My Thoughts and Feeling on The Blackening
The movie The Blackening was such an enjoyable and thrilling movie for me to watch. I originally watched the movie right when it came out in June of last year, and I remember laughing in my seat while also being on the edge of my seat the whole time. When the professor mentioned movies made for Black people by Black people, I instantly thought of this movie and was curious to see if we would ever discuss it. Sure enough, I looked at the syllabus and saw that we would watch and discuss it. I was utterly excited and looking forward to a rewatch as I only remembered the movie’s main plot but not the details. I loved seeing this movie take stereotypical characters, such as the gay best friend, and add depth and an expansion to that character and stereotype to the point where they eventually unravel it all together, showing off the complexity of each character.
An aspect of the movie that I originally didn’t pick up on was the reversal of the “hero” in the story. Often, in horror movies, the strong male protagonist either protects and saves everyone or is the one left standing. In this movie, the King and Nnamdi aren’t the story’s main heroes, but the women take center stage. It was Lisa and Allison, not King or Namdi, who ultimately ended up killing the twins in the masks. They both show their strength and release their anger and frustrations of being victimized and put in this nightmare of a situation through their murder of the men. In many movies, especially horror movies, Black women are never depicted as heroes, and it was refreshing to see them portrayed, respected, and applauded in this movie for their heroics and actions.
I also enjoyed seeing the characters have an actual survival instinct and either fight or turn away from the danger, instead of acting clueless or freezing up like countless horror movies do. It felt like an accurate portrayal, without all the comedic elements, of what Black people would actually act like in a horror movie due to their intergenerational survival instincts that I could relate to as a person of color.
A small detail that I loved about this movie that I picked up on both times I had watched the movie was the fact that Clifton was the only character to have an Android, further showing his divide and differences from the group but also knowing the fact that villains in movies aren’t allowed to show themselves having iPhones, made this intricate detail, a device for foreshadowing. Another detail that I really appreciated that I actually didn’t notice until this rewatch was the fact that Clifton’s board game piece, which is supposed to be an accurate representation of each character, was a dice, showing that he was actually playing a game within the game considering the big reveal of him being the mastermind behind the whole horrific night.
Overall, this film was such a joy to watch. I loved how they portrayed complex Black characters, emphasized that community and solidarity were the keys to their success, and actually ended with this complex Black group of friends surviving due to their love and desire to help one another.
