The Blackening features both a cast and a premise with all the right elements, but the finished product is not completely successful. However, that shouldn’t suggest that it’s not funny, scary, or smart, which it is.
The movie centers around seven friends who gather together at a cabin for the Juneteenth holiday. Here we’re introduced to a plethora of characters who have more baggage than others, such as the unfaithful boyfriend and the socially awkward classmate.
Once they arrive at the cabin and get situated, they journey down to the basement, where they come across a board game known as The Blackening, which deals in racist lampooning. The game comes with pieces that interconnect with their personalities, and they find out that one of their friends is being held hostage and will be killed if the other friends don’t play the game and win.
The group is questioned about African-American culture and, more specifically, trivia questions and horror films about how the African-American character in a horror film is always the first to die. The game decides that the group needs them to sacrifice the one they deem “the blackest.”
The movie has a lot of fun turning stereotypes on its head, as in one scene where the group is asked a question about the African-American actors who had guest roles on Friends. For me, the standout role is played by Jermaine Fowler as the socially awkward one who claims he has never seen Friday and he voted for Donald Trump. Twice. His character adds a lot of humor and goofiness. He looks a lot like an Urkel-esque persona.
The Blackening was directed by Tim Story and written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, one of the costars. As African-Americans themselves, they understand the culture and know how to tap into the sensibilities and insights without hammering any kind of message over the audience’s head. They succeed in making the audience laugh and in challenging the assumptions that come with African-American characters and horror films.
On a superficial level, The Blackening might come off as part Get Out and part Scary Movie. and it has just as much social commentary as the former and comedy as the latter.
The movie’s biggest weakness is the climax, where it prefers to abide by the mechanics of an all-out killing spree rather than something more cerebral. The journey is much more entertaining than the destination. However, Story, Oliver, and Perkins keep us just riveted enough to accept the finale.
I’m not sure The Blackening will redefine the genre it sets out to question and satirize, but its cast is invested through and through, and the thrills and commentary hold water in order to make a nice sell. This game is satisfying enough to play.
Grade: B
(Rated R for pervasive language, violence, and drug use.)
