What Makes The Blackening So Amazing?
When you are coming to see a horror-comedy with black characters you might think that it would be similar to Scary Movie. The trailers and promotion for the movie give you the idea that the movie wouldn’t actually be scary. The trailer reinforced the beliefs that the movie will be super silly and super raunchy. Super silly and raunchy movies aren’t always the greatest, but they are still very enjoyable. The Blackening is similar to Scary Movie in the way that they are in the same genre but that’s really the only thing that they have in common besides being great movies. This isn’t to say that The Blackening doesn’t have a boatload of funny moments because it definitely does.
Comedy & Horror
It is extremely well-thought out in ways that the audience can appreciate it. Coming in you might be worried that some of the jokes would be misses or in poor taste but there is no reason to worry. Despite the movie’s being marketed as sort of edgy or over-the-top it is something completely different. All of the jokes are hits and part of the reason for this is that many of them are incredibly subtle. These kinds of jokes are really special. It’s not excessive or heavy-handed but it still makes you laugh a lot. The subtlety and nuance make the movie funny but it’s also what makes it engaging and makes you fearful for the characters. I feel that good horror-comedies are incredibly hard to find. Horror by itself isn’t too hard to do well and neither is comedy but doing both is extremely difficult. The two elements tend to cancel each other out. It’s hard to laugh when you feel scared and it’s hard to feel scared when you’re laughing. Making a movie that is both funny and scary should be almost impossible. Most movies that try to do both end up doing either one or the other. They will build lots of tension with horror elements and immediately break it with comedic elements and by the time you reach the end of the movie it feels as if it’s been entirely a horror or entirely a comedy. This normally wouldn’t be an issue but if you have gone to the theater for a good laugh and felt scared the entire time it would not be a very pleasant experience.
The Blackening doesn’t have this issue. Somehow The Blackening manages to do a combination of both. Watching the movie, a second time really solidified everything. If the movie was a little bit worse, then it would not have been enjoyable the second time around. You could really tell that they didn’t cut any corners when making this. It feels as though you are getting to know the characters. You become invested and begin rooting for them and hoping that they will survive but also hoping that they can resolve the issues that they have with each other. The audience feels that they could relate to them and understand their experiences.
Depth & Details
Watching the movie felt like looking at a perfectly assembled mosaic. Everything was carefully put into the right place. It is way too difficult to find movies starring black people in the main cast, but The Blackening didn’t just cast a bunch of black people and call it a day. The music, the themes, the characters, the jokes, and the story were all on point. The story has is substantial. Not just in its details and complexness but in the way that isn’t afraid of having depth. The movie is authentic and real. It’s Black! Black culture and the black experience is a main component to the story and to the identity of the characters. Similarly, to how black culture and the black experience is a main component in the lives of black individuals. The Blackening analyzes, recognizes, and embraces blackness. It examines the different aspects of black life with a comedic and dramatic lens. Which is really the only way to get an accurate picture. The movie is new and different, but it shouldn’t be. Movies like these should be all over. Movies like this are amazing! The Blackening is a great movie and I really hope that we can have more movies like it in the future. Not every movie has to be substantial and not every has to have this much depth but movies like this shouldn’t be rare.
