The Blackening

Director Tim Storys The Blackening isnt your typical genre film; its a horror spoof with an edge. The perceptive and clever story from co-writers Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins is packed with timely social commentary about stereotypes and blackness, which gives this sophisticated satire a fresh and unexpected twist. Its uncomfortable, its whip-smart, and its a whole lot of fun.

A group of friends (Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji, Jay Pharoah, Melvin Gregg, Sinqua Walls) plan a reunion at a remote cabin in the woods over the Juneteenth holiday weekend, but theres a danger lurking nearby. They discover that they are being stalked by a masked killer who plans to murder all of them, starting...

So a group of friends with the usual collection of personal relationship baggage arrive at a rural cabin after ten years of not meeting. After a brief exploration of the place, they find themselves at the mercy of a board game that requires their undivided attention else a crossbow will put paid to each of them. Initially they are all petrified - especially as two of their number take fairly early exits (perhaps they'd read the whole script?) - but gradually they realise that team work might be their only hope of salvation. What now ensues is just a mess. It contrives to include just about every stereotypical character known to man in what seems like an overlong hundred minutes of attitude that really just fell flat. After about twenty minu...

A group of insufferable, KKK-tier racists with little to no redeeming qualities go on a trip, pretending to be friends.

Murder and hilarity ensues. No, wait, I misspelled that last one: bigotry. Murder and bigotry ensues.

Avoid.

A few moments notwithstanding, 'The Blackening' is largely a dull affair.

At least they chose a run time of around 90 minutes, that stops the movie from overly dragging. Still, though, not enough is produced to entertain. The humour is probably its 'strongest' element (relatively), not that it's all that funny but bits of the dialogue (much of which was apparently improvised) are mildly amusing.

The antagonists are kinda lame and the twist isn't much of one at all. The cast, though, are all perfectly fine. Jermaine Fowler gives a solid performance, to be fair. Aside from him, X Mayo was the one I liked seeing onscreen the most. The board game element is a good one - think 'Jumanji', but racist.

Sounds like a sequel is on the cards....