The Blackening is a 2022 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Story and co-written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, who also stars.^[1] Expanded from a 2018 short film by the improv comedy troupe 3Peat,^[2] the film follows an all-Black group of friends who encounter a killer while staying at a cabin in the woods.^[3]

The ensemble cast includes Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, with Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji.

The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2022, and was second runner-up for the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness.^[4] Lionsgate is set to distribute the film theatrically on Juneteenth weekend, June 16, 2023.^[5]

Premise[]

The film interrogates the trope that the African-American character is often the first to die in horror movies by placing an all-Black group of friends at a cabin in the woods, where they are confronted with a masked killer who demands that they rank their degrees of blackness so that he can determine the correct order in which to kill them, and must rely on a combination of street smarts and their own knowledge of horror film tropes to survive.^[6]

Cast[]

• Grace Byers as Allison
• Jermaine Fowler as Clifton
• Melvin Gregg as King
• X Mayo as Shanika
• Dewayne Perkins as Dewayne
• Antoinette Robertson as Lisa
• Sinqua Walls as Nnamdi
• Jay Pharoah as Shawn
• Yvonne Orji as Morgan
• James Preston Rogers as Camden Conner

Release[]

The Blackening is currently set to be theatrically released on June 16, 2023, Juneteenth weekend.

Box office[]

The film is looking to have a weekend bow of around $13 to $18 million, though this may change as the release nears.^[7]

Critical response[]

Joe Lipsett of Bloody Disgusting rated the film four out of five, writing that "While the kills in The Blackening are decent and the killer’s choice of weapon (a crossbow) is novel, it’s the comedy and camaraderie between the friends that make the film stand out. Not only do these characters fight and support each other as real friends do, but Perkins and Oliver’s script is also filled to the brim with smart, savvy jokes. The film is legitimately hilarious, tackling everything from obvious stereotypes to ingrained cultural prejudice within the group."^[6]

For IndieWire, Rafael Motamayor graded the film a B, calling it "the first great horror parody of the post-Get Out era" and writing that "every slasher movie needs a good villain and here the killer wears a blackface leather mask. It’s on the nose, but this parody has about as much subtext as Scary Movie and that’s part of the fun. There is no toning down Blackness or explaining things to white audiences. If you don’t know how to play Spades or what the Black anthem is, ask a friend."^[8]

Gallery[]

Trailers[]

The Blackening (2023) Official Trailer - Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo

2:26

The Blackening (2023) Final Trailer - Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo

1:44

References[]

External links[]

• The Blackening at IMDb
• Official website
• The Blackening at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:YouTube

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at The Blackening (film). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with MOVIEPEDIA, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.