Name: The Blackening
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Released: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins

The killer’s grotesque Sambo doll sits at the center of a blood-stained board game, its hollow eyes staring as the seven Black friends in The Blackening scramble to outwit their murderous tormentor. Director Tim Story’s horror-comedy isn’t here to scare you—it’s here to skewer, and that’s where it finds its sharpest edge.

Based on a 2018 short film and written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, The Blackening traps its ensemble cast (Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, and Jay Pharoah) in a cabin where they must leverage their street smarts and horror-movie savvy to survive. The premise is simple, but the execution is layered with satire, using racial stereotypes and horror tropes as both weapons and targets. The killer’s board game, for instance, isn’t just a contrived plot device—it’s a grotesque mirror held up to the characters (and the audience), forcing them to confront how they’ve internalized dehumanizing caricatures.

Story and his writers lean heavily into Get Out’s social horror framework but with a whipsmart, FUBU (For Us By Us) sensibility that keeps the tone buoyant even when the violence escalates. The film’s wit is its strongest asset: a scene where the friends debate whether Clifton (Fowler) belongs in their tight-knit group feels like The Breakfast Club refracted through a Black cultural lens, while the killer’s voice distorts into a racist caricature during tense confrontations. These moments land because the cast sells the blend of terror and humor with precision—Byers’ Allison is particularly compelling as the group’s reluctant but resourceful leader.

Yet The Blackening stumbles when it tries to balance its satirical ambitions with genre demands. The scares are telegraphed, and the horror set pieces lack the visceral punch needed to make them memorable. The film also struggles with pacing; the first act drags as it establishes the group’s dynamics, and the third act rushes through resolutions that feel underdeveloped. The satire is at its best when it’s laser-focused on racial themes, but tangents into homophobia within the Black community and other subplots dilute its impact.

Ultimately, The Blackening succeeds as a smart, if uneven, commentary on representation in horror—even if it doesn’t fully deliver on scares or laughs.