Last night was another chance to catch a movie before its UK cinema release and so we headed out to check out the Cineworld Unlimited Screening of The Blackening.
The Blackening centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain’t no motherf****** game. Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop) and screenplay and screen story by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) & Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?
I’d been intrigued by the trailer of The Blackening that stars Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, with Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji after seeing it several times during my trips to Cineworld so I was hoping that the actual movie was going to be as good as the trailer looked.
One of the first things that appealed to me about the Blackening from the trailer is it had that feel of the movie Cabin in the Woods along with some other horror movies that I’ve come to love over the years, the movie also has the feeling of mystery to it as well, as all the friends gather to the cabin to celebrate together they discover a mysterious and somewhat suspect game in the games room in, yes you guessed it, the cellar!
Like many movies of this genre the characters are picked off one by one, but there is a twist that you may or may not see that ties everything together.
The Blackening has plenty of laugh out loud moments and thankfully there was quite a few people at our screening that had the same crazy sense of humour that I have, so there was a good few of us all laughing through the majority of the movie.
This is more of a comedy than a horror, but that’s not to say that there are some slightly gory moments, there are but they are mixed in with the comedy to work very well and to have you laughing along, look out for a moment with Lisa (Antoinette Robertson) in a shocking but also funny moment brandishing a candlestick!
Look out for Diedrich Bader who plays the park ranger who’s name is B. White.
This is a movie that is not going to be for everyone, if you like the genres of Horror/Comedy then is certainly one to check out when it is released in UK cinemas on the 25th of August, I really enjoyed it and will certainly going to see it again when it is released, just in case I missed anything the first time around.
Do you want to play a game on the Cabin in the Woods!
Movie title: The Blackening
Movie description: Seven friends go away for the weekend and end up trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not.
Date published: August 16, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 37m
Director(s): Tim Story
Actor(s): Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Summary
A good comedy horror that has plenty of laughs to keep you entertained.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
