From Jeremy Kibler

In horror movies, Black characters typically never make it far. They do, however, have more of a chance in The Blackening, a comedy-first slasher movie with a predominantly Black ensemble. It’s self-aware without really being a spoof, like the truly abysmal Scary Movie 5 (yes, we made it that far) and two A Haunted House movies. It’s also based on “true events…that never happened” but really based on the Comedy Central 3peat sketch of the same name. As a knowing, long-overdue comment on Black stereotypes in the slasher sub-genre, writers Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip) & Dewayne Perkins (who co-stars) and director Tim Story (the Ride Along movies) have a fresh angle, even in a post-Get Out world, and run with it. 

The cold open with couple Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah) manages to reference not one but two Wes Craven movies, ultimately making them the Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens of The Blackening. From there, Morgan and Shawn’s crew of friends is getting back together for the Juneteenth weekend in a cabin in the woods (even one of them comments about the clichéd setting). Lawyer Lisa (Antoinette Robertson), her gay best friend Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins), and outspoken, Rosa Parks sweatshirt-wearing Allison (Grace Byers) come in one car. Then there’s King (Melvin Gregg) and Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls), a hunky player who’s on and off and currently on with Lisa, and then chic life-of-the-party Shanika (X Mayo) and awkward Clifton (Jermaine Fowler) round out the crew. With their hosts missing, they pass around some Molly and play a game of Spades, until they find a game room. Inside is a board game called “The Blackening,” with a blackfaced “Sambo” at its centerpiece asking them to draw a card. These friends are actually the pawns in a game controlled by a twisted, Jigsaw-sounding killer. They just have to figure out who is the Blackest and maybe some of them can see the sun come up. 

Call it a one-joke premise, but there’s enough of an extension of that joke for it to not grow tiresome. The questions themselves on the cards of the board game are niche but very funny, like reciting the Black National Anthem, to choosing a favorite Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to naming Black actors that guest-starred on the very white TV show Friends. To save their own asses, one of them even says they’ve never seen Friday and voted for Trump…twice. Another goes, “I like Jimmy Fallon — without The Roots!” When these friends eventually have to get to running, they do have to break their own rules that Black characters usually advise in horror movies, like splitting up. Oliver and Perkins’ script is so culturally specific in its humor but with a pretty well-matched reverence for horror movies as it does Black culture. So much of the dialogue is sharp and quotable that one will want repeated viewings just to hear all of the jokes in between the audience laughing.

Director Tim Story doesn’t really bring the scares to make this a legitimate horror-comedy, but that comedy part — oh, the comedy! The whole ensemble is game and sells this ridiculous scenario with an infectious energy. Whereas a lot of slasher movies are just too much in a rush to flesh them out beyond personality-free shish kabobs, the lives of these distinctly drawn characters do truly matter. This is the kind of likable friend group you actually want to spend time with, and there’s a clever shorthand illustrating Lisa and Allison’s tight friendship where they can have a telepathic conversation with a mere look (there is a strong payoff to this as well). Every actor gets time to shine, but comedian X Mayo is particularly hilarious as the brassy Shanika, whose joke involving Adderall actually gets funnier each time. It’s by design, but one’s mileage may vary on Jermaine Fowler as Clifton, whom everyone forgot even existed; he does score laughs but he is really working the nerdy shtick to the point of talking out of one side of his mouth that almost becomes grating.

A slightly less obvious punchline/Killer Reveal might’ve put this over the top, but as is, The Blackening is a near-seamless marriage of smart, quick-witted joke writing with the comic timing and delivery of a talented cast. The body count may intentionally be kept low, and yet, where it counts, the laughs never die. Not exactly living or dying on its slashes or scares, The Blackening is still a crowd-pleasing hoot.

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Blackening hits theaters on Friday, June 16th, 2023.

Follow Jeremy at @JKiblerFilm