The Blackening review by Bobby Blakey
Director Tim Story has been bringing a wide variety of films to the masses across so many genres including Fantastic Four, Barbershop, Ride Along and Tom & Jerry. His latest film, The Blackening takes him into the world of the slasher film with some comedy vibes starring Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji. Could this film bring the kills and fun or will it fail to win the game?
The Blackening follows a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain’t no motherf****** game.
From the first trailer I knew this film was going to stand out in some way. It played up the cliched idea of the black person dying first in slasher flicks and knew exactly what it was doing. This set a tone to live up to and I think it knocked it out of the park. It brings a simple story together with a format similar to that of Scream initially before it heading into its own path.
It takes a little time for it to get going after the initial opening, but this cast of characters do a good job entertaining with their silly banter and pop culture references. Once we get to the meat of it all it is a blast mash-up of horror and comedy that does a great job walking the line of both without becoming a mockery of either. Despite its humor it is still fully embracing the slasher genre and goes all in.
I was bit surprised that it wasn’t all that hard to figure out the big twist, but it still worked well enough to not really matter. The overall tone and execution is so fun that it doesn’t even matter and the journey to get there delivers everything fans might want. Some of the best moments are the banter during answering questions in the game itself that offers up some great laughs and nods to varying genres.
I had a blast with this movie and it offered up everything I had hoped. I was hoping for a bit more gore, but it would probably have come off forced in relation to how they put it all together. This is the kind of horror flick that will no doubt not only keep finding its audience, but a regular rotation for some slasher fans.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including commentary, trailer, featurettes and so much more. Join in the game and check out The Blackening available now on digital, 4K, Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate.