Like Haiti in the news as this poor country full of corruption and violence. I really want to make sure Haitian Vodou is really shown for what it is. Which is this beautiful community building practice, not always practice in the cloak of night. Actually, there are these gorgeous cultural festivals in Haiti that are just so beautiful. That was a huge part of the film.
Knowing that already, I knew it wouldn’t just be a straight up talking head doc. When I started working with Vodou practitioners and my crew in Haiti, we shot some stuff for research purposes. I was going to go back and do more elevated production once I had money, because I didn’t have money at the time when I was doing this research. Finally, when we raised the funds, our first day of principal on the film was at March 2020, so the pandemic hit. Literally everything was closing down. I had to put the production on hold for a bit.
Maya Annik Bedward (cont.):
Then when we were back at it, the President of Haiti had been assassinated. Things have always been very challenging in Haiti because of the complete exploitation and the debt it had to repay to France for its own freedom. But this turned things into a totally different state. Things have been really hard there. Bringing a camera, us going on the street. First of all, the events that we want to film just weren’t happening anymore on the scale because the things just become so dangerous for the people in these communities.
But then bringing a camera out in the street would jeopardize the well-being of my contributors, my crew. So we couldn’t shoot what I wanted to shoot in Haiti. So we decided to shoot in the Dominican Republic. We brought a Haitian crew to the DR. We brought our Haitian contributors to the DR and shot there. And there’s also a Haitian community there that we worked with in the DR. But that also led us to the ability to do a full production and recreation in the sugarcane fields in the DR. Because there’s quite a robust industry there to do that work at night.
That’s how that I had this idea to do this black and white zombie film and turn it on its head and tell the Haitian zombie story inspired by the early zombie films. So yeah, it’s always been a process, I guess, is what I’m saying. It’s evolved over time.
Rebecca Elliott:
You have various experts in this film, from historical experts to the practitioners and followers of Vodou to horror experts like John Russo and Tom Savini. Which is so exciting for a horror nerd like me. Tell me about gathering your panel of experts. Was there anyone you couldn’t get?
Maya Annik Bedward:
Yes. I knew the pillars of the film would be telling the story of William Seabrook and his book, The Magic Island. How that was turned into the very first zombie film, White Zombie. Which is why the title of my film is called Black Zombie. Then we would have Romero, and then we would have Serpent and the Rainbow, which is the film that brought the Haitian narrative back into the film. But totally like, bastardized it. It’s why we think of pufferfish as something to do with Haiti. But most people don’t know the real story. I think that film did that damage.
I knew I had to find the right people to tell those different stories. Of course, Savini and Russo were obvious choices. And getting Wade Davis, who was the author of the Serpent and the Rainbow. That was a no-brainer. The William Seabrook story, I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell that. Then my boyfriend was at a bookstore looking for books on zombies as you do when you’re making a zombie film. He asked the bookstore owner, “Do you have any films about zombies?” The bookstore owner was like, “Not really. But there is this graphic novel about William Seabrook.“ My boyfriend was like, great. And opens it. It’s this incredible elaborate telling of the story.
And then he realized the guy who wrote it was the bookstore worker. He was like, “You wrote this book?” And he’s like, “Yeah, it’s my book.” He’s actually quite well-known graphic artist, Joel Ohman. He was the expert, and he just happened to live in the city we lived in.
But in terms of who I wasn’t able to get, I wanted to show the evolution of the zombie. What I actually considered was a zombie film that really harkened back to the original idea of a Haitian photo zombie, which is a person who doesn’t have their agency anymore. And I think that film is Get Out. And I wanted to have Jordan Peele in the film. I know the ending of this film was also inspired by Night of the Living Dead and flipping that ending on its head. I thought it would be so great to get him in the film and show where black horror is taking things and reclaiming things. But unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get him.
Rebecca Elliott:
Darn it! The one that got away. Well, he’s going to see this, and then he’ll be like, “Man, I could have said a lot of things about that topic.” This is silly, but do you know how many films that you featured in the documentary? That clip montage is insane! Also, are you in the fast zombie or slow zombie camp?
Maya Annik Bedward:
It’s actually not as many as you probably think. But there’s quite a bit there, of which is just the tip of the iceberg of all the films that exist. And there’s just so many zombie films.
Rebecca Elliott:
There’s so many. Yeah. So fast or slow. Where do you sit? Fast or slow zombies?
Maya Annik Bedward:
I don’t sit anywhere. I think the idea of being a zombie is a horrible life.
Rebecca Elliott:
Very true.
Maya Annik Bedward:
Maybe my favorite zombie film is Atlantics by Mati Diop. I think that is a beautiful zombie film, and I guess they’re slow zombies. I don’t know. Does that mean I like slow zombies? I don’t think that really does. Everyone has their opinion of what’s the most precise real life looking zombie. Tom Savini is very upset at how a lot of zombies look today. He thinks it’s very inaccurate in terms of what a rotting corpse should look like. And he has very specific notes for filmmakers about it.
Rebecca Elliott:
I mean he’s the self-proclaimed maestro. What a trip. Okay, I think I have time for one more. So I learned something watching this film that I had never put together before. I had no idea the connection between Catholicism and the Vodou practices and how the a lot of the idoltry was repurposed. That just blew my mind. I’m like, “Oh, that’s why my aunt is burying a statue in her front yard to sell her house.” All that mysticism is tied together. What did you learn in the process of making this film? What was your big takeaway that just blew your mind?
Maya Annik Bedward:
There were so many. I think the thing that blew my mind the most was the story. The connection to Haitian Vodou. Before I just saw the zombie as this mindless monster that just gets this zombie contagion and then goes out and eats other people. But when I found out, no, the original zombie is actually this victim and you can really empathize with it. That just blew my mind.
That concept and how I could really connect to that idea of feeling disconnected from my ancestors and the history. That disconnection that you’re not only losing your agency in the present life, but in the afterlife. That really blew my mind and sat with me. This, you can’t even be free when you’re dead. And this long lasting legacy of slavery. So I think that’s what blew my mind. And that’s why I had to make this film.
Rebecca Elliott:
You wrapped it up perfectly. Thank you again for talking to me. I hope you have a good fest and you get to have a little fun while you’re in town.
Maya Annik Bedward:
Nice to chat with you as well.
Black Zombie is an official selection in the Documentary Spotlight category at the 2026 SXSW Film and TV Festival.
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