In the vein of the Scary Movie and A Haunted House franchises, The Blackening is written and co-produced by co-star Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show) alongside screenwriter Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip), and is directed by Tim Story (Barbershop). Arguably destined to be an instant classic, it all takes place during a secluded cabin getaway adventure that brings back together a group of friends. A horror comedy, The Blackening, is the refreshingly hilarious anti-trope of the scary movie cliché where the Black person dies first. In this case, all the characters are Black. Thus, the uproarious hook: they can’t all die first.
Taking place against the backdrop of Juneteenth — a national holiday that is set aside to honor the emancipation of enslaved African Americans — The Blackening has an innovative plot that was directly inspired by and developed from a smash hit viral Comedy Central sketch also called “The Blackening” which was written by Perkins and co-performed by the talented comedic group 3Peat.
A big fan of horror, Perkins said that when he was called upon to work with Oliver on the feature film, he wanted to expand on what was effective in the original sketch. He said that, among other things, they intentionally added layers to the characters’ relationships to emphasize their bonds in friendship.
Now, we have a truly enjoyable film starring an unimaginably equally talented ensemble of actors including, as mentioned, Dewayne Perkins (The Upshaws TV series), along with Grace Byers (Harlem TV series), Jermaine Fowler (The Drop), Melvin Gregg (Nine Perfect Strangers), X Mayo (Swarm TV series), Antoinette Robertson (Dear White People TV series), Sinqua Walls (White Men Can’t Jump, 2023), and also Jay Pharoah (Resort to Love) and Yvonne Orji (Insecure TV series).
In an exclusive with MovieWeb, the stars sat down to discuss what drew them to the film and why its contribution to popular culture is significant and more universally relatable than, at face value, it may seem.
An All-Black Horror Comedy
On its own, the script for The Blackening is clever and exciting enough to attract almost any smart actor with a knack for a quality plot. However, for the cast of this film, the initial appeal to star in The Blackening was deeper than just acknowledging that it was a great script.
Pharoah explained, “It’s such a new idea. It’s just something that’s never been done before. An all-Black horror film with a full Black cast is one thing but then also breaking down the cultural things that it breaks down? It was fun, but it made so much sense for the culture, too. I just wanted to be a part of it because of how super smart of a film it is.”
Gregg concurred:
I felt like it was just so culturally accurate. These characters were saying things that felt real. Nothing about the dialogue felt like it was contrived or made in the lab of what some people think these characters would or should say or how they would or should think. It was written from the pens of people who live these lives, so the verbiage was really accurate, which I enjoy.
“And then it just kind of stepped in on a genre,” continued Gregg, “and it kind of addressed the trope of the Black person dying first and other clichés that I never really liked. I wasn’t a big horror film fan for that reason. I used to look at the screen and just get upset like, ‘Who would do that? Why would they act like that?’ So, in this movie, the characters do things that I felt like I would have done myself, and I felt like I could relate to it. That realness is where the comedy was for me.”
The Frightening Reality of The Blackening
Characters can literally die for failing to know the correct answers about Black culture in this film. Initially thinking they were all set to have a relaxing weekend just playing cards, specifically Spades, reminiscing and having fun, instead the group of friends encounters a very creepy Blackface “Sambo” game. “Play the game or die,” they are told.
The “game” includes a series of witty but challenging questions about Black culture that sets up the film. Get the answers wrong and the entire group’s fate is literally in grave danger. Gregg reflected on a moment in which Byers’ character saves them. “Thinking about real life, I would have been done,” he said. “Had it not been for Grace in that scene…”
“Well, I don’t know the Black National Anthem so that would have gotten me out of there, too,” added Pharoah “I probably would have made it halfway through in real life because there are a lot of cultural things that I do know. But, with that game, no matter how much you think you know, you get exposed on what you don’t.”
Said Gregg, “I think that was part of the joke, too. You think who would know and who wouldn’t know, and then Grace’s character comes in and, after being teased for being half white or whatever, she knew one of the answers that would have stumped me and most people. In real life, I would have gotten all of them right except that one. That one threw me off.”
Byers, who had one of the most memorable scenes during the game, reflected on her real-life capabilities of knowing such universally challenging questions about Black culture, laughing, “I surely would have died maybe three-quarters into the game. One of the things that I am notorious for in real life is not really knowing the lyrics to a lot of songs. I’ll get the tune, I’ll hum it, but the lyrics? No, I’m not very good at remembering song lyrics, so I probably would have sunk on that one, unlike my character.”
She also added, “Now, thanks to that scene, we all know the lyrics.”
