A smart and fearless horror comedy.

Invited to a Juneteeth reunion ten years after college by Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah), seven friends arrive for the festivities. Lawyer Lisa (Antoinette Robertson) catches a ride with her gay bestie Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins) with activist Allison (Grace Byers) tagging along. Reformed gangsta King (Melvin Gregg) is already at the woodsy locale with Lisa’s ex-boyfriend Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls), and fashionista Shanika (X Mayo) arrives late with nerd-awkward Clifton (Jermaine Fowler). After the edibles get passed around along with whatever concoction King filled his pitcher with, a sudden power outage lures the group into a mysterious game room… where a masked mastermind demands they prove their Blackness in a twisted trivia game if they want survive the night.

Like humor, horror is subjective. The 2019 Shudder documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror showcases the rise of Black characters and their unique stories from non-existent to fully represented, from the Tales from the Hood anthology to Get Out. On the more comedic side of Horrorwood, the Wayans Bros. Scary Movie franchise fills the bill, but installments skimped on the horror and leaned into slapstick. The Blackening strives for a rare and unique balance: an all-Black cast with agency trapped in a slasher situation, celebrating Black culture yet unafraid to point out stereotypes and skewer tropes. Directed by Tim Story from a script by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, can the hyper-focused concept of this story find mainstream audience appeal while unapologetically exploring the taboo question, “Just how Black do you think you are?”

Drawing from a similar setup most recently seen in Bodies Bodies Bodies and cribbing on any number of deranged game-loving serial hosts, The Blackening begins deceptively small and builds on itself through a series of seeded callbacks into an intriguing narrative. Questions about how the planning of the trap or the logistics of setting it up are casually swept under the carpet, but this plot convenience is no more unrealistic than any sequel to Scream or Saw. While many of the reveals aren’t difficult to see coming, the motivations behind them are organically built up and serve the story well. Everyone gets their moment of shame and their moment to shine in a self-aware ensemble cast of surprisingly complete characters that viewers will want to cheer for, and no self-respecting movie fan can deny how rarely that happens.

The effectiveness of the production is similar to Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, about two hillbillies just wanting to fix up their vacation home being mistaken for crazed inbred killers by a group of straight-laced college students. The Cabin In the Woods tropes are all present in The Blackening, from the harbinger lounging outside the last-chance gas station to the by-the-book park ranger played on-point by Diedrich Bader — just look at his name tag. The film was notably inspired by a 2018 short film for Comedy Central by the improv group 3Peat; while it spoils nothing that happens in the film that wasn’t already in the trailers, it’s easy to see what parts inspired the characters who made the cut. As a final point, the atmosphere lends itself toward a shared viewing experience, so the film works best in a theater watching with others.

As the mandatory reveals and monologues begin, the third act drifts away from the rapid-fire zingers and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them character bits that won viewers over but without ruining the ending. It’s too bad the filmmakers couldn’t find another way to do this, yet the film would have felt incomplete without. Let’s just say enough characters survive and that a sequel isn’t out of the question, so there could always be another go around to get this part right.

The Blackening is rated R for pervasive language, violence, drug use, and taking fewer tricks than the number you bid… I’m sorry — I thought you could play.

Three skull recommendation out of four

---