Tim Story, the director of new comedy-horror movie The Blackening, has said that he has long wanted to make a scary movie with an all-black cast that subverts the usual genre cliches.
The film sees a group of friends get together for a college reunion in an isolated cabin in the woods but once they find a sinister board game in the basement called The Blackening, things start to go very wrong indeed.
It asks a long hinted at question in the horror genre - when a black character appears in a scary movie, how long will it be before they die?
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, Story, who previously directed Barbershop and Ride Along, says, "It was a joke that we always made when we were growing up - oh oh, a black character would show up and we'd say, `oh they’re gonna be dead soon’ and you’d bet on it and that’s what’s fun about this movie.
"The idea came from Dewayne Perkins and then him and Tracy Oliver took that trope and just spread it out over characters and a story," he adds.
Review: The Blackening skewers horror cliches
"I’ve always seen it; it’s always been a joke and it’s fun to take it seriously for a second even though this is a comedy and have some fun with it."
The Blackening is a great slice of horror hokum that also makes a lot of important points about racism and black culture.
It’s also an enjoyably self-aware send-up of the horror genre, with one character even mentioning The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the first ten minutes.
Story says his own taste in horror flicks is decidedly vintage. "I’m gonna date myself, I’m an old man," he laughs.
"When I knew we were doing something on slasher movies, I went back to my originals that I grew up on. Friday the 13th, Freddie Krueger, even Child’s Play or Chucky, as everybody calls it.
"I wanted to be sure that I went back and checked them out and see what made them scare me when I was younger but also how they were successful because all of them have become franchises that have been around for decades."
The Blackening features a good joke about Friends and a great joke about Trump but how does Story think the movie will play below the Mason-Dixon Line?
"I would like to think that the audience we made this for is going to have a lot of fun with it," he says.
"One of the things we tried to do is not take ourselves so seriously. There are so many inside jokes, so many little things, people might have a problem getting all the things in this movie. But if you watch it quietly, you’re going to find even more jokes.
"We wanted it be sure that the audience didn’t take it too seriously and comedies are so important now because the world is so sensitive."
And will we see these characters again? "I would bet on it. we had so much fun making this movie and I’ve talked to Dewayne and Tracy about ideas for the future I think we are definitely going to see them again.
"Regardless of your race or nationality the audience see this group together having fun and when you put them in an extraordinary situation, I think people will want to see that again."
Alan Corr @CorrAlan2
The Blackening is in cinemas now.
