The Blackening

The Blackening

Credits
Title:	The Blackening
Directed by:	Tim Story
Written by:	Tracy Oliver; Dewayne Perkins
Produced by:	Tracy Oliver; Dewayne Perkins; Tim Story; Jason Clark; E. Brian Dobbins; Marcei A. Brown; Sharla Sumpter Bridgett; Vicky Mara Story
Music by:	Dexter Story
Cinematography:	Todd A. Dos Reis
Edited by:	Peter S. Elliot
Production
Production:	MRC Film The Story Company Catchlight Studios Media Rights Capital
Distributors:	Cineplex Pictures Lions Gate Films
Released:	September 16th, 2022
Rating:	R
Running time:	96 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
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The Blackening is an American feature film of the slasher and comedy genres. It is based on the four-minute film short from 2018 by the Chicago based improv comedy troupe 3Peat. It was directed by Tim Story with a screenplay by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins based on a screen story written by Oliver and Perkins. It was produced by The Story Company, MRC Film and Catchlight Studios and distributed in Canada by Cineplex Pictures and by Lions Gate Films in the United States. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada on September 16th, 2022. It premiered in the United States at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 14th, 2023 and opened theatrically in the U.S. on June 16th, 2023.

Plot[]

Blackening, The 007 — Morgan and Shawn discover one messed up game.

Two lovers named Shawn and Morgan go to a cabin in the woods that they rented from the Collins family. They are preparing to host a Juneteenth gaming party with six other friends, who they have not seen since their college days ten years earlier. Shawn and Morgan go into the basement where they discover an old and incredibly racist trivia board game called "The Blackening". The centerpiece of the game board begins talking directly to them, urging them to play the game. Shawn and Morgan are amused and begin to play, until the voice warns that should they fail to answer the trivia question, they will die. Shawn goes first and fails, at which point, a crossbow bolt spears him through the throat. Morgan screams in horror and is suddenly dragged into the darkness.

Blackening, The 008 — Left to right: King, Allison, Lisa, Nnamdi, Clifton, Dewayne & Shanika.

A short time later, the other invitees gather together and begin their trip to the cabin. This includes Allison and Lisa, who are best friends, Lisa's gay male friend, Dewayne, a stoner named King, and a saucy plus-sized girl named Shanika. As they are on the road, Allison and Lisa silently communicate with one another about another guest - Lisa's ex boyfriend Nnamdi. Lisa has yet to tell her friend Dewayne that Nnamdi and she have gotten back together - something that would upset Dewayne deeply. When the crew stop at a sundries store to pick up snacks, Shanika encounters Clifton - another black student from their college days. Clifton has a nerdy "Steve Urkel" like personality, and tells Shanika that Shawn and Morgan also invited him to their Juneteenth reunion. Shanika also takes note of a creepy white employee, whom she refers to as "Texas Chainsaw".

When the group get to the cabin, they encounter a white park ranger whom King begins referring to as "Ranger White". As it turns out, this actually is the ranger's name. Ranger White initially prohibits them from entering the cabin, until they convince him that they are invited guests. After settling the dispute, Ranger White leaves them be.

Blackening, The 009 — King is chilling out.

As they enter the cabin, they find no sign of their hosts, Shawn and Morgan. They are not overly concerned, feeling that the couple may have stepped out for a bit. They all spend time getting to know each other again, but the mood grows tense when Nnamdi shows up. As predicted, Dewayne is greatly upset by his presence. Clifton eventually shows up, which confuses the friend group, as they wonder who it was that invited him.

A sudden power outage spooks the group a bit, prompting them to go down into the basement to find a breaker box. While there, they discover "The Blackening" board game. They all express their distaste for the racist game, but, believing that Morgan is the one who set the game up, dismiss it as being part of her twisted sense of humor; particularly when they find game pieces that seem specifically selected to match each of their personalities.

Blackening, The 010 — The gang is starting to get a little nervous.

A voice echoes from the center piece of the game, prompting them to select a card and answer the question. As with Shawn and Morgan, an incorrect answer will prove to be fatal. One of the questions requires them to sacrifice one amongst their number - the one they collectively decide is the least "black". After bickering back and forth, they ultimate decide to oust Clifton, partly because of his nerdy personality, but mostly because of his seeming right-wing political proclivities, as revealed when he confesses to having voted for Donald Trump - twice. Clifton is exiled from the house and left to his fate. The group stares out the window from inside as they see a crossbow bolt strike Clifton. Moments later, a black-garbed masked figure emerges and drags Clifton away. Afterward, the game piece speaks again, indicating that they had failed the challenge as one of their number had not cast a vote - Clifton himself.

Blackening, The 011 — It was Lisa in the Game Room with the... whatever the hell that thing is.

Anxiety and panic grips the friend group, and now they grow concerned over what may have happened to their hosts Shawn and Morgan. Allison suggests that they split up to search the house. The others balk at this, but ultimately relent. Allison, Shanika and King band together, while Lisa goes with Nnamdi and Dewayne. They find Ranger White's car, and discover a black mask inside. They immediately suspect him and Ranger White suddenly appears begging for their help. Suspecting him as the killer, they back away until a crossbow bolt strikes Ranger White, taking him down.

