Racists just as scary as monsters

Lovecraft Country uses horror to confront systemic bigotry afflicting the United States, with characters meeting frightful racists and supernatural beings

Lovecraft Country stars (from far left) Courtney B. Vance, Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett as a trio who travel through unfriendly towns with racial-segregation laws. PHOTO: HBO
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The quirky plot of Lovecraft Country - which has scored a perfect 100 per cent on review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes - juxtaposes killer monsters with the horrors of racism.

Speaking to The Straits Times and other press in Zoom interviews recently, the creator and stars of the new drama series - produced by film-makers Jordan Peele (Get Out, 2017) and J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, 2019) - discuss how its otherworldly elements can add to people's understanding of systemic bigotry.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 17, 2020, with the headline Racists just as scary as monsters. Subscribe