History Film / TheBlackening

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Downplayed, but the killer [[spoiler: none of them]] isn't a superhuman monster of sort, the main strength is having home-field advantage and some weapons against victims who have none. Once they are lost, however, it's one person against many, and the odds turn out to be pretty bad for the one person. [[spoiler: Both twins are put down without much of a fight, the former actually getting a CurbStompBattle from King, only to be saved by a well-timed stab to King's leg, and gets a second, lethal one from Addison right after. The second fares a bit better, but only because Lisa and Nnamdi are put off by the unfamiliar environment. Clifton is the biggest example of them all, being entirely a non-action villain and relying on the crossbow and the threat of explosives, but he is also easily disposed of once deprived of those.]]

** The killer seemingly has no problem walking around even though he got stabbed in the foot by Shanika early in the movie.

** At the climax, [[spoiler:Clifton has Lisa, Shanika, Nnamdi, and Dewayne at crossbow-point in the basement and is about to kill them and dump their bodies in the well like he did to Shawn and Morgan. Allison and King, who are locked out of the cellar but watching the events on the TV screen, figure out how to use the killers' remote to turn all the lights off, giving the basement crew a chance to jump Clifton, steal his weapons, and turn the tables]].

* BlackfaceStyleCaricature: The game contains a stereotypical depiction of a black person with pitch black skin, large eyes, and exaggerated red lips. The characters recoil upon seeing it.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Clifton arrives, some of the party goers have a hard time remembering his name, with King bluntly admitting he doesn't know who he is. This leads to Allison pointing out the obvious question: Who invited him? [[spoiler:It turned out he invited himself as the BigBad. He makes Shanika, Lisa, Nnamdi and Dewayne play a game to remember him, and when he mentions the game of Spades they played ten years ago ("I thought I was out on Clubs"), Nnamdi immediately remembers him. Clifton even uses this as his excuse for murdering them since he thinks they ruined his life and didn't even bother to remember, but Lisa points out everyone gets hazed at Spades and it's his own fault for drunk driving after the party. Clifton points out that she accused him of being TheWhitestBlackGuy which Shanika admits she now remembers as well.]]

* CuriosityKilledTheCast: Zigzagged. Morgan and Shawn check out the suddenly closed game room and the extremely racist board game within, but the killer intended to kill them then anyway. Ranger White dies due to going off to investigate a noise while trying to help half the group escape. However had he not, it's likely the half of the group who went out into the woods would have died instead without backup.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The footage of Morgan being held hostage by the killer and nearly escaping is actually from the previous day. Clifton had already killed her and disposed of her body (along with Shawn's) by the time the rest of her friends arrive at the house.]]

** In the first scene, Morgan moves a portrait of the family who owns the cabin out of the way, on which can [[FreezeFrameBonus briefly be seen a pair of twin sons]]. [[spoiler:They're the ''two'' masked killers.]]

** The Blackening board game has custom made pieces for everyone at the party, such as a crown for King and a die for Clifton. [[spoiler:Clifton loves board games and made the titular game as part of his twisted mind games against the gang.]]

** Allison suddenly feeling the Adderall she was given and wanting to "sit there with her feelings" is a major hindrance as they're busy trying to flee the killer. Though it ends up being a boon later when she confronts him, since it causes the fight to be a CurbStompBattle in her favor.
* JustShootHim: Discussed, but averted. When King takes out the gun to shoot the basement door open, he is asked why he didn't use it before, only for him to point out he had nothing to shoot at before. However, he doesn't have spare bullets with him and runs out to open the door (not to mention the gun gets left behind), leaving it not an option for the rest of movie. Noticeably, the gun is already unavailable the first time they have close contact with the killer.

** The killer seemingly has no problem walking around even though he got stabbed through the foot by Shanika early in the movie.

* MovingTheGoalposts: One of the questions in the killer's DeadlyGame is to list the five black actors who appeared on ''Series/{{Friends}}''. When the group manages to answer all five, they're told the correct answer was "I don't know. I don't watch that show."

* PlatonicLifePartners: It's eventually made clear that Lisa and Dewayne are ultimately this. The reason he's upset about her getting back with Nnamdi is not because he has romantic feelings for her, because he later explicitly states he's gay. It was just out of genuine concern for Lisa because it was Dewayne's shoulder she cried on when Nnamdi cheated on her in the past, and he didn't want her to go through that again. By the end, they call each other their best friend and give each other a PlatonicDeclarationOfLove.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Downplayed, but the killer [[spoiler: none of them]] isn't a superhuman monster of sort, the main strength is having home field advantage and some weapons against victims who have none. Once they are lost, however, it's one person against many, and the odds turn out to be pretty bad for the one person. [[spoiler: Both twins are put down without much of a fight, the former actually getting a CurbStompBattle from King, only to be saved by a well-timed stab to King's leg, and gets a second, lethal one from Addison right after. The second fares a bit better, but only because Lisa and Nnamdi are put off by the unfamiliar environment. Clifton is the biggest example of them all, being entirely a non-action villain and relying on the crossbow and the threat of explosives, but he is also easily disposed of once deprived of those.]]

* WhamShot: In the cabin's basement, the group discover Clifton and Ranger White's bodies, along with a video of someone disposing of Morgan's and Shawn's bodies in the basement well. Then the person turns and is revealed to be [[spoiler:Clifton, whose "corpse" promptly stands up]].

*** For [[spoiler:the twin thug]] who shoots at Shanika in the woods, King does get some good hits in while trying to defend her, but ends up on the worse end of the fight and pinned to the ground before Allison (who's high on Adderall) pulls a BigDamnHeroes to slash and then impale him with broken arrow heads until he's dead.
*** For [[spoiler:the other twin thug]] who corners Lisa, Dewayne, and Nnamdi at the house, the latter two fight him and Dewayne downs him with a shot, but then Shanika shoots him before he can counterattack, and then Lisa (who took a brutal gut kick) bashes his brains in ([[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill well past the point of death]]) with a candlestick. Also earlier, when he was trying to break out of the basement, Shanika stabs him in the foot with a knife.

A group of African and African-American friends’ plans to celebrate Juneteenth in a cabin in the woods goes awry when they are targeted by a masked killer. The film premiered on Juneteenth Weekend, June 16, 2023.

** Quite a few different TV series and movies are referenced as part of the titular board game when talking about black characters' and actors' presences in them, ''Series/{{Friends}}'' being just one such example.

** Gender-inverted with Allison's parents, as she has a black mother and a white father.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Downplayed, but the killer [[spoiler: none of them]] isn't a superhuman monster of sort, the main strength is having home field advantage and some weapons against victims who have none. Once they are lost, however, it's one person against many, and the odds turn out to be pretty bad for the one person. [[spoiler: Both twins are put down without much of a fight, the former actually getting a CurbStompBattle from King, only to be saved by a well-timed cramp, and gets a second, lethal one from Addison right after. The second fares a bit better, but only because Lisa and Nnamdi are put off by the unfamiliar environment. Clifton is the biggest example of them all, being entirely a non-action villain and relying on the crossbow and the threat of explosives, but he is also easily disposed of once deprived of those.]]