The Blackening is Hilariously Unapologetically Black for The Culture

It’s a foregone conclusion that most horror films bump off the black character first.  That fact has become a running joke with Black people and an ideology that leans into the many tropes associated with this genre.  But, what happens when you get a horror film where the entire cast of e characters are Black?  Who gets killed first?

Co-writer Tracy Oliver and director Tim Story have always been down for the culture whether it’s Girls Trip, Harlem or the Barbershop franchise and now they are hitting theaters with a brand new horror comedy. Based on the 2018 short film of the same name by the comedy troupe 3Peat, lead by Co-writer Dewayne Perkins, The Blackening centers seven friends who go away for the weekend only to find themselves 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.

Like most films of this genre, there are tropes that horror fans know and love, but it’s a whole other thing to lean into those same tropes when it comes to Black people and our culture.  The manner in which Oliver, Story and Perkins weave and bob through it all results in a horror comedy that will have audiences laughing out loud and talking to the screen.

Lisa (Antoinette Robinson) and Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls) are the on again off again couple trying to keep their reunion under wraps from best friend Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins), Allison  (Grace Byers) is loud and proud of her blackness, despite she’s the fact she’s bi-racial, Shanika (X Mayo) is the party girl who keeps it all the way real, King (Melvin Gregg) is the somewhat grounded one always looking to get lit and Clifton (Jermaine Fowler) is the nerd who just wants to hang with the cool kids.

Shanika single-handedly dispelling the myth of Black people (especially those who are zaftig) don’t swim or that as a woman we don’t like to get our hair wet is pure comedy.  The multitude of ways one can get their Black card revoked or the one you expect to be the most crafty usually isn’t, not to mention the fact that if you are the one white person in the film you might be the one to go first instead of vice-versa.  are just the tip of the iceberg of culture trope shenanigans. Using Black masks on killers is a  statement whose roots resonate deep to the core, while speaking loudly to racial influx surrounding our current world.  I know that sounds real deep, but you will totally get it when you see the film

There is not one weak link in the casting, every single one of them are absolutely fantastic with personalities and characterizations that make you love them and hate the simultaneously making the film gel on every cellular level. Releasing on Juneteenth, The Blackening is a welcomed giggle in the midst of the madness we call life.