Blackening, The 012 — Allison is victorious.

Back inside the house, Shanika, Allison and King encounter the masked killer. They manage to overpower him and kill him. When he is unmasked, Shanika recognizes him as the creepy clerk from the sundries shop. Within short order, they come to realize that there is more than one killer. The second friend group take down the other kill and unmask him, only to find that he is identical to the first man. A family photo discovered inside the cabin reveals that the two killers are actually twin brothers.

The friends find a lair with video surveillance and monitor stations, indicating that there are cameras everywhere that have been watching them the whole time. Looking at one of the monitors, they see the basement room with the bodies of Ranger White and Clifton propped up in chairs. Suddenly, Clifton rises from his chair and drags Ranger White's body away and dumps it into a well.

Blackening, The 013 — Safety in a police car?

When the friends get to the basement they discover that not only is Clifton still alive, but he has been the mastermind behind the entire reunion. Clifton then explains his motive. Ten years ago, they all attended a college party and Clifton became the target of their jokes and ridicule, especially when they questioned his level of "blackness". Clifton was so upset that he began drinking alcohol for the first time in his life. Driving home from the party, the intoxicated Clifton failed to see a young woman in the road and struck her, killing her. He went to prison for four years for vehicular manslaughter. Since being released, he has been plotting this Juneteenth reunion so he could execute his revenge. Clifton prepares to kill them all and dispose of their bodies down the well, but the group fights back. Lisa delivers a power kick to his sternum, which causes him to fall into the well to his doom.

The following morning, the friends are sitting outside the cabin wondering what to do. One of them asks if they should call the police, but this idea is quickly shot down. Instead, King calls the fire department. The fire department arrives and turns a high-powered hose on them, which blasts them all off-screen.

Cast[]

Actor

Role

Allison

Clifton

King

Shanika

Dewayne

Lisa

Nnamdi

Shawn

Morgan

Ranger White

Clive & Camden Connor

George Fisher

Creepy old guy

Notes & Trivia[]

The Blackening redirects to this page.
The tagline for this film is "We can't all die first".
There are a total of twelve credited cast members in this film. There are four female cast members, leaving eight male cast members. Nine of the cast members are black, and three of them are white.
Production on The Blackening was announced as early as January, 2020. Filming began in late 2021 and was shot in Brentwood, California.
The central setting for this film is an unidentified city in California in the modern era.
The Blackening came in at #6 at the box office during its domestic debut, falling behind big summer releases like The Flash, which came in at #1 and Disney's animated feature Elemental. It was also beaten out by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was beginning its third week, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which had started its second week, and Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, which had already been in theaters 22 days.
The Blackening grossed $17,707,207 upon its U.S. domestic theatrical release, with an additional $462,246 internationally for an accumulated $18,169,453 in global box office. It earned $6,013,131 during its domestic opening.
On the Internet Movie Database, The Blackening has a Starmeter rating of 6.0 out of 10 based on more than 17,000 user votes.
On Metacritic, The Blackening has a weighted average Metascore of 67 out of 100 based on thirty-four posted critic ratings, indicating generally favorable reviews. It has 24 positive reviews, 2 negative reviews and 8 mixed reviews.
On the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Blackening holds an 87% certified fresh rating on the Tomatometer based on 146 posted critic reviews. It has 127 positive reviews and 19 negative reviews, averaging 7.0 out of 10. The movie has an audience score of 85% based on more than 1,000 verified user ratings, averaging 4.3 out of 5. There is only a 2% variance between the Tomatometer score and the Audience score, which is extremely rare.
On Letterboxd, The Blackening holds a weighted average review score of 3.11 out of 5 based on 60,568 ratings.
The Blackening was made available for digital download and video-on-demand on July 7th, 2023.
The Blackening was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Lionsgate Films on August 22nd, 2023. It was also released in 4K Ultra HD with Digital 4K.
Actor James Preston Rogers plays the dual role of twin brothers Camden and Clive Connor.
Actor and stunt performer George Fisher, who plays the creepy old guy, also played the murderous masked figure in the 1987 slasher film Return to Horror High.
The power slap that Allison and Lisa share is reminiscent of the one conducted by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele's Nope. While this is a small and innocuous comparison of films, it is also notable that both films feature a predominantly black cast and both were released in 2022.
Director and producer Tim Story is best known for directing the 2002 comedy film Barbershop as well as Taxi in 2004. Unfortunately, he also directed Fantastic Four in 2005 and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007.
Actor Sinqua Walls, who plays Nnamdi, is also known for playing Vernon Milton Boyd, IV in season two of the MTV television series Teen Wolf.
Actress Grace Byers, who plays Allison, is best known for playing Anika Calhoun in the drama series Empire. She also played Reeva Payge in the Marvel Comics inspired super-hero series The Gifted as well as Quinn Joseph on Harlem.
Associate producer Vicky Mara Story is the wife of director & producer Tim Story. They have been married since 2003.

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