Friends forced to examine their Blackness in clever genre-skewering horror-comedy 'The Blackening' | Movie review

Jun. 14—"The Blackening" stems from an irresistible and thought-provoking idea: "If the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?"

The horror genre is littered with examples of a Black character being a maniacal killer's first victim, the movie's production notes citing, among others, Omar Epps' Phil Stevens in 1997's "Scream 2."

In theaters this week, "The Blackening" is a horror-comedy that borrows at least the self-aware spirit from the "Scream" series — along with bits and pieces from other horror flicks and franchises. Built around a group of friends who get together for a Juneteenth weekend celebration — in a cabin in the woods, of course — the film is consistently entertaining and often enough downright hilarious that it's pretty easy to excuse that it ultimately isn't quite as clever as you'd hope.

It begins with the first two to arrive at the remote rental, Shawn (Jay Pharaoh, "Saturday Night Live") and his girlfriend, Morgan (Yvonne Orji, "Insecure"). Before long, they discover a room labeled "Game Room" and check it out. Among their finds is a game titled "The Blackening," the center of its board featuring a Blackface "Sambo" figurine, which is as creepy and, most assuredly, problematic as it sounds.

A voice emanates from it — "Pick a card!" — and let's just say nothing good comes of it.

Soon, more of the crew arrives: Allison (Grace Byers, "Harlem"), a biracial woman regularly teased by her friends about her light skin; King (Melvin Gregg, "Nine Perfect Strangers"), a reformed criminal whose "King's Kool-Aid" is an alcoholic punch with an insane amount of sugar; Nnamdi (Sinqua Walls, Hulu's "White Men Can't Jump"), a one-time womanizer whose father was from Africa; Dewayne (Dewayne Perkins), an outgoing and emotional gay man; and Lisa (Antoinette Robertson, Netflix's "Dear White People"), who is hiding from close friend Dewayne that she has gotten back with Nnamdi, who has cheated on her multiple times.

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Outside the cabin, a few of them encounter Officer White (Diedrich Bader, "The Drew Carey Show"), a park ranger giving King a hard time about being there.

"Normally," White says, as he's presented with proof of the rental, "the Connors only rent to ..."

"White people?" one of them suggests.

"Families," he counters.

"White families?"

At an old-timey gas station and store, where at least a couple of concerning-looking white folks work, the extroverted Shanika (X Mayo, "American Auto") encounters the nerdy Clifton (Jermaine Fowler, "Coming 2 America"), who she is surprised to find has been invited to the gathering, as well. He's had car and phone troubles, so she helps him get to the cabin.

Before long, the group enters the Game Room, inside of which they find themselves locked. Once they open up the game, finding pieces clearly designed for each of them, the voice invites them to play to stay alive — or simply die immediately.

Presented with questions about topics such as "Lift Every Voice and Sing," aka "the Black national anthem," and what Black actors have appeared on the TV show "Friends." They are allowed to work as a team in efforts to move all their pieces forward on the board.

We won't say much more, but it is established early on they are dealing with a large man in Blackface carrying a crossbow. You can't help but suspect, however, that he may not be their true tormenter.

"The Blackening" started as a 2018 comedy sketch — starring the group 3PEAT, which featured Perkins — that aired on Comedy Central and went viral.

Written by Tracy Oliver ("Girls Trip") and Perkins ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine"), it is directed by Tim Story ("Ride Along," "Barbershop"). Given their collective comedy chops, it's not surprising "The Blackening" is far better at being funny than it is at being frightening. You may jump here or there, but mostly you'll laugh at one-liners and larger jokes that pay off over time.

Although it is a movie with something to say, it wouldn't work were not its collection of characters an enjoyable hang. Thanks to the writers and performers, especially Perkins, Robertson and Walls, they feel familiar with each other in the way longtime friends do, and it's fun to spend time with them.

The exception is Clifton, who's a bit much, but Fowler is playing the character as written.

The biggest disappointment with "The Blackening" is that it doesn't lead to a craftier conclusion after so many laudable ideas along the way. It turns out to be roughly what we suspected — a twist so obvious we tried to convince ourselves we must be wrong.

And while it may not have THAT much to say about race and Blackness at the end of the day, this is a case where the culturally relevant journey is much more important than the destination — and one well worth making.

'The Blackening'

Where: Theaters.

When: June 16.

Rated: R for pervasive language, violence and drug use.

Runtime: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.