6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Seven black friends who go away for the weekend only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not.
Starring: Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X MayoHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
How good are you at playing Trivial Pursuit? How good would you be if, say, it was one of those "designer" versions of the game, this one crafted specifically to test your knowledge of your own cultural and/or ethnic background? That's the underlying premise to the often funny if not quite consistently funny enough The Blackening, a film which was inspired by a short done by Dewayne Perkins which attracted enough attention that it was developed into this feature length offering. And therein lies at least part of the rub, as the attempt to get this basic storyline to feature film length results in what the film actually spends a good deal of time skewering, namely stereotypes. The screenplay (co-written by Perkins and Tracy Oliver) does a rather snarky job "deconstructing" what owning a so-called "black card" may mean for various African Americans, but the film also relies on plot tropes that include a pretty generous supply of padding, especially in the film's opening third or so, which spends a lot of time fitfully trying to establish characters, before (slasher film pun unavoidable) cutting to the chase and pitting a coterie of often panicked Juneteenth celebrators against a villain with a crossbow. That group of friends arrives at their veritable Cabin in the Woods after two other friends have gotten there early to get things prepared, discovering a bizarre "game room" in the cabin that has an obviously racist boardgame called The Blackening which the two characters probably unwisely open, which then starts the plot machinery into motion. Suddenly, the game seems to "come alive", with a voice emanating from an intentionally provocative central figure that is also a timer, challenging to the two to the first of the film's often kind of interesting "black history" trivia questions, with a further "rule" imparted that if they answer incorrectly, they die.
The Blackening is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb doesn't have much technical information as this review is being written, and while I was able to find some interesting online content involving cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis, I couldn't find anything mentioning cameras or the resolution of the DI. Considering the generally lustrous look of things though, despite some intentionally shrouded environments, my hunch is this had a 4K DI (as always with my reviews, if someone can point me to verifiable authoritative information, I'll happily post an update here). After the introductory cabin vignette featuring the first death, the film is bookended by sequences in relatively good light (much more so in the first fifteen to twenty minutes than a very brief vignette at the end), and those moments offer a secure palette and some really appealing detail levels. Both that very first sequence and then the later cabin material is rather gorgeously suffused despite being very dimly lit a lot of the time, and while there's a kind of yellow-brown quality to the visuals, that actually adds a nice burnished look to things. Primaries especially still pop very vividly. Fine detail is typically excellent throughout. This is another Lionsgate release with noticeable banding on the masthead but very little in the actual feature.
The Blackening features a nicely designed Atmos track that offers some fun effects despite some often pretty claustrophobic environments. Even in the "game room", which is obviously enclosed, there's good directionality, even startlingly so in the case of the voice that suddenly emanates from the game's figurehead. The fact that the killer uses a crossbow offers some fun if fast panning effects, and there are some attendant "squishy" noises when those arrows find their targets. When the panicked partygoers venture outside (because of course they do), there is further engagement of the surround channels with ambient environmental effects, and it may be here that the most noticeable Atmos element kicks in, though some of the crossbow material also provides some. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.
Methinks there may well be a Blackening 2, with an emphasis on that "well" part (you'll get it if you see the film), and there's a lot to like about this maybe franchise starter. A little less obvious self awareness and a few more actual punchlines might improve things, but The Blackening even with some passing qualms is an impressive debut for several associated with the film. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.
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