Who Goes First?

By Dakota Mayes

2023 is starting to kick into high gear with a fresh slate of blockbuster hits on the way. Horror, in particular, is about to take off in a huge way, as there are plenty of highly anticipated releases coming out in the spring and summer months. Now there is one more title fans can look forward to, set for Juneteenth weekend.

The Blackening is a new horror comedy set to release on June 16, 2023, and promises to be a hilarious mix of plenty of horror classics that fans know and love, but with a hilarious yet familiar twist as it filters social commentary on the horror genre through an all-black lens. The movie centers around a group of Black friends as they reunite for a weekend getaway on Juneteenth weekend. However, the festivities soon come to an end as they find themselves trapped in a secluded cabin and tormented by a deranged lunatic.

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The Blackening is directed by Tim Story of Think Like A Man and Barbershop fame and was co-written with Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) and Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). The film will be a funny play on typical horror genre tropes through the use of social commentary on the Black experience in temporary American and slasher conventions in a way that only these brilliant minds could do.

The Blackening stars Antoinette Robertson (Dear White People), Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show), Sinique Walls (Shark Night 3D), Grace Byers (Empire), X Mayo (The Farewell), Melvin Greg (The Way Back), Jermaine Fowler (Sorry to Bother You), Yvonne Orji (Insecure), and Jay Pharoah (Unsane) in this film that will ask the question, if the entire cast is black, who dies first? The film is produced by Marcei A. Brown, Jason Clark, E. Brian Dobbins, Tracy Oliver, Tim Story, and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett respectively. Dewayne Perkins also serves as co-producer, with Vicky Story as associate producer.