(Updated 06/05/2023)
For years, the fate of Black characters in horror movies was so consistently predictable that the token Black character dying first became an obvious trope. Now we're multiple layers deep in the meta-exploration of how horror movies approach Black characters. CABIN IN THE WOODS was one of many satirical approaches to the idea, and of course, Jordan Peele's movies, from GET OUT to NOPE, have explored the topic head-on.
Now, THE BLACKENING starts off as sort of a spoof of horror conventions, but it quickly evolves into a legitimate horror story of its own. BARBERSHOP and FANTASTIC FOUR director Tim Story begins with the "friends trapped in a cabin" template and expands THE BLACKENING into something all its own. Check out the new trailer as we lay out everything we know about the horror comedy.
When Does The Blackening Come Out?
Lionsgate will release THE BLACKENING exclusively in movie theatres on June 16. That's Juneteenth weekend — which is the same weekend on which the events in the movie take place.
Watch the Funny, Bloody Trailer for The Blackening
The new trailer for THE BLACKENING gives us a lot of great cast chemistry even as it sets up the fact that, as a horror movie, this one is no joke. A masked Jigsaw-esque villain forces a game on a group of friends as they vacation in a remote cabin. Soon the long-time companions are pitted against one another in a battle for survival.
The Blackening Is Based on a Comedy Short
Earlier in his career, co-star/creator Dewayne Perkins was part of a sketch comedy troupe called 3Peat. Their comedy short, "The Blackening" was released on Comedy Central in 2018 and it stands as a brief rough draft for the movie.
As THE BLACKENING was developed as a feature film, Perkins co-wrote the script with Tracy Oliver (GIRLS TRIP) and it looks like the duo has come up with a lot of fun ideas to push the boundaries of the movie far beyond those of the comedy short concept/
At the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, Perkins talked to Collider about the ideas behind the movie, saying, "Being able to take these tropes and find exactly what makes them complex, what gives them depth, and then forcing that in the movie so that when you start watching it, you see what has been in horror movies before and then the goal of the movie is to constantly break down your assumptions of these characters by constantly forcing depth."
The Cast of The Blackening
In addition to Perkins, THE BLACKENING stars Antoinette Robertson ("Dear White People," "Atlanta"), Sinqua Walls ("Teen Wolf"), Grace Byers ("Harlem," "Empire"), X Mayo (THE FAREWELL), Melvin Gregg ("Snowfall"), Jermaine Fowler (JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH), Yvonne Orji ("Insecure"), and Jay Pharoah ("Saturday Night Live").
The trailers show off the strong chemistry and comic interplay between the cast members, and we're eager to see how things play out — even though horror history says it's not going to work out well for many of these characters.
THE BLACKENING opens on June 16.
All images courtesy of Lionsgate.