What generational curse are we breaking?
Teaching the Black people that want to learn, how to play spades?
While that may be a question that has plagued my people for generations, The Blackening had me laughing at us throughout. I came to this one a bit late. So while I knew to expect more comedy than horror, the movie actually had a few
suspenseful moments that lead to some decent scares and bloody kills. The laughs never stopped. As we say on Black Twitter, my people can’t take anything seriously and director Tim Story made light work of proving that anecdote.
The Blackening gets its premise from the 2018 Comedy Central short film of the same name, written by the comedy trio, 3Peat. A group of Black college friends meet up for a reunion in a cabin in the woods for the Juneteenth holiday weekend. There are so many inside jokes in that phrase alone.
Black people?
In a cabin?
In the woods?
On Juneteenth?
Immediately you know the movie means to flip the Black-people-in-horror-movies trope somewhere between the spectrum of a goofy parody like Scary Movie and the metaphoric, psychological, social commentary of Get Out.
Lovers of the comedy horror subgenre have plenty to enjoy in The Blackening. The film is filled with quick one-liners, fan favorite horror film callbacks, physical comedy and a well-rounded group of young Black actors equally pulling their weight. Grace Byers is surprisingly physical, here, with excellent comedic timing. Dewayne Perkins (one of the original writers of the short film) keeps it lighthearted, breaking the tense moments as Antoinette Robinson’s (Lisa), gay best friend. Sinqua Walls plays Lisa’s cheating ex, Nnamdi, and Jermaine Fowler (Clifton), Melvin Gregg (King) and X Mayo (Shanika) fill the room as the Blerd, ex gangster, and the heavy drinking homegirl, respectively, as the friends band together to try to survive the night.
The Blackening doesn’t shy away from calling back to scenes from some horror favorites. The first major scare plays out at the expense of the biggest names of the film, Yvonne Orji and Jay Pharoah, somewhat mimicking the quick kill opening scene that made the Scream franchise famous. And because Black people can make a joke out of anything, a couple of quips about Omar Epps and Jada Pinket-Smith’s brief Scream 2 scenes foreshadow what’s to come.
Next, the film introduces the rest of the gang with familiar horror setups, but “make it Black.” What’s a cabin in the woods movie without a tense road trip with friends? “Who’s all gon’ be at this cabin though?”
Then there’s the the obligatory pit stop at a middle-of-nowhere gas station run by the gross old racist and his creepy son. “Oooh! they’ve got Rap Snacks and peach Moscato, though.”
Lastly, it’s music, sugary vodka kool-aid (a la House Party), and girls vs boys in Spades. “But, listen, if you reneged last time, you damn sure can’t play this time. And ain’t nobody got time to teach you at the table.”
The horror really begins when a suspicious shadow sends the friends to “The Game Room,” where they find themselves trapped in a Saw-like game of pick a “Black” card or die.
The Blackening writers shined throughout, cleverly making the characters vocalize observations they knew Black audiences would be yelling out loud to the screen. Before Allison can reluctantly vomit up the suggestion to split up, the rest of the group chastise her, “Don’t you say it! Don’t you DARE say it.” A running bit in the movie, made popular by A Black Lady Sketch Show and a Megan the Stallion SNL skit, Black women speaking to one another with just a look, The Blackening takes it a step further playing it as a kind of Black people telepathy. The bit doesn’t miss.
Besides the witty banter, the script plays heavily into the inside joke amongst Black people. While we are not a monolith, almost any misstep can get your Black card stripped. One of the film’s best scenes forces the friends to call each other out in a Black-off to decide who will be the game’s sacrifice. As funny as it is to jones each other about our Blackness or lack thereof, what do we consider being “the Blackest?” Is it over-using “nigga”? Typical Black man marrying a white woman? Playing the Angela Rye wannabe? Being an African? Turns out, none of those trumps voting for Trump when your Black card is on the line.
No spoilers, here, just in case. But if you haven’t seen it yet, get some friends together to rent or buy it now on Amazon. This is a good one to watch with your people.
