A new addition to my newfound enjoyment of Horror but it follows in the same foot steps as Scream and Cabin in the Woods but unlike the former, it’s good. Obviously by the cast and title, it’s turning traditional Slasher movies 90° as it focuses on all the tropes involving Black Americans. Everybody knows, with the exception of Scream 2, the Black character is never the first victim. It also plays on the stereotypes of Black Americans with the victim pool: an Urkel, the Gangsta’, the One with a White Parent, the Gay One, the Professional (doctor/lawyer), the Joker and the One with a Parent from an African Country. Plus other things: they all know how to play Spades (I met some Black students who loved this card game when I attended Marquette, I thought it was a Milwaukee thing), telepathy between the women and jokes you’ll hear/see as the movie progresses.
The plot involves nine university friends having a tenth anniversary (graduation) party over Juneteenth weekend at a remote cabin in the woods. I’m guessing the film’s release coincided with this but it would’ve been a bigger success during the Spring or Fall as the Summer Blockbusters killed it. Anyway, the two hosts are killed off early to give the audience a taste of what’s to come; in order to live through the night, they must defeat a Black History trivia game with a very racist image at its center called The Blackening. Some questions are easy, some are funny (you’ll see) and some are nearly impossible since they turn friend against friend.
Despite it being obviously targeted to Black audiences, it’s an accessible movie for anyone because at its core, the points are universal: friendship, survival, betrayal, old grudges, fear and inside jokes between old friends. Other elements are matters Black Americans (and Canadians) understand, like arguing who is really “Black.” Overall I’m perfectly good with movies aimed at niche audiences since MCU and Star Wars has my Nerd Life covered so Black Americans, Gay Americans, etc. deserve the same courtesy. Plus I should go see these films more often to get out of my comfort zone. It won’t transform me into an Uber Ally or a better Leftist, yet I think it could give me a splinter of more understanding while being entertained. Either way though, The Blackening is a million times better than those awful Scary Movie flicks which lack focus and just can’t recapture the shotgun approach of gags Airplane! or Mel Brooks’ prime in the Seventies.
Alamo Extras:
Saw this at the South Lamar location and I guess the theater didn’t have anything due to the construction; they’re transforming its wonderful lobby into one more theater, or worse, Alamo didn’t bother put anything together which is a shame. The Blackening is a fertile movie for pointing out other source material the audience would enjoy. I’d go with a mix of Blaxpoitation stuff such as Blacula, JD’s Revenge and The Zombies of Sugar Hill (They Cloned Tyrone maybe but it isn’t out yet); other Horror movies in which there are Black victims but they’re not first (Alien, Night of the Living Dead, Us and The Thing); the rising popularity of Juneteenth Day across the US; maybe a little montage of Urkel from Family Matters; trailers other great Black comedies I feel are its ancestors…Hollywood Shuffle, I’m Gonna’ Git Ya Sucka or some skits from Living Colour: and throw in some of co-writer DeWayne Perkins’ standup routines. However, Alamo Drafthouse should’ve consulted a Black employee first over my suggestions.
