The Blackening (2022) Dir: Tim Story
- Ridley Coote
- Aug 30
- 2 min read
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Every so often, I like to delve a little more into the varied array of films within the horror comedy subgenre. On this occasion, it was this Tim Story directed film, that, interestingly enough, was actually based on a Comedy Central sketch, which was developed by comedian Dewayne Perkins, who also acted in, co-wrote, and produced, this film. Letterboxd has this as a decidedly average film, but I still thought I should give it a watch to see what I would think of it myself.
The film mocked and parodied a number of black stereotypes in horror, which was pretty amusing, although I did find that the film didn't seem to provide much beyond those aforementioned jokes. The social critiques were commendable, but I didn't find the majority of it well executed. At times, I thought the film was fairly funny, but not all of the comedy landed as I would have hoped. On the contrary, some of it felt very tired and weak.
The story was very predictable, even when it was attempting to subvert audience expectations, but I enjoyed the comedy enough for it to be semi-entertaining, in any case. Nothing about the story felt all that unique, and I ended up a little disappointed by just how formulaic and generic a lot of it felt. I almost feel like the film could've gone further and done more with what it was attempting to do.
Of the ensemble cast, I thought the most entertaining performances were provided by Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, and X Mayo. They were the funniest and most memorable actors in the film pretty comfortably, in my opinion. I didn't mind the acting of Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, and Melvin Gregg, but they weren't as compelling as the first set of names I listed. There was only one actor who I didn't really enjoy the performance of, and that was Jermaine Fowler. His character was just way too goofy and dumb, and Fowler's acting reflected that.
Overall, I thought this was a fairly mediocre horror comedy, unfortunately. I loved the idea behind this film, but it very much felt like there was not enough to it. It ended up being more forgettable than it was funny, despite some laughs here and there. The social commentary didn't quite land as effectively as it could've, despite a spirited attempt, which ultimately meant that this was a misfire, as far as I was concerned.
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