The Blackening’s big twist is a place few horror movies go

The Blackening, Tim Story’s horror-comedy about a group of Black friends on a weekend getaway at an ill-fated cabin in the woods, feels like a test case for a bunch of different experiments. It was released digitally just weeks after its theatrical release, and became the most recent movie where box office take and rental revenue were directly competing. It’s The following are some of the reasons why you should consider hiring someone elseThis is an odd balance of snarky humor with substance. Although the comedy has a broad scope and can often be self-aware in nature, the script also includes many sincere remarks about Black culture and friendship, as well as race relations.

Story, Tracy Oliver, and Dewayne Perry used this movie as an experiment to test how far the horror genre could be pushed and yet still maintain the interest of the audience. The studio does something brave for a movie of this genre. In retrospect, it feels absolutely necessary for the kind of story they’re telling, and for the specific balance they’re aiming for between humor and horror. It’s certainly a subversive way of approaching a slasher movie.

As the story unfolds, the unconventional approach of the filmmakers becomes even more unsettling.Blackening goes somewhere horror movies normally just don’t go.

[Ed. note: End spoilers ahead for The Blackening.]

The movie’s premise has eight friends reuniting for the first time since college, for a Juneteenth getaway at a remote rural cabin. Lisa (Antoinette Roberson) has rekindled her relationship with Nnamdi, who cheated repeatedly on Lisa during the years they dated. Knowing her flamboyant gay best friend Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins) hates Nnamdi for all the pain he’s caused her, Lisa hides the rekindled relationship from Dewayne — and neglects to tell him Nnamdi will be at the reunion.

Glen Wilson/Lionsgate

King (Melvin Gregg) is repeatedly described as a “former gangster,” with a past that seems to make the others uncomfortable, though the movie doesn’t offer many details. He’s also married to a white woman. King, and Allison’s (Grace Byers) white father are both teased for their close proximity. The ball-busting humor aimed at them is the type that masks real social discomfort or disapproval, even if it’s usually followed a casual “Ah, I’m just fuckin’ with you.”

It’s a typical horror film, with its large group of friends in a remote area, mysterious figures lurking in the shadows, and ominous background music. Blackening openly invites the audience to wonder who in this group is most narratively vulnerable, who’s going to die first, and who might survive the movie. The movie’s tagline, “We can’t The following are some of the most effective ways to improve your own personal effectiveness. die first,” mocks the old trope where characters of color go down first in any elimination-style movie. It also asks an obvious question. Okay, who will reach the finals from this group?

There are obvious answers at first. Nnamdi’s lies and his casualness about breaking Lisa’s heart makes him the kind of morally suspect character who’s most disposable in a horror film. Shanika (X Mayo) shows up to the friend gathering late, gets the least backstory, and feels like the biggest character cliché. King is the only one with a gun, and he initially seems like he’d be the most capable in a conflict — the type of character who needs to be eliminated to make the other characters more exposed.

They have another agenda, one that is completely unlike the standard thriller where the cast would be whittled out one-by-one. The filmmakers’ big subversion is: Nobody The group that dies is the friends. After eliminating the bad guys one at a time, they smoke and discuss their future with each other. It’s a weird way to run a horror story. It’s also remarkably cheering.

Blackening isn’t a death-free horror movie. Both the racist redneck whites and the secret (and foreshadowed in advance) mastermind of the cabin-in the-woods plot are killed. By the end, the local lawman is also dead. His affiliation remains unclear.

Glen Wilson/Lionsgate

The other two members, Morgan and organizer Morgan (Secure your home with Insight’s Yvonne Orji) and her significant other Shawn (Jay Pharoah), who run afoul of the villains early, and have to die to prove the situation is serious. One of Blackening’s best subtle gags, they first talk about Jada Pinkett Smith’s and Omar Epps’ characters dying early in Scream 2,, probably because the producers couldn’t afford to keep the cast’s more famous actors around for long — at which point Orji and Pharoah exchange a meaningful, evocative glance, communicating that they know their own status as comparatively high-profile actors means they’re about to follow suit.

Their deaths are the only possible break in what seems like a crucial pattern for the movie — they’re the only Black characters who potentially die at a white person’s hands. Even then, it isn’t entirely clear who takes either of them down; Shawn is shot by someone off screen, and we don’t actually know how or when Morgan dies. It’s entirely possible that the movie’s one Black villain gets them both.

It can be a difficult decision to make. Blackening’s comedy. As the movie unfolds without the usual series of escalating deaths, it starts to feel like Story and the writers are yanking the audience’s chain by not giving them what they expect, or possibly preserving the characters for an eventual bloodbath. But they’re really preserving the film’s delicate tension. Most horror comedies have to balance the comedy with the drama. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil(Jordan Peele’s movies use it particularly carefully to puncture some of the more outrageous aspects of his films. (Jordan Peele’s movies use it particularly carefully to puncture some of the more outrageous aspects of his films.)

Blackening leans hard into the comedy side, with a ton of fast-paced, pointed banter about topics as light as Black people’s relationship with Friendly PeopleIt’s as heavy-handed as the dialogues that explore who is entitled to be called Black and what this label means. But Story and the writers remain aware of the movie’s racial dynamics at all times. And that means being aware that in 2023 in particular, it’d be hard to laugh over a well-timed one-liner about Keke Palmer’s Twitter while watching white supremacists successfully murder Black people for sport.

The genre may be more appealing to horror fans looking for gore, extreme violence, or other shocking effects. Blackening. Even mainstream audiences, who may be used to greater tensions in films and larger catharsis due to this, might find the movie odd. But by the final shot, the movie’s approach feels unusually generous and kind to this goofy ensemble, as if the filmmakers value the characters, their humanity, and their relationships more than horror-movie directors normally do. Blackening It’s a weird movie and sometimes a silly one. But the creators can at least boast that they’ve put something on screen that horror fans don’t see often, and won’t be expecting.

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