AT THE MOVIES

by Isy Jordan

The Blackening
Director: Tim Story
Starring: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg, Dewayne Perkins, and more.


Seven Black friends go away for the weekend and end up trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not.

I didn't even hear aboutt his horror film until I saw a trailer for it before The Boogeyman in May. The trailer looked amazing so I was ready for this film to hit the theatres. I'm always up for a horror/comedy though I'm usually disappointed not long after the prospective film starts.

I've never been so happy to wrong in my life. When someone can weave real humor through a horror film, it's gold. They are my absolute favorite movies ever.

A group of black friends from college get together for a reunion in a cabin in the woods. Two of them, a couple, reach the house first and are lured down the hall to a really shady "Game Room." In the game room, they encounter a board game on a table in the center of the room. A talking host, in offensive black face, asks questions that black people should be able to answer. That our first two arrivals weren't able to answer correctly set the stage for a truly fun, scary ride of a horror film.

The messaging is what makes this film truly funny and the writers weren't afraid to apply it with a 20-pound sledgehammer. Cliches and assumptions are front and center as the remaining friends get the party started and try to navigate their relationships with each other. One is a player trying to reunite with his old flame though her loyal gay friend tries explaining to her that nothing has changed or will change. They're the center of this friend group who we follow when the party turns out to be a nightmare.

Most of the cast is black and it's a truly talented group of actors. The story is well written and weirdly plausible and cliched all at the same time. It's scary and unpredictable at times but the humor keeps it from taking itself too seriously. It would have been so easy for such a movie to have gone completely off the rails early on. But it sticks the landing, making it a film you will want to watch again when you're in the mood for a great horror film.

It's rated R for scary imagery and on-screen violence and at 1 hour and 37 minutes, it's just the right length. If you can still catch it in theaters, that's what I'd recommend. But it's available for streaming now so you can also watch it at home. But please do watch it. You'll have a great time.

Isy