I was under the impression this movie had a kind of cult status among African-American horror fans. but after watching it, I'm wondering why.

I was completely blindsided by the protagonist——this is just another White Savior story, ultimately. I read on imdb that the director wanted to explore the idea of inner-city housing projects being a kind of scary urban legend in and of themselves, and I think that's a very interesting concept. but I couldn't shake the discomfort from watching this movie's depictions of race which that idea inherently brings up.

I guess I'm just wondering how this movie ended up gaining the following it did even with its problematic (IMO) portrayals of race. or maybe this is just the result of looking back with 2021 eyes.