This summer, The Blackening is coming for every horror trope you can think of — and then some.
From director Tim Story (Ride Along, Barbershop) and co-writers Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins (who co-stars), this satire pokes fun at everything that makes our favorite slashers kinda, well, racist. With the tagline “We Can’t All Die First” — a nod to the historically cliched fate of Black characters in horror — the trailer cleverly highlights a slew of typical scary movie scenarios that usually end poorly for our protagonists, from vacations in the woods gone wrong to having to split up to survive.
The film’s all-Black cast are up against a Jigsaw-type villain who’s ruining their Juneteenth vacation by making them undergo a series of challenges, like sacrificing the person who’s the “Blackest,” in order to survive a twisted game. Biting one-liners are thrown, several heads are smashed, and The Blackening promises to be a must-watch.
The film features Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson, and Sinqua Walls, with Jay Pharoah and Yvonne Orji.
The Blackening comes to theaters on June 16.
