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"The Blackening"
"The Blackening" centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this is no game. The film skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question, if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?
In the film, the group of friends reunite for a cabin weekend getaway. The friend group includes, Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls), his lowkey lawyer lover and college ex-girlfriend Lisa (Antoinette Robertson) and her gay best friend Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins). The rest of the crew follows shortly after, with the reformed King (Melvin Gregg), the life of the party Shanika (X Mayo), outspoken Allison (Grace Byers) and then there’s Clifton (Jermaine Fowler), an awkward but sweet nerd. Once they all arrive at the cabin, they realize the two members of the crew who planned the event are notably missing, Shawn (Jay Pharoah) and girlfriend Morgan (Yvonne Orji). As soon as the crew arrives, they pop a bunch of Blackface (James Preston Rogers), drink King’s super sugary Kool-Aid and play a fierce game of Spades. All seems well until they start wandering through the house and they stumble into a ‘game room’ and find 'The Blackening' board game, complete with a creepy white-eyed, bright lip, Blackface 'Sambo' figurine. All the doors immediately slam shut as the group is locked in with simple instructions, Play the game or die. Terrified, the group works through the board game’s absurd questions against the clock that test their knowledge of Black culture. There are questions ranging from naming Black actors that guest starred on Friends to reciting all of the Black national anthem. Finally, it comes down to one final question, who's the Blackest in the group? Whoever is chosen, must die. The group begins trading barbs about who they deemed the Blackest. By the end of the game, the group comes to realize that 'Blackness is whatever you want it to be'. No horror movie is complete without the antagonist. In "The Blackening" there are multiple villains out to make this Juneteenth celebration a night from hell.
Phil Stevens (Omar Epps) in "Scream 2". Captain Rhodes (Ving Rhames) in "Day Of The Dead". Shelley Baum (Meagan Good) in "One Missed Call". They all have two things in common. They’re Black. They also died first in their horror movies. From the early days of cinema, Black characters were often depicted as stereotypes or caricatures, playing the role of the expendable sidekick. This is the common trope that Black characters are often the first to die. In recent years, cinema has paved the way for more complex and nuanced portrayals of Black characters in horror movies. While progress has been made, there's still work to be done in terms of representation of diverse ranges of Black characters in the horror genre and beyond. "The Blackening" does what few horror movies have been able to do. The film provides just the gags and blood synonymous with the genre. It provides also some unique comedic moments as well. It shows Black people laughing, making jokes about Black culture and celebrating it, all the while, they're screaming, crying and literally throwing up out of fear. They fight for their lives against all of the evils that threaten them for about an hour and a half. In spite of that, they also accomplish something much deeper. The film wants to show that Black people not only can handle a genre that has historically seen them as expendable, but are a most necessary and nuanced voice in the space.
We love horror movies that are a bit of a mashup, that break the genre. That subvert the audiences expectations. This movie is a spoof, it's Scary Movie. The references that the characters bring forth and the way that they see themselves in the world is really talked about. This movie is intended to be a mix of gut-wrenching comedy and gut-wrenching fear and scares. The film satirizes the Black character trope in horror films with an original take. And, while this story stems from Black experiences and characters, it's ultimately an ode to the larger horror and comedy genre. Comedy is an art. There really is truth when it comes to the technicality of it, the timing of it, how much you deliver, and the way you deliver it. The balance of horror and comedy is very difficult. Comedy just comes from honest moments. A lot of times when you're scared and afraid, you're the most honest. You don't have time to predict what something is, and these are opportunities to play comedy.
Basically what the film is saying throughout is that Black people, specifically, are not a monolith. There’s a lot of us in this and we’re all different and at the same time being the same. There may be laughs and scares in the film, but there's a clear culturally relevant message present. There are moments where we're laughing, but then you realize in life there are people of color that are dealing with extremely dangerous situations and sometimes we have to laugh at it so that you don't cry about it, essentially. This film wants to break away from the trauma and hardship often present in Black storytelling and uses comedy instead. But there’s too much focus on Black pain and struggle stories or Black biopics. We're going to put ourselves in this position to get killed. This is not what we do in normal circumstances. So the concept of it is hysterical, but obviously, there's still some dramatic elements.
"The Blackening" provides an entertaining retreat from the world’s chaos. But the film also provides a space for the Black community in the horror space. There’s more to Black characters in horror than just being the first killed. We all speak differently. We're all from different walks of life. We have different types of humor.
Written by Gregory Mann
(Opens Aug 15 at Leichester Square, 7:30 pm)