The Blackening | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

FAQs

What was the point of The Blackening? ›

Leaning into satire, the Blackening takes a look at the history of black people in horror films through a lens of social consciousness. It plays on the motley crew banding together to solve the mystery like in the classic cartoon Scooby Doo alongside the comedy interlaced throughout the classic Scary Movie franchise.

Clifton is the main antagonist in the 2023 horror/comedy The Blackening. He portrays himself as a nerdy, innocent man, but in truth, he is a vengeful manipulator.

They are the Connor twins, Camden and Clive. Clifton hired the two rednecks to wear the masks and try and kill his former friends. He offered them only $100 per person they killed. The Connor twins being The Blackening's killers is subtly set up throughout the movie.

'The Blackening' Is Getting a Sequel—and Possibly Much More

The Blackening was a hit when it arrived in theaters on June 19th, 2023, and now there's a sequel on the horizon. According to Variety, MRC and Lionsgate have approached co-creators Dewayne Perkins and Tracy Oliver to develop The Blackening 2.

Seven friends go away for the weekend, only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. They must pit their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies against the murderer to stay alive.

The Blackening / Film synopsis

There are nods to plenty of horror films, and horror parodies like “Scary Movie” and its many sequels, but this film is so much smarter than those. It's inspired by films like “Saw,” “The Shining,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and others, which are subtly referenced rather than just reenacted for comic effect.

Morgan - Killed by Clive off-screen, body shown. Camden Connor/The Blackening - Stabbed three times in the stomach by Allison with a crossbow bolt. Ranger B. White - Shot in the neck by Clive with a crossbow bolt.

The Blackening (2022) - Jay Pharoah as Shawn - IMDb.

The Blackening excels at subverting the very stereotypes it plays upon for its humour.

Everyone ends up choosing Clifton after he admits he voted for Trump twice. Clifton goes outside and is shot in the chest with an arrow by the killer. When the friends are free, they attempt to go look for Morgan and find help. Despite knowing better, they agree with Allison's idea to split up.

Is The Blackening based on a true Story? ›

Right from the start, it becomes clear that this horror-comedy will lean a lot more into the comedy side. As the film begins, words come onto the screen which says, “Based on true events…which never happened.” Since the film is more heavy-handed on comedy, almost all 90 minutes of The Blackening are totally hilarious.

Parents Need to Know

Expect violence (peril, killing, torture, blood), much of it racially motivated. There's also swearing ("s--t," "f--k," and more, plus colloquial use of the "N" word among Black characters).

The tradition originally began as a cleansing ritual among the farming communities of rural Scotland to prepare women for marriage. It involved washing feet after blackening them with soot from the chimney. Ellie Ordish, who lives near Dingwall, says she hopes the tradition continues for years to come.

Then, the early box office returns came in: “The Blackening” grossed $2.5 million in its first day, opening in 1,775 theaters. Independently produced by Oliver and Story with MRC films financing, the horror-comedy carried a production budget of $3 million, with a final tally of $5 million after factoring in P&A.

Production. The film was announced in January 2020, with Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins writing the script, based on Perkins' 2018 short. Tim Story was later hired to direct, and filming took place in Brentwood, California in late 2021. Much of the film's dialogue was improvised by the cast.

Metal blacking refers to the process of chemically altering the surface of metal objects to create a black oxide layer. As well as improving general durability and corrosion resistance, this can also minimise left reflection, making the process especially useful in certain industries.

The tradition originally began as a cleansing ritual among the farming communities of rural Scotland to prepare women for marriage. It involved washing feet after blackening them with soot from the chimney. Ellie Ordish, who lives near Dingwall, says she hopes the tradition continues for years to come.

The colonists' aggressive, bellicose efforts to expand their control of the island resulted in protracted conflict that pitted the settlers and British military against Tasmanian Aboriginal people (the Black War, 1804–30) and nearly led to their extermination. The island achieved self-governing status in 1855–56.

Historians traced the epidemic's path — it apparently began in China or near the western border of China and moved along trade routes to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.