I went into The Blackening without watching any trailers. In a time where comedy movies seem to be going extinct, I instantly had interest in this new horror-comedy. And as someone who grew up on Fresh Prince and Martin, I miss black-themed comedies.

The Blackening definitely scratches that itch. Early on I wasn't laughing much. But the farther we get into the movie and story, the more I was laughing. I cracked up numerous times at some really funny jokes. And the entire premise and story is amusing.

My one criticism would be that it's a little lacking on the horror side. It's more of a comedy about horror than a horror-comedy. I didn't really mind that, but I could have enjoyed it even more if there were stronger horror elements.

I had a great time with this movie and will definitely watch it again. And while comedy movies are still so rare, I'm pretty happy to have two in 2023 that I really enjoyed, along with House Party from earlier this year.

(1 viewing, early access fan screening 6/14/2023)

SCORE: 8.7/10

I loved that! The Menu meets Game Night? As I've stated, I do not like Horror movies. This wasn't a Horror movie. It had Horror elements to it, but it was way more of a Comedy than anything else. The entire cast was so entertaining to watch and the characters they brought to life had varying personality types that just worked well together. I wouldn't go as far to call it a comedic masterpiece, but it was funny as hell. There were just a couple of instances where you could tell that they were overdoing it for effect. As a Caucasian, I can't really comment on the use of different references throughout the film, but judging by the laughter and the commentary from the people watching around me, I'd say they were really really good and spot on. One thing I can say for certain is that this movie understood comedic timing and synced it up to how they imagined the audience would react the best. I genuinely found myself locked in and wanting to find out what was going to happen next, and the interactions between characters was super entertaining to watch.

You're going to think I'm joking when I say this, but Jermaine Fowler's portrayal of Clifton at the end of the movie was one of the closest things I've seen to Heath Ledger's Joker. Of course it was on a smaller scale and for a short period of time, but that was the only thing I was thinking when I was watching him act the way he did. For how absolutely absurd the rest of the film was, his motivation for doing what he did actually made a ton of sense. I kind of felt like I was on his side, minus the whole voting for Trump twice thing. The extremely well executed ending and twist took this movie from being something you just laugh at for 2 hrs straight to a story with brilliant structure.

"The Blackening" is a very surprising movie that I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. With funny jokes and good pacing, it was a fun time.

Starting with the good, I thought all the acting was very good. Everyone gave personality to their characters. The script was hilarious. I was laughing multiple times throughout the movie and I felt the commentary was handled very well. The satirical nature the film provides I thought was really clever and if you don't get it then this movie isn't for you, but that also doesn't make the movie bad. The pacing was also pretty good, the movie never felt like it dragged and I was enjoying myself. And finally there was a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting and it really caught me off guard. Overall it was a really fun reveal.

Now this isn't a perfect movie and while I think the comedy is great, the horror I felt was lacking a bit. I was never bored when the horror started, but it was very standard stuff. The movie could've used some more blood and more stakes. And finally the body count is low.

Overall despite a somewhat standard slasher narrative, it's saved but a great comedy narrative filled with good acting, fast pacing, and some good twists.