The Blackening
A gruesome satire of slasher films and ethnic stereotyping fails to fly.
Not holding a candle: Antoinette Robertson
The familiar setting for this amicable comedy horror takes place in a remote cabin in the woods. Seven black school friends are reunited for a Juneteenth weekend but soon after they arrive they realise they have been trapped. A killer is on the loose and the friends try and do everything in their power to outsmart the mysterious masked man…
The opening is fun. When the first two friends arrive, they are lured into a small room and are ordered by a disembodied voice to play a weird card game called The Blackening – with inevitably disastrous results. It is good to see an all-black cast even though the characters are not fully explored and verge on racial stereotypes. Director Tim Story (Barbershop, Ride Along) uses every trick of the genre but ultimately his film is not as scary, nor as funny, nor as inventive as the Scream or Scary Movie franchises. All the ingredients are here but overall it is an unsatisfying experience. The cast seems to be having more fun than the audience.
GEORGE SAVVIDES
Cast: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji, Diedrich Bader.
Dir Tim Story, Pro Tim Story, Tracy Oliver, E. Brian Dobbins, Marcei A. Brown, Jason Clark and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Screenplay Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, based on the short film of the same name, Ph Todd A. Dos Reis, Ed Peter S. Elliot, Music Dexter Story, Costumes Angela Hadnagy.
MRC/The Story Company/Tracy Yvonne Productions/Artists First/Catchlight Studios-Universal Pictures.
97 mins. USA. 2022. US Rel: 16 June 2023. UK Rel: 23 August 2023. Cert. 15.
