Black Death

Tim Story mines laughs and screams from the African-American experience in The Blackening

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IN ONE OF EDDIE MURPHY’S most famous stand-up moments, from 1983’s Delirious, he makes fun of the idea of black people in horror films, joking, “Why don’t the people just get the hell out of the house? You can’t make a horror movie with black people in it cause the movie would just stop.” Murphy’s voice changes to a disembodied voice growling “Get out!” and mimics a black protagonist making an immediate sharp exit.

Jordan Peele has said this line was the inspiration behind his horror masterpiece of that name, but the satirical horror comedy The Blackening further expands on the theme, with a group of black friends trapped in a sinister racist board-game and a deranged crossbow-wielding killer determined to kill them in order of “blackness”.

Director Tim Story, best known for the Ride Along and Fantastic Four films, is thrilled by SFX’s enthusiasm for the film and how genuinely scary it is (“We get that a lot!”), as he was determined not to skimp on terror to facilitate the laughs. “We wanted to really walk this tightrope and scare you sometimes, but then let you laugh and then as soon as you feel like you can relax, hit you with surprising.” Noticing the enthusiastic nods from our side, he laughs, “It looks like we might have hit that with you!”