Black Friday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Black Friday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 11, 2022

I wouldn't be caught dead shopping in person on Black Friday, but apparently some people get quite the thrill of being packed in like sardines with other shoppers, waiting out in the cold and then storming into the store to save a few dollars on that cheap off-brand TV or toaster or whatever. I find it to be more enjoyable to click through online and watch for the craziest videos of the day to cycle onto the web. And if the one thing I want sells out, well, it's not like it'll matter in the grand scheme of things, anyway. Black Friday is something of a modern day Dawn of the Dead, a film about consumerism and culture hiding in the guise of a zombie/monster film. It's neither as smart nor as sophisticated as George A. Romero's classic, but as a bit of mindless fun it's not half bad, though one can imagine a bigger budget yielding better results.

It's the big day -- Black Friday -- and the workers at "We Love Toys," a toy-focused superstore, are not necessarily thrilled with the idea of spending hours on end waiting on a horde of greedy, frazzled, and generally distasteful customers. Store operator Jonathan (Bruce Campbell) is chomping at the bit, and eight-year floor manager Brian (Stephen Peck) is his usual perky self. However, other employees just want to survive the night, including divorced father of two Ken (Devon Sawa) and newbie germophobe Chris (Ryan Lee). Unfortunately, the day will be less about dealing with unruly shoppers and more about apocalyptic human mutations courtesy of a passing meteor shower. As the employees must band together to fight off evil, they find themselves torn apart by inner strife and their own personal shortcomings.

Black Friday feels a little out of date...there's just not a glut of dedicated big box toy stores anymore, but of course the film's modest budget doesn't allow for a seriously huge store, anyway. The production design team does what it can with the space and the somewhat scarce looking selection of merchandise (which does fit neatly into today's interrupted supply chain shortages). Still, the film almost feels nostalgic for the days of Toys "R" Us and other like stores (Children's Palace where I grew up). But for the film the store is more of a backdrop than it is the typical nonliving "character" in these sorts of movies. It's not utilized particularly well or in any real meaningful way, contrasted against Willy's Wonderland which did a much better job of integrating its unique setting into its story.

As it is, the film assembles a ragtag collection of toy store employees, each with their own baggage and outlook on both life and the store. The film makes sure to study all of the mains in some depth (and still clock in at well under 90 minutes) with the centerpiece of the dramatic content coming during a powwow midway through the film when pent up frustrations and angers and irritations with other employees all come to a boil. The film primarily focuses on single dad Ken and germophobe Chris, both of whom are above the job but neither of whom show the drive to step up into something better. The film features fan favorite genre actor Bruce Campbell (of course of Evil Dead fame) as the store manager who has found his identity working in retail, unlike his employees.

The gory effects will more than satisfy anyone who loves to see mangled and mutated, twisted and terrifying flesh. The creatures become progressively more goopy and gross as the film moves along, beginning by looking like fairly typical zombies and graduating to seriously messed up by the time the movie is over. The action is fairly typical for a kinetically minded lower budget film. It breaks no new ground but it's certainly very adept at doing its thing with limited finances but plenty of obvious drive and passion for the material.

Black Friday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screen Media brings Black Friday to Blu-ray with a solid 1080p transfer, certainly not one that will be mistaken for something with greater production values released by a heavy hitter studio, but the picture holds its own for the basic necessities. The digital production translates nicely enough to Blu-ray, offering a generally crisp and clean image, lacking razor sharpness and superior intimacy but boasting capable details both in close-ups on human faces and the slimy gore but also around the sets, particularly inside the store both on the floor and in the various offices and backrooms. Color reproduction is solid, with the alien goo boasting foundationally intense colors. Meanwhile, various clothes and products offer satisfying depth and pop. Much of the film takes place in low light, however. Black levels are a little thin but not to a distracting extent. Skin tones are fine within parameters. There are no serious encode issues and even source noise is kept in check. This is not a perfect image but it's a fine effort for a smallish film from a smaller studio.

Black Friday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Friday's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack may not leave sound systems black-and-blue (speakers don't take much of a beating) but the track is appropriately large and adequately detailed. Once again, as is a theme with the movie and the Blu-ray presentation, the source limitations become apparent when audio is not as fluidly spacious and transparently lifelike as found in other major releases, but core elements are handled well. Musical clarity satisfies, spacing is fine (albeit front heavy), and atmospheric effects are also fine and nicely integrated though without the sort of precision placement, whether discrete effects or fluid elements, found in superior fare. Action scenes lack perfect clarity but offer enough intense output to build the scene to effective, workmanlike efficiency. Surround usage could be better integrated and subwoofer extension more pronounced, but most listeners should be satisfied with the core experience. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

Black Friday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Black Friday contains no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Black Friday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Friday has all the makings of a camp classic but doesn't quite get there. Themes are a little too flat to be the next Dawn of the Dead and the technical ingenuity isn't enough to make it the next Evil Dead. What it is a perfectly serviceable and mostly fun exercise in lower budget Horror/Comedy workmanship that takes a good idea and runs with it as best it can. Screen Media's Blu-ray is unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, supplement-free but the video and audio presentations are just fine. Worth a look, especially for hardcore genre fans.