Skip to content
The Blackening is prefaced with the words: “The following is based on true events… that never happened”
Following an intro scene which gives a flavour to the film, eight friends have a reunion at a cabin in the woods. After a bit of scene-setting, they chance upon the titular board game which talks to them. Get the questions right and the live. If not, they die. That can’t be allowed, surely? How does it know them?
There’s great comic timing, including scenes such as an Android vs iPhone debate between Clifton (Jermaine Fowler – Coming 2 America) and Shanika (X Mayo), plus a comment from one of the group about previously having used a Ouija board to contact Gary Coleman, “and he was NOT happy!”, although when it referred to a couple of things, one of which was comparing the O’Reilly Autoparts advert tune to the Star Spangled Banner, I had to look that up afterwards, as I was not familiar with it. Although once I had, I still was none the wiser.
However, the script isn’t afraid to go potential offensive, when the boardgame’s ‘Sambo’-looking character asks them “Who is the blackest?” – Huh?
Without giving spoilers, although The Blackening followed what I expected of a “Who’ll die next?” film, in that it had an intro, then the opening credits*, then the main part of film itself, I was really pleased that it not only made me laugh a lot – and regularly with its high joke rate – but that while the trailer did that also, this film was not the usual case of ‘all the best bits are in the trailer’.
As such, I’d love a sequel to come along in due course. On Wikipedia, it shows the film has a budget of $5, but from US ticket sales in June, it’s only taken $17.7m, so hopefully it’ll get a lot more elsewhere. It could even end up like a franchise similar to Insidious where, even though those films are hit or miss, they don’t cost much more to make, yet claw in almost $200m each time.
Oh, and similar to the free Apple Tango with Talk To Me, this time, we had a mini Milky Way! I think I preferred that 😛
As a technical aside, at one point, someone’s holding a lighter, which emits a single horizontal line of lens flare, like a JJ Abrams film, as also seen in Raiders Of The Lost Ark when Indiana Jones is picking up the artefact early on in the cave. Totally unnatural, so I presume it was done for effect.
But as for who’s behind all the deadly deeds? Well, you’ll have to watch the film to find out.
*Oh, and those opening credits. I’ll hide this behind a spoiler header in case you want to witness it first-hand.
There’s also a mid-credits scene…
The Blackening is in cinemas from Friday August 25th, but isn’t yet available to buy on any home formats.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Release date: August 25th 2023
Studio: Lionsgate
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 8/10
Director: Tim Story
Producers: Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Marcei A Brown, Jason Clark, E Brian Dobbins, Tracy Oliver, Tim Story
Screenplay: Tracy Oliver, Dewayne Perkins
Music: Dexter Story
Cast:
Lisa: Antoinette Robertson
Allison: Grace Byers
Clifton: Jermaine Fowler
King: Melvin Gregg
Shanika: X Mayo
Dewayne: Dewayne Perkins
Nnamdi: Sinqua Walls
Shawn: Jay Pharoah
Morgan: Yvonne Orji
Ranger White: Diedrich Bader
Clive Connor / Camden Connor: James Preston Rogers
Creepy Old Guy: George Fisher
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.