The Blackening (2023)

User Review

• 

  d_riptide

  6 / 10

  One of two things, I knew were going to happen to me when I watched The Blackening: it was going to laugh or I was going to cringe. Surprisingly, I did more of the first….because I found enjoyment in this.
  
  Talk about a film that wants to have its cake and eat it too: aiming for the spoof-like parodical nature of Scary Movie and the meta-slasher self-awareness of Scream left this film with its balls stuck in a vase, wearing its influences on its sleeves in a bold attempt to fuse it with social commentary about the Black experience in contemporary America with slasher conventions aplenty. The end result is one I found enjoyable enough; with a brisk pace and a small scale that actually works in conjunction with the production design to the films advantage, it wastes no time getting right to the nitty gritty. As far as directing, Tim Story’s vision frames it as a slasher with genre archetypes and references everywhere but really uses that as a backdrop to pick away at the introspection about Black American culture, all of its complexities and ones beliefs on race and identity.
  
  As culture and friendship form the crux of this narrative, it is fairly predictable but is also as amusing as it is provocative due to a recognizable brand of consciousness and given the circumstances happening in our world right now…..this is a relief.
  
  
  On top of that, between dialogue that pops with comical tossed-off self-awareness and a charm that creates a fun atmosphere, momentum trucks on firmly until the end. Pacing is thankfully unharmed, some clever shots of editing backed up with nicely composed shots of cinematography and I thought all the acting was very good; everyone gave personality to their smartly drawn characters and the ensemble gelled well together with their chemistry.
  
  The kills in general are also ok or decent.
  
  
  Of course, no film is without its flaws: the film wasn’t entirely packed to the brim with constant LOL’s and the twist with the antagonist near the end is one I did see coming. I would also say the film’s use of the R rating could’ve been utilized further beyond the use of explicit language and maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t find the soundtrack all that memorable. Also, character development falters a little so the plot can keep moving and the audience has to infer a bit too much information to put the pieces together.
  
  If I had to pinpoint one big glaring issue with this overall project, it would probably be how arbitrarily tensionless everything became. I didn’t mind how predictable the film was but there are so many moments where they’re building up to something potentially eventful….only for a forced comedy beat or the score to completely steal away the possibility for any stress and anxiety; I never felt as if any of these characters were in danger. Similar to Summoning Sylvia, the film was entertaining on its own without needing to be anything scary-esque.
  
  
  But that’s just me; no expectations were formed going into this and I found myself having a good time. That being said, it’ll probably work better if you’re surrounded by other people or your family.

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