What’s It About
Seven friends go away for the weekend, only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. They must pit their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies against the murderer to stay alive.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
The Blackening was advertised as a comedy-horror film with a poster that said, “We Can’t All Die First.” Therefore, I expected to see a mindless Three Stooges-like slapstick comedy featuring Black people. What I got was horror with comedy aspirations, mixed with a script containing some very racist verbalage with a strong message added for those willing to understand. The story is simple but a bit forced, as the opening characters, Morgan and Shawn, are at an Airbnb in the middle of the woods. Stereotypically, Black people do not vacation in places without cell service or where they usually find dead bodies. But these were friends dedicated to the cause of getting together and catching up on old times. While waiting on their hosts, Morgan and Shawn, they found a board game called The Blackening. The friends are forced to play to keep Morgan alive, but things escalate, and they are forced to play the game or die. This is visually what the movie is about. Verbally, it’s about the horrible movie clichés that mainly plague Black people and the Black community. In addition to the movie tropes, there were the ones that afflict Black people daily. Such as calling or not calling the police because the outcome will rarely be in our favor. Then there’s the derogatory way we unnecessarily treat each other. Overall, The Blackening isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but more like “Damn, that’s really how it is” funny. Plus, it’s geared toward the 24-34 demographic age bracket.
OUR RATING – MY BLACK CARD 8
MEDIA
- Genre – Comedy
- Street date
- Digital – August 15th, 2023.
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – August 22nd, 2023
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English Dolby Atmos, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio, English Descriptive Audio
- Subtitles – English SDH, English, Spanish
Extras
- Audio Commentary with Director Tim Story and Writers Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins
- Do the Write Thing
- They Can’t All Talk First
- Shall We Play a Game?
- Cabin in the Woods
- “Who’s the Blackest?” Game Show
- Theatrical Trailer