Meta Horror Movies
"The Blackening," "Scream" and More Meta Horror Movies
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The meta horror perspective of "The Blackening" is apparent from the title — a joke on the horror film "The Happening." In the new film, a group of Black friends reunite in a cabin in the woods (and, yes, they're aware that's the kind of place a horror movie happens).
The germ of the movie (which is directed by Tim Story from a script by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins) is the idea that the Black characters always die in horror films, and at the start of the movie, some characters even remember how the two Black characters in "Scream 2" — played by Jada Pinkett Smith and Omar Epps — also got offed by Ghostface. "The Blackening"'s characters continue to reference and make jokes about other films (including "Get Out") as they fight their own battle.