[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Blackening.]
The marketing campaign for The Blackening has been one of the funniest of 2023 so far, especially thanks to its tagline: “We Can’t All Die First.” Yet, someone has to in the Black-led horror comedy, and that person ended up being Jay Pharoah, who appears alongside Insecure‘s Yvonne Orij in the opening minutes of the film, as the first to be attacked by a wild crossbow-wielding killer. “We all can’t die first,” he laughs in an interview with Consequence. “Somebody had to do it, though.”
The funny thing is, the Saturday Night Live alumnus notes, is that “this is not the first movie that I’ve gotten killed in. I’ve been killed so many times. I just hope it never happens in real life because people have that much respect for me and they wouldn’t try to attempt it. I’ve been blown up. I’ve been shocked to death. I’ve fallen off of a second story to my death, busted my head. To get killed like this, it’s different. But I sold it.”
The Blackening takes a classic horror movie trope: A group of friends go to a cabin in the woods for a relaxing weekend, only to find themselves terrorized by a malevolent force. The twist here is that the entire friend group is Black, and all too aware of those aforementioned horror movie tropes, leading to a gleefully self-referential comedy that still delivers some scares.
It’s more funny than it is scary, though, thanks to the wit of the ensemble cast, which includes Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, and Sinqua Walls in addition to Pharoah, and some improv on top of the sharp script by Tracy Oliver and Perkins. In fact, Pharoah’s last line in the film, “the line I said before I died,” was improvised. “It’s crazy when you’re acting, when you’re in the moment and you think about something and you say to yourself, I think this is funny, I think this will work. Nine times out of 10, if you have that feeling, go for it, because it will work — [this time], it ended up being a moment in the movie.”
While his castmates didn’t give him any grief over his character being the first to go, Pharoah says he did get some feedback from his family. “They don’t like me dying. They’re like, ‘Hey, next time you get a role, you better live all the way to the end. ‘At least make it through to the last five minutes, baby’ — that’s what my mom always says, shout out to Ramona.”
The Blackening (Lionsgate)
Pharoah previously worked with The Blackening director Tim Story on the film Ride Along, as well as the Pharoah-starring Showtime series White Famous. “I read the script and it was a fun script — very funny and innovative. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this. I thought it would be beautiful to be a part of it.”
Key to that innovation is how the film’s characters aren’t “the same typical Black people in ‘all the Black people die first’ type of movie. We’re not monoliths. You have different types of Black people in this film and all of their stories get highlighted and shown. And the jokes, it’s like the things that you’re thinking as an audience member, the actors are saying it. It’s breaking the fourth wall, but it’s not breaking the fourth wall — it was very, very nuanced, you know? I think it’s a classic that people are going to be following for years.”
Part of the movie’s appeal is in the specificity of its references, which may escape non-Black audiences. But Pharoah sees that as an advantage for the film. “This was also Reading Rainbow, teaching people about the culture,” he says. “I’m surprised they didn’t have a Phase 10 joke in there. Man. That’s another one that Black folks love. Phase 10 has caused many fights in my house, amongst family. I’m so serious.”
Phase 10, Pharoah continues, “That’s going to be in The Blackening 2 for sure.”
While Pharoah says he loves getting to play in the world of horror comedy, the thing he’s hoping to do next is action: “I would love to get into the DC universe or the Marvel Cinematic Universe or, you know, get a chance to work with Dwayne Johnson… That’s my dream. Working with The Rock and working with Denzel Washington. Those are my two top people I really want to work with, man, and I hope I get a chance to do it. I’m kicking myself that I’m not in Equalizer 3. I don’t know who the hell I need to fire, but somebody needs to get fired. Cause I, that’s, that’s the type of stuff I want to do. If I’m not in John Wick 6, trust me, I’m switching agencies.”
(That said, another reason he wants to get into John Wick 6 is that “you gotta work with Keanu Reeves. Not only is he the nicest dude, but I would like to work with Keanu Reeves just for the gift baskets, because I know he gives them to everybody. He might give you a dog. I’m looking for a Cane Corso — he might bless me with one.”)
Pharoah’s clearly not shy about putting what he wants out into the universe. “You gotta speak it, you gotta speak it and fake it until you make it. You gotta talk that talk until it actually manifests,” he says. “I’m a strong believer in affirmations and speaking thing into speaking things into existence. Trust me, I spoke SNL into existence. So I’m saying it right now. I’m working with Dwayne Johnson and Denzel Washington within the next three years. And they might be in The Blackening 2.”
So might Pharoah. “My twin will be in there,” he says. Manifesting once again.
The Blackening is in theaters now.
