Film Review: THE BLACKENING: Spirited Satire on Slasher Films Delivers More than Laughs [Tribeca 2023]

The Blackening Review

The Blackening (2022) Film Review from the 22nd Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Tim Story, written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, and starring Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji, Jay Pharoah, and James Preston Rogers.

A wicked satire on slasher films satirizes spoofs on slasher films, as well as our current political and cultural climate in The Blackening.

An all black cast shines in this film that spoofs slasher films, and goes a few steps beyond, dissing the trends and fads of today, and even lampooning itself. But maybe the most satisfying aspect of this movie is actors’ delight in the game for all its worth. Even better, the cast members are established professionals. As such they play off each other in such rapid fire repartee, incisive improvisation looks as natural as breathing.

We can see a number of references to other films right off the bat, and the filmmakers don’t shy away from exploiting them one little bit. The basic premise involves a group of friends meeting at a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway. A couple arrives well before the others, and they fall victim to ‘The Blackening,’ a board game they stumble across in what the placard on the door announces the ‘game room.’

Among the guests there is the usual atmosphere of jocular discord we usually see in these films:  backbiting and catcalling, snappy repartee, former friends struggling to reconcile, and so forth. And there is the carful stopping for gas on the way; the local filling station and convenience store is tended by a brooding, hulking Cracker who radiates hillbilly antagonism.

This board game is similar in design to the one seen in Jumanji. But instead of written warnings floating up into a portal, this game is fully interactive. The plastic bas relief face of a pickaninny, whom they off handedly refer to — I kid you not — as ‘Sambo,’ who engages in discourse and dealing out gruesome deaths for those who decline to participate.

When the questions themselves are posed, a board timer starts ticking away. Some of these are multiple choice, others fill-in-the-blank. Some questions are tied racially; for instance, what actor and/or character appeared in a token black guest spot on an all white TV series. Others are a little more specific to the slasher genre.

More engaging challenges require the survivors to choose among themselves which is to be sacrificed based on some goofy, ambivalent criteria, but stoking discord is the whole point, resulting in some pretty hilarious reasons for not making the grade. In one instance, when debating which of them is the ‘blackest,’ Clifton (the Nerd) blurts out, “I voted for Trump.”

The weakness in the film — but not a major one — lies in the climax and resolution, with the sudden reversals piling up fast. The Big Reveal is a little confusing by design. Thus far the lone antagonist is the ‘Sambo’ version of Leatherface, broadcasted on a 50’s TV set dispatching the victims, but is actually part of a bait and switch.

The rationale behind vengeful payback in The Blackening could be a little confusing to some (like myself), but that’s okay; the fundamental silliness of this subgenre offers a lot of latitude and satisfaction. (This narrative safety net doesn’t always work, however; The Starving Games, a would be spoof on The Hunger Games — which practically begged for satire — missed by a country mile.)

The best thing about slasher satires in general, and The Blackening in particular, is the sense of perspective provided by that brand of humor. Standing on principle to decide the fate of others is one thing, but serves as a reminder of what really matters is how we treat each other in the course of getting through the day, and The Blackening does this in spades.

Rating: 9/10

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