The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Blackening
Horror · Comedy · 2023
Seven black 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.
Movie details
The Blackening
“We can't all die first.”
2023 Horror · Comedy 1h 37m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
Seven black 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.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Blackening?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Tragedy Girls
Horror · 2017
McKayla and Sadie, two death-obsessed teenage girls, use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small Midwestern town into a frenzy and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.
Terror Firmer
Comedy · 1999
A low-budget film crew working in New York City find themselves being preyed upon by a sexually conflicted serial killer.
The Mean One
Horror · 2022
In a sleepy mountain town, Cindy witnesses the murder of her parents by a blood-thirsty green figure in a red Santa suit. Twenty years later, the Christmas-hating monster begins to terrorize the town once more. Cindy finds new purpose in stopping the creature and saving the holiday.
Night of the Demons
Horror · 1988
When partygoers at a deserted funeral home decide to have a séance on Halloween night, they awaken something evil with a thirst for blood.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
Comedy · 2015
Three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes. When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, they’ll fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead
Horror · 2024
A group of college friends rent an Airbnb for the biggest music festival of the year. But their weekend of partying quickly takes a turn, as the group is murdered one by one, in correspondence with the seven deadly sins.
Friday the 13th
Horror · 1980
Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.
The Cabin in the Woods
Horror · 2012
Five friends set out for a weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, expecting nothing more than fun and relaxation. As night falls, they discover that something far more unsettling is at work and that nothing about their getaway is what it seems.
Stitches
Horror · 2012
The clumsy and unfunny clown Richard "Stitches" Grindle entertains at the 10th birthday party of little Tom, but the boy and his friends play a prank with Stitches, tying his shoelaces. Stitches slips, falls and dies. Six years later, Tom gives a birthday party for his friends at home, but Stitches revives to haunt the teenagers and revenge his death.
Trick
Horror · 2019
A detective tries to track down a masked killer who reappears every Halloween to wreak bloody havoc.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Tim Story
Written by
Dewayne Perkins · Tracy Oliver
Grace Byers
Allison
Jermaine Fowler
Clifton
Melvin Gregg
King
X Mayo
Shanika
Dewayne Perkins
Dewayne
Antoinette Robertson
Lisa
Sinqua Walls
Nnamdi
Court is in session
Put The Blackening on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.