The Blackening (2022)
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A group of friends celebrating Juneteenth at a remote cabin are forced into a deadly game by a masked killer.
The story
Morgan and Shawn arrive at a cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteenth with a group of friends. Upon discovering a racist board game called 'The Blackening', the lights go out and a mysterious voice demands they play. After Shawn is killed, Morgan is taken prisoner. The rest of the friends arrive and find themselves trapped in a game where they must answer trivia questions about African-American culture to save Morgan. The voice eventually forces them to choose one person to sacrifice based on who they deem to be 'the blackest'.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Morgan and Shawn arrive at a cabin to celebrate Juneteenth with friends, where they find a racist board game called 'The Blackening'. A mysterious voice kills Shawn and takes Morgan prisoner, forcing the rest of the group to play a trivia game about African-American culture to save her. When they fail a question, Morgan is attacked. The voice then demands they sacrifice the person they deem 'the blackest.' The group chooses Clifton out of spite because he admitted to voting for Donald Trump; he is then shot with an arrow. The friends split up to find help, encountering a ranger who is killed by the killer. They eventually find the first killer, a disfigured clerk, and his twin brother. They discover the mastermind is Clifton, who faked his death. He reveals he organized the night as revenge for a past incident involving his 'blackness' and a DUI that led to a woman's death. He attempts to drop the friends down a well where he dumped Shawn and Morgan's bodies, but they fight back and kick him into the well. The film ends with the friends calling the fire department, only to be sprayed with a hose.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 97
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Tim Story
- Writers
- Tracy Oliver · writer; Dewayne Perkins · writer
- Cast and characters
- Dewayne Perkins; Grace Byers; Jermaine Fowler; Melvin Gregg; X Mayo; Antoinette Robertson; Sinqua Walls; Jay Pharoah; Yvonne Orji
- Genres
- horror comedy; parody; slasher; satire
- Themes
- friendship; cultural prejudice; satire; revenge
- Tone and mood
- hilarious; satirical; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- death game; slasher; parody; horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2018 short film by the comedy troupe 3Peat
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews, with critics noting the satire of horror film tropes and ethnic stereotypes. It was described as 'legitimately hilarious' and 'the first great horror parody of the post-Get Out era.'
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 67 · scale: 100 · review count: 34; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 81%
- Production trivia
- Much of the film's dialogue was improvised by the cast.; The film was announced in January 2020.; Lionsgate acquired the distribution rights for 'just short of' $20 million.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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