#REVIEW: “BLACK FRIDAY”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

With so many other Horror movies tackling holidays and unofficial holidays, it was only a matter of time before the scariest retail holiday of all, BLACK FRIDAY, was turned into a Horror flick.

Taking place in the weening hours of Thanksgiving night, a group of big box toy store employees are setting up for the surge of customers waiting in line. When they enter, some buy their toys and leave, while others meander around the store. Except they are not looking for toys – they are looking consume or turn anyone who gets in their way into mindless alien zombies.

BLACK FRIDAY is B-Movie trash. I watched a gleefully violent Trailer over a month ago, knew exactly the type of film I was going to see and did not leave disappointed. The satire has the exact level of depth and introspection that you expect (even the stuff they crib judiciously from Horror maestro George A. Romero), the storyline is complete nonsense, and our Cast of characters are classic Horror movie archetypes just waiting to be picked-off in the most obscene ways possible. They play with the formula for some of them and poke a few holes in some of the tropes, but this is essentially 84-minutes of low-budget Horror that would have made for a fun Friday night movie rental back in the day (and now, a fun poster you might land on when scrolling through your streaming platform’s films).

What elevates BLACK FRIDAY above the typical lowbrow genre it belongs to is the Cast. ‘90s teen heartthrob Devon Sawa is the lead, and the supporting cast includes DTV action star (and Dark Knight Joker victim) Michael Jai White, grown-up Pan’s Labyrinth star Ivana Baquero and Horror icon/B-Movie legend Bruce Campbell. They are all having a blast here delivering ridiculous dialogue and dodging certain death. They know exactly what kind of movie this is, and never once pretend they are above it. Campbell has a lot of fun playing into the Ash Williams persona that made him a star, getting all of the best and most hilarious moments in the Film. While there could have been some improvements made to the special effects and White’s lack of screen time, the stellar makeup and gore effects more than make up for these blemishes. They are effectively disgusting and more detailed than they have any right to be. Much like the Film itself, they will not win any awards, but for B-Movie Horror fans, they will provide a laugh or two just as the real life nightmare of working in retail before the holidays begins.

BLACK FRIDAY is available on Digital and VOD from VVS Films now.