‘Cocaine Bear’ Writer Jimmy Warden Shakes the ‘Magic 8 Ball’

After scaring up an estimated $7 million in theaters over Juneteenth weekend, director Tim Story‘s The Blackening is now headed home to Premium Video On Demand outlets this Friday, July 7, Bloody Disgusting has learned.

The Blackening, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain’t no motherf****** game.

Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop) and co-written by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) and Dewayne Perkins (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?

Joe Lipsett wrote in his 4-star TIFF review, “While the film isn’t Scream levels of meta, The Blackening fuses social commentary about the Black experience in contemporary America with slasher conventions in a highly entertaining fashion.”

“The humour is successful, the violence is fun and frequently cheeky, and the characters are loveable,” Joe’s review for BD continues. “In a slasher film, that’s saying a lot!”

One of the runaway hits out of the Toronto International Film Festival, The Blackening stars Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji, and Jay Pharoah.

The film is produced by Marcei A. Brown, Jason Clark, E. Brian Dobbins, Tracy Oliver, Tim Story, and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett. Perkins serves as a co-producer, with Vicky Story as associate producer.

If you need a refresher for one of the best horror film’s of 2023 so far, check out the trailer below. Also check out our interview with director Tim Story and co-writer Tracy Oliver.