Respond to these rapid questions in our The Blackening quiz and we will tell you which The Blackening character you are. Play it now.
The wonderful tagline “We can’t all die first” is perfectly embodied in Tim Story’s “The Blackening,” a tribute to horror parodies like “Scary Movie.” All audiences will find the comedy, personalities, and comments in this movie to be entertaining, but Black viewers in particular will find it to be particularly so. The anticipation that we won’t see our people survive to the end, as well as shouting at and making fun of horror movie characters for their absurd decisions, are essential parts of Black community movie-watching traditions. It served as the inspiration for the title of Jordan Peele’s “Nope” and a large portion of the “Scary Movie” series, but “The Blackening” takes elements from its forebears and creates something wholly original.
An adaptation of the 2018 Comedy Central short film “The Blackening” by comedy ensemble 3Peat, of which co-writer Dewayne Perkins is a part, “The Blackening” centers on a group of former classmates gathering for a Juneteenth celebration at a cabin in the woods. They are captured by a killer after meeting up and playing a few games of spades. What follows is a wild cultural cry of a movie, with only their street smarts and knowledge of Black culture to carry them through.
The Blackening, the movie’s title board game (which has a racist Sambo in its center), is crucial to their cat-and-mouse game of survival. They will be given a few extra minutes of survival if they can respond to its questions, such as how many seasons of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” had a dark-skinned Aunt Viv or list five Black actors that appeared on “Friends” as guests. However, as soon as the questions are exhausted, the film turns into full-fledged slasher territory.
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“The Blackening” wears its horror influences on its sleeve, from a cold open that is evocative of “Scream” to a broadcast game master that is similar to “Saw.” The script, which Perkins and Tracy Oliver of “Girl’s Trip” co-wrote, is absolutely hilarious and filled with both wordless and spoken-word physical humor. There is bloodshed to be had among tense chase sequences and brawls, but violence is portrayed here more for laughs than for terror.
The Blackening Quiz
The cast has fantastic chemistry, which inspires both the comedy and the dread throughout the film. There isn’t a weak link in the whole thing, but Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins), Lisa’s (Antoinette Robertson) gay best friend, is always the film’s humor and heart. Dewayne is hurt and enraged when he learns that Lisa is having an affair with her repeatedly unfaithful college ex, Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls). This distrustful triangle develops a secondary plot and provides plenty of funny moments amongst the three characters in addition to sympathetic beats about friendship and atonement. Robertson and Walls maintain genuine romantic harmony throughout.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Blackening quiz.
Even while “The Blackening” focuses on the conflict between friendship and relationships, the ensemble as a whole won’t go unnoticed. No funny corner of “The Blackening” is left untouched, from the utter silliness of Clifton (Jermaine Fowler), the uncomfortable Android-truther “Carlton” of the group who exposes his support for Trump, to the raucous, no-bullshit Shanika (X Mayo). While on an unintentional Adderall trip, Grace Byers’ Allison creates laugh-out-loud physical comedy, while Melvin Gregg impresses as King, Nnamdi’s laid-back ex-gangster best friend. Allison is both the target and host of the jokes in the movie about the range of Blackness because she is the only multiracial friend in the group.
About the quiz
Given how funny the script is throughout, it may be simple to overlook all of the subtext. However, the film critically addresses the place of Black people in horror, media, and culture through character discussions and the premise of the Blackening game. Underneath the game-playing and life-or-death struggles, “The Blackening” criticizes the ways in which Blackness is determined by a set of rules and the long list of ways that your card might be suspended.
Also, you must try to play this The Blackening quiz.
Because Black people didn’t get to witness “Friday,” it was all done in good humor, as Story acknowledges. But “The Blackening” also casts a biting light on the fact that in a society where white people are constantly trying to define what Blackness is, jokes and intra-community judgment can be hurtful to those who didn’t have the opportunity to be exposed to their culture until later in life. And while Story’s film undoubtedly lacks the depth of contemporary Black horror masterpieces like “Get Out,” it isn’t intended to.
Through and through, “The Blackening” is a wholly Black comedy. It boastfully serves audiences a hilarious movie we didn’t realize we needed by holding onto its wit and biting right up until the very end.
present in theaters.
