Horrorfest 2023: The Blackening

The Blackening

Screenplay by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins

Based on the sketch by 3Peat

Directed by Tim Story

Starring Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharaoh and Yvonne Orji

USA, 2023

THE BLACKENING first caught my eye as a movie poster -- an all-Black ensemble cast under the tagline: "We can't all die first." Now THAT'S a poster, I said to myself.

Black roles in the realm of horror have been explored before from various angles, as far back as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Later, SCREAM 2 did a poor job of attempting to discuss racist horror cliches, and the Wayans' SCARY MOVIE series kinda/sorta addressed some stuff. Then of course you have Jordan Peele's genius string of hits, GET OUT, US and NOPE. THE BLACKENING may be more Wayans than Peele, but it puts racist horror cliches on the front burner and roasts them pretty well, up to and including racist attitudes between Black people about Black people. Granted, I'm probably the wrong guy to write about this. But I guess I'm doing it anyway.

The story concerns a group of old college buddies getting together at an isolated cabin for the 10th anniversary of a Juneteenth party they had back in the day. They're made up of various "types" -- some more subtle than others -- and part of the fun is seeing the characters live up to, or subvert, these types.

The Alpha couple of the group seems to be missing and as the night unfolds without them, the group finds a troubling board game in a hidden game room. The board game is called "The Blackening" and, even at a glance, it appears problematic. Let's put it this way: it's as if the pop-o-matic bubble in TROUBLE was replaced with the most repugnant symbol of racism against Blacks you can think of. Yuck, huh?

Well, that's what these characters think, too, but they get roped into playing it, at first out of curiosity, and eventually at the whims of a mysterious killer (or killers?) who is in the house, apparently able to see them at all times, pulling the strings of their impending doom. 

So, the rest of the movie is, how do these people get out of it? Since this is a comedy, hilarity ensues. Since it's a slasher, so does slashing. 

The mysterious identity of the killer is not-so-mysterious, but I guess that's sort of beside the point. The point is to skewer and acknowledge stereotypes, and this movie does that well -- while also being legitimately funny.