The Blackening
Lionsgate | Release Date: June 16, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 25, 2023
The film’s tendency to go broad wherever possible renders it fairly un-scary, while in place of Get Out’s deep and needling cultural allegory we instead get pointed jabs at American film and television trends. It’s all good fun as far as it goes, but Story and his cast could have afforded to sharpen their own blades a bit. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeAug 23, 2023
Are we supposed to be scared or are we supposed to be laughing at the absurdity of it all? Happily, the actors throw enough energy at the screen to deflect any incoming frustration. An odd beast. Read full review
60
Little White LiesCheyenne BunsieAug 22, 2023
Bolstered by an entertaining cast, including Insecure’s Yvonne Orji, SNL’s Jay Pharoh, and Perkins himself as the standout, The Blackening turns one of horror’s most problematic tropes on its head and gets justice for all those black characters we never got to know. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanAug 18, 2023
The Blackening is shuddery entertainment with more laughs than the entire Scary Movie franchise. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 15, 2023
It succeeds as a comedy but not quite as a horror film, the genre merely a setting and style for sending up insidious character stereotypes. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJun 26, 2023
The Blackening gets halfway there, and has the benefit of some gifted performers and some very good ideas. It just never really figures out how to be a movie. Read full review
40
NMEKyann-Sian WilliamsAug 25, 2023
At its best, The Blackening is a fun, laugh-out-loud blockbuster that sends up the many genre clichés surrounding Black people in horror (mostly the notion that they always die first in horror films). At its worst, though, it’s a reductive slasher-comedy where most jokes earn a measly huff. Read full review
40
The Daily BeastNick SchagerJun 15, 2023
Would have no reason to exist if it didn’t constantly foreground the issue of race, and yet affords no pointed or amusing commentary on the subject. Read full review
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