EARLY REVIEW

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of "The Blackening" since it was first announced. And though I immensely the enjoyed the theater experience, it didn't live up to my admittedly lofty horror-comedy expectations. A low kill count, light gore, and minimal scares keep this from excelling as a horror/slasher. The abundance of laughs more than offset the noticeable lack of scares and kills. 

A group of friends gather for a reunion at a cabin in the woods but find themselves caught in a deadly trap by a crazed killer. Primarily centered around the horror trope wherein the black character always dies first, what happens if all the characters are black? The predicament has the group humorously examining black culture with their own experiences to determine who is the "blackest." 

"The Blackening," first and foremost, is really funny, and seeing it in a crowded theater is undoubtedly the way to experience this. The largely unknown cast was excellent (and ridiculously attractive). I hope to see some of them in some new projects soon. Despite an excellent setup with a haunting and creepy game at its center, the reasonably obvious killer with uninspired motivations was underwhelming when the film concluded.

I don't want to dwell too much on the shortcomings, though, when most of those are based on my heightened slasher expectations, whereas "The Blackening" is frankly leaning much more into the comedy. And in that regard, it excels. I recommend people see it opening weekend. Even though the humor is centered mainly around black culture and stereotypes, the humor plays to all audiences. Please check it out when it releases in theaters on June 16. There will be a ton of competition in theaters around that time, and I hope this doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

— 3.5 / 5 ⭐