Black Friday is a 2021 comedy/horror film directed by Casey Tebo, written by Andy Greskoviak and starring Devon Sawa, Ivana Baquero, Ryan Lee, Stephen Peck, Michael Jai White, and Bruce Campbell.
The employees of the We Love Toys toy store prepare for the overnight hell that is Black Friday and the entitled, obnoxious customers that it entails. Chris, Ken, Marnie, Brian, Archie, Ruth, Anita, and Emmett, along with store manager Jonathan, arrive to begin what they think will be yet another day in the trenches.
However, tonight will become a fight for their lives as a parasitic alien organism has landed in the store, infecting the customers and turning them into ravenous creatures bent on infecting or killing the employees and gathering at the Santa’s Village display in the center of the store. With the police on voicemail and other stores besieged by creatures, the employees must find a way to escape to safety.
"Black Friday" contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Marnie is just as aggressive while fighting the parasites as her male colleagues, if not more in certain cases.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ken, Chris, and Marnie escape the burning We Love Toys and the creatures there are destroyed in the fire… but as they drive through the city, they see that other monster parasites are emerging from other stores…
- Body Horror: Infection can cause the host body to, in one case, break out in boils all over their body. Prolonged infection eventually mutates them, causing all their teeth to sharpen, and getting rid of their noses.
- Chekhov's Gun: The defective Dour Dennis bears were recalled due to battery issues. One catching fire due to it plays a role in the organism’s defeat.
- Deadfoot Leadfoot: A police car crashes through the storefront, killing one of the survivors and allowing the possessed shoppers to enter the building.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Archie takes down several infected to allow Chris to get to safety before he’s taken down.
- Jonathan throws himself to a horde to give the remaining employees time to escape.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: The reason Jonathan applied to become manager of We Love Toys over twenty years ago was due to loneliness and a desire to be admired.
- Jerkass: Brian, a Smug Snake Yes-Man to Jonathan who shows contempt for the employees and pettily sends the germaphobic Chris to clean up vomit. He also bites Ken during their scuffle with the infected Emmett due to his contempt for him in order to get him to stay behind.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jonathan may be a bit of a Mean Boss with some Skewed Priorities early on about reopening the store after things have died down to salvage the night, but he starts to show how much he truly cares about his employees as the night goes on and the reality of the situation hits him, saying that “those kids are [his] family” before pulling his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Kaiju: Near the end of the film, all of the infected shoppers have joined together to form a massive monster. Others are seen emerging from other stores as the film ends.
- Moral Event Horizon: In-Universe example, Brian biting Ken to make him think he's infected. He tries to defend his actions and doesn't even seem to understand why the other survivors are infuriated with him.
