It is an urban myth or repeated joke that the black character always dies first in a scary movie, this film is obviously using this idea for comedic effect; as the poster says, "We can't all die first.", I was really looking forward to seeing this, directed by Tim Story (Barbershop, Fantastic Four, Ride Along). Basically, at a cabin in the woods, Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah) have arrived where they plan to celebrate Juneteenth (19 June, the date of the abolition of black slavery) with their friends. When they explore the basement, the couple discovers a board game called "The Blackening", which features racist caricatures. Suddenly, the lights go out and a mysterious voice demands the couple to play. Shawn answers a question incorrectly and is immediately killed with an arrow to the neck. Morgan tries to escape but is captured. The next day, Lisa (Antoinette Robertson), Allison (Grace Byers), and Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins, also writing) make their way to the cabin. They are later joined by King (Melvin Gregg) who has brought Lisa's unfaithful ex-boyfriend Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls) for the weekend. On her way to the cabin, Shanika (X Mayo) stops at a gas station for supplies and runs into her former school friend Clifton (Jermaine Fowler) who comes to join in the festivities. Before leaving, Shanika is frightened by the creepy facially disfigured clerk (James Preston Rogers) who stares at her menacingly. Once the group is all together, Ranger White (Diedrich Bader) arrives and will not allow them to enter. There is a dispute as to the reasons which is eventually settles, and the friends start setting up for a night of partying. They partake in a variety of drinks, drugs, and party games, but the group questions who specifically invited Clifton. The lights suddenly go out and the group look for the fuse box. They are lured into the basement, discovering board games on the shelves, and come across The Blackening on the central table. Opening the game box, they find the game pieces correlate to their individual personalities. The mysterious voice speaks to them, and the television switches on, showing that Morgan is being held prisoner. The voice forces the friends to play the game to save Morgan or they will all be killed. The voice begins asking trivia questions about African American culture, including about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Scream 2, one by one, they answer. Unfortunately, the friends fail to sufficiently answer a question about black actors that guest-starred on Friends. As a result, Morgan is attacked, and they are ordered to sacrifice one of their own. They must choose which of them is "the blackest"; the least black person will be sacrificed. Each of them comes up with their own defence, including Dewayne claiming that he is gay. Everyone ends up choosing Clifton after he admits he voted for Donald Trump twice during the election. Clifton goes outside and the killer shoots him in the chest with an arrow. When the friends are freed from the room, they try looking for Morgan and to find help. Allison has the bad idea that they should split up, and despite knowing better, they do so. Allison goes with King and Shanika while Dewayne goes with Lisa and Nnamdi. Dewayne, Lisa and Nnamdi runs into Ranger White who agrees to help them, they are suspicious about his sincerity, until he is shot in the neck with an arrow by the killer. Allison, King, and Shanika encounter the killer, and the trio manage to overpower and kill him. They unmask him to find that it is the clerk that Shanika saw at the gas station. Lisa, Nnamdi, and Dewayne then encounter a second killer before Lisa bashes his brains in. Looking through his pockets, they find out that he is the identical twin brother (James Preston Rogers) of the first killer, and they deduce someone hired them to be there. The friends enter another room of the cabin where they find the bodies of Ranger White and Clifton. Suddenly, Clifton wakes to reveal himself as the one who hired the killers, Clive and Camden Connor, and the mastermind of all events. He blames the group for always doubting his level of "blackness", including during their time in college; he blames them for an event where he was drinking heavily and whilst driving, he ended up killing a woman on the road. After serving four years in prison for drink driving, he organised the entire night as revenge. He intends to kill the others and dump them down a well with the corpses of Shawn and Morgan. The friends fight back before kicking him down the well to his apparent death. As the sun rises, the friends are sceptical of calling the police for help. Dewayne suggests they call the fire department instead, and they are sprayed with a hose. Also starring George Fisher as the Creepy Old Guy. The cast all give humorous performances with their deliberately stereotypical ethnic characteristics, it is a clever twist on the usual slasher movie, with a knowing satirical undertone, tackling racism and stereotypes, it is not that scary but the deaths are suitably gory and it has a fairly creepy atmosphere, and it makes you laugh enough, a worthwhile horror comedy. Good!
Review of The Blackening
