The Blackening

The Blackening
Starring Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo
Directed by Tim Story

By now even non-horror people know the trope about the Black person in a horror movie: they almost always die first. It's a tired trope that, thankfully, has been almost completely done away with as more horror movies try something different to throw audiences off the track. So what happens when the cast in a horror movie consists of entirely Black actors? As the tagline on "The Blackening" says: "we can't all die first." By injecting topical humor, a likeable strong cast, and wisely both adhering and changing the rules of the horror game, "The Blackening" is one of the funniest horror comedies in recent memory, one that you won't mind watching over and over to catch the jokes you missed because you were laughing too much.

Reuniting after being apart for ten years after college, a group of friends decide to party and celebrate Juneteenth at a remote cabin in the woods. Once they arrive, however, the find themselves the targets of a mysterious killer who forces them to play a racist game called The Blackening, challenging their Blackness and creating tension and anger amongst the group - until they realize they have to band together to make it out alive.


The Good:
All great horror comedies (like "Shaun of the Dead," "Warm Bodies," and the like) require two things, which are painfully obvious: horror and comedy. "The Blackening" delivers both of those, and even for someone like me who isn't a member of that community, I found myself laughing out loud more often than not. The humor wasn't just the generic sexual humor that you find in most R-rated comedies today, but it was thoughtful and topical, centering on what it means to be Black and the forced levels of degrees of Blackness. It also pokes fun at horror tropes that's always a welcome addition, and even some drop dead funny slapstick comedy.

The horror aspect is also there, especially at the beginning with the "Scream"-like cold opening, right down to the killer's mask and his weapon of choice, which is a crossbow, which is always dangerous because it can strike from long distances. The setting is an obvious choice for a horror film, and also adds to the humor since I've never seen an all-Black cast in a horror film in a cabin in the woods. That cabin motif is always scary because it's in the middle of nowhere, where cell phone reception doesn't always work, and where no one is within close proximity to help.

The cast is a standout ensemble that doesn't have a weak link in the bunch. Grace Byers' Allison is hilarious when she accidentally takes Adderall and turns into a ninja, while Jermaine Fower's Clifton is the stereotypical Carlton-like nerd who believes Android is superior to iPhone (spoiler alert: it isn't). Melvin Gregg's King is the reformed gang member who constantly gets shot, and there's some heated tension between Sinqua Walls' Nnamdi, Antoinette Robertson's Lisa, and her gay BFF Dewayne Perkins' (who co-wrote the script) Dewayne, as Dewayne learns Lisa has returned to her cheating ex Nnamdi without his knowledge. Yet the MVP is the film is X Mayo's Shanika, who doesn't have a wasted line and who is the clear comedic standout.

Not only does the cast excel at comedy, but they also give characterizations that go deeper than your typical horror movie, and the comradere between them is palpable and adds to the excitement, tension, and humor of the film. In particular the scenes between Nnamdi, Dewayne and Lisa shine, as they all come to terms with what's going on with their complicated relationship and dealing with the secrets that threatened to separate them.


The Bad:
While "The Blackening" is a great horror comedy, it misses the mark to be an excellent one due to the imbalance sometimes between the humor and the horror. At times it seems that director Tim Story wasn't sure what direction to go in, and it leaved some scenes left in limbo in regards to it either being scary or scary funny.

Some of the shots were too dark, and it was hard to see what was happening.


The Verdict:
Mixing humor and horror with near perfect balance, "The Blackening" is a laugh-out-loud film that focuses on the timely trials of the Black community in horror films as well as in the real world, delivered by a strong committed cast.


The Score: A-