Title – The Blackening (2022) 

Director – Tim Story (Fantastic Four) 

Cast – Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo

Plot – A group of seven college friends reunite at a remote cabin for a quiet weekend of good company and good times but find their idyllic retreat interrupted by a mysterious murderer who is determined to cut through the group of friends one victim at a time. 

“Preach it sister”

Review by Eddie on 16/10/2023

I remember the first time I had seen or heard anything about The Blackening was in a trailer played before a screening of John Wick Chapter 4 and in my clearly misguided mind I expected this social commentary/meta piece to be some type of modern day Scary Movie with a simple message but what we get here instead is a confused film that is neither a horror, a comedy or a well put together call to arms topical exercise, merely a film that excels in nothing while giving its audience a bore-inducing ride even at a mere 90 minute running time. 

To be fair, why on earth I or anyone else would expect a film with many saving graces when it’s directed by the man responsible for cinematic crimes such as Tom and Jerry: The Movie, the 2019 Shaft remake, Ride Along 1 & 2, Fantastic Four and Taxi is beyond me but the worst and most frustrating thing about The Blackening is that deep down somewhere this film might just have been on of 2023’s more surprisingly effective affairs not the near on irredeemable mess that it is here as a finished product.

Somehow holding a Rotten Tomatoes rating in the high 80’s (highlighting once more why that sites validity is under increasing scrutiny) many may look at The Blackening from the outside and expect some type of casual movie night treat but this tale of a group of unlikable college friends who are reuniting at a remote destination for a weekend of fun only to find themselves coming up against a cheap Jigsaw/Ghostface rip-off who seemingly holds a vendetta against the group is one devoid of any comedic spark, a character worth caring about, horror moments worth a note or social observations that are fresh and inspiring, making it an amateurish experience that doesn’t appear to understand what it was intending to be. 

Always tricky to combine scares, laughs and topical matters into one cohesive package, The Blackening needed someone far more talented than Tim Story to gift it the life and energy this low-budgeted offering needed to justify its conception as we quickly become aware that what we have been hoodwinked into watching is a drab and uninspired feature filled to the brim with B-listers struggling to work with weak material and a director unable to gift us anything close to a film resembling something worth recommending to any type of viewer who has the brain attuned to what a good film should look like. 

It may want to be a film considered of the time, a film that smartly subverts expectations and provides some oh so wise wink wink moments but The Blackening is a poorly designed imitation of much better films and an even poorer genre mash up that ends up giving us bare bones laughs and barely there scares, making this a genuine failure to launch product from a director with form in this space. 

Final Say – 

Don’t be fooled into thinking The Blackening is a good film, this insipid and instantly forgettable affair is anything but and another line through the name of Tim Story who’s upcoming projects such as the Monopoly feature film or the no one ever asked for it Ride Along 3 should be films we should all be very afraid of. 

1 Donald Trump voter out of 5