Black Friday movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: Black Friday

This comedy horror by Screen Media opens on VOD on November 23, 2021

RATING: R

LENGTH: 80 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

Gross monsters and Christmas shopping. Discounted prices and tons of gore. Nope, not my cup of tea, but I know there is a big market for this kind of campy horror that is getting viewers fired up.

The movie begins on Thanksgiving night, when a group of disgruntled toy store employees begrudgingly arrive for work to open the store at midnight for the busiest shopping day of the year. Meanwhile, an alien parasite crashes to Earth in a meteor. This group of misfits led by store manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell) and longtime employee Ken (Devon Sawa) soon find themselves battling against hordes of holiday shoppers who have been turned into monstrous creatures on a murderous rampage on Black Friday.

The campy horror movie was directed by Casey Tebo and written by Andy Greskoviak.

The first 15 minutes or so of the movie illustrate how horrific it is how some people treat one another in stores as they’re supposedly trying to purchase gifts to celebrate a holiday that honors the birth of Christ. The metaphor isn’t lost on anyone.

THINGS I LIKED:

The quirky comedy stars Starring Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead), Devon Sawa (Final Destination), Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth), Ryan Lee (Goosebumps), Stephen Peck, and Michael Jai White (Spawn)
I always get a kick out of Bruce Campbell. I thought he was a lot of fun in Burn Notice: The Complete Series . Fans of the Evil Dead will immediately recognize him. They’ll also recognize some other Easter Eggs from that classic horror franchise included in this film.
I appreciated that we didn’t have to see every brutal, gory death.
Some snarky, insightful humor about workplace dynamics.
I loved hearing that all of the toys that were used to stage the toy store in the movie were donated to children in need after filming ended.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Really dumb plot.
Some serious Botox going on, as well as strange makeup.
A lot of plot points don’t make any sense. For example, there is no explanation why some customers come into the store already looking like zombies and why many of the employees are totally fine.
Terrible dialogue
Most of the characters are just annoying. My two favorites are Bruce Campbell and Ryan Lee.
Not enough humor to make it actually fun for me to watch this. I kept looking at my cell phone, hoping the movie would end soon.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Despite the story taking place in a toy store, this is NOT a kid-friendly movie.
Lots of profanity, including soooo F-bombs
TONS of gore, blood, guts, and disgusting images
Zombie-ish people
Alien creature
Lots of violence and destruction
Employees drink alcohol on the job

THEMES:

Consumerism
Corporate rules
Greed
Survival
Workplace dynamics
Working in retail
Humanity

FUNNY LINES:

“Coming in at 135 pounds, looking like an absolute vegetarian!” – dad poking fun at his teenage son
“Corporate said ‘Black Friday’ was racist, so now they’re calling it ‘Green Friday’”. – Anita (Leah Procito)
“My ears hurt from listening to Air Supply 50,000 times.” – Jonathan (Bruce Campbell)