Wall reflected on the relief they felt, even as a cast, when Byers saved them with her answer during that memorable part of the game. He said, “We were all looking going down, no idea what the answer was, and when Grace comes out singing, it’s a natural reaction that the audience feels, but we felt it too, which filming.” Noting how incredibly talented Byers is, he also shared, “I can tell you, too, that Grace ripped that song in the first take.”
Transforming Into Their Roles
While all the characters’ personalities in The Blackening are universally familiar and are mostly relatable regardless of race, it is Jermaine Fowler’s significant physical transformation in his role as “Clifton” that isolates him from feeling like a friend that any of us may have had in our real lives. His character’s distinct physicality made Fowler’s performance one of the most memorable among some pretty unforgettable ones.
Fowler’s character is painfully nerdy and awkward and is also strange to look at. In the film, the makeup department helped to make Fowler’s weirdly contorted mouth positioning a permanent staple for his character. He delivered his speech and mannerisms in unsettling ways, resulting in a performance that’s equally remarkable and effective. He said that he attributed most of this to the team behind the scenes:
It was all collaboration. Basically, I went to the makeup artists and wardrobe, and that started the whole development. While they were coming up with ideas, I just did the lip thing on my own in my mirror one day while I was working on lines, and they helped me make it stay. That organically lead me to come up with the voice. The whole time, I was inspired because I had been watching a couple of thrillers, too. To fully flesh the character out, wardrobe ultimately put together the blandest Gap or Banana Republic reject outfit I’d ever seen in my life.
It feels like a stretch to note actress X Mayo as the comic relief in such an equally funny group of comedic actors, and yet every time her character says a line during the movie viewers cannot help but laugh again. Mayo even interjected during Fowler’s comments about how different he is from his character to hilariously add, “But listen… The Gap or Banana Republic, if you’re listening, we’ll model for you. I’ll model some pretty chiffon styles for you. Just let me know.”
While Fowler basically transformed himself into his own physical antithesis, X Mayo, also jokingly, shared that she, too, is completely opposite of her hilariously sassy character, Shanika.
Feigning a serious voice, Mayo added. “I’m actually a very refined and shy and quite reserved introverted species in real life. For this film, I had to go to a very dark, very urban mental place to develop my character.”
It is to be noted that Tim Story, the director, gave high accolades to the entire cast. Despite their incredible sense of humor as an ensemble, everyone pretty much stayed on-script with one that was also notably very well-written.
About The Blackening’s Blackness
Antoinette Robinson, who plays Lisa in The Blackening, reflected on whether such a culturally specific film is in any way divisive or isolating to viewers who may not be Black. She feels that movie-goers who aren’t Black will still get the jokes, explaining:
I think that this is a universal comedy, period. Sure, they’re going to be some jokes that are very specific to the Black culture, but I’ve seen non-Black people who watched the trailer and clearly understood the specific jokes and laughed in the right places.
She added, “Initially, I admit I didn’t think that non-Black people would get some of the jokes, but then I saw the reactions and I realized how influential we are as a culture. If you think about it, what we know for sure is that within pop culture, Black culture kind of pushes the needle on everything. We make such an impact in every single space of entertainment that it’s actually not surprising how universal most of the jokes in The Blackening are. People get it.”
The busy Sinqua Walls, who plays Robinson’s on-again-off-again love interest, Nnamdi, added, “Some people in the audience may or may not get everything and may miss some of the humor, but I think ultimately it’s an opportunity to progress and to expose the culture in the right way. I think having such diverse perspectives in the audience, a lot of people are going to watch The Blackening and also think, ‘Wow, that is me’, and find so many ways to relate.”
Walls noted, “But yes, I do think there’s going to be a collection of people who, stereotypically, are not a part of our diasporas of color that won’t get certain aspects of the culture that we’ve presented. But if we want to progress in a very positive way as a society, then everyone should go see this movie, so they can say, ‘Oh, ok, I understand things a little bit better, now.’”
As is obvious from the actor’s commentary, though The Blackening is wrapped up with humor and, of course, laced with not-so-scary horror, it presents an authentic story about friendship and life and how culture plays an interlocking role within a friend group. It is a fun and so very funny movie that offers a treat to perhaps anyone who watches.
Pharaoh and Gregg summed things up. Said Pharaoh:
Go out and see The Blackening in the theater and sit around other people and when you’re laughing you’re going to see that you’re connecting with other races via a sense of humor. It’s The Blackening, but it also something that everyone can relate to.
Added Gregg, “I concur with what everything Jay said. Go see The Blackening.”
From MRC, The Story Company, Tracy Yvonne Productions, Artists First, and Catchlight Studios, and released by Lionsgate, The Blackening is now in theaters.
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