The Blackening (Mini-Review)

The Blackening is a horror comedy that focuses on a group of friends. Ten years after a big party, a group of friends decide to reunite at another Juneteenth party. But things turn from fun to horrific upon the discovery of a mysterious game. Now the group of friends must find out who the killer is before they all die. The Blackening was released in 2023. It was directed by Tim Story. It stars Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, and X Mayo.

There are two short mid-credits scenes. They show what happens to the survivors shortly after the movie ends.

Since I am an extremely pale shade of white, I know I'm not the target audience for this movie. Most of the cast, except three characters, are black and it takes place during a Juneteenth party. For those of you not in the USA: Juneteenth is a celebration of the last slaves being freed. Though my country hasn't completely outlawed slavery yet.

But I like a good horror movie, even if I can't connect to everything in the movie. Such as Umma (2022) was a great horror about generational trauma. But I'm not Korean. This movie provides some good scares and laughs. So that even when things are bleak, there is still humor to be found. The start of the movie pokes fun at how movies that are said to be 'based on a true story' make up everything. Such as the 'true story' behind The Strangers (2008) is that when the director was a little kid, a stranger asked for someone who didn't live with him.

From the trailers, I thought the board game would play a much bigger part than it did. Instead it's shown a few times before being utterly forgotten. The board game doesn't matter, it's finding out what is actually going on that is important. This does allow for a lot more action scenes. And there are some good sequences so I can't get too mad about the board game basically being forgotten.

A big theme of the movie seems to be about black people keeping their identity. There is one character who is biracial while another is considered more black due to his heritage. Then another character supports Trump. When you find out what is actually happening, the reason revolves around being black enough.

One thing I really enjoyed was a bisexual man who wasn't sleeping around with everyone. Dewayne is bisexual and is loyal to this girlfriend. There are no hints that he is cheating. As a bisexual, I loathe the stereotype of the promiscuous bisexual. I hate that there's this idea that people like me won't stay loyal. That we'll run off after a short time.

I would recommend The Blackening to those looking for a good horror comedy.