Skip to content

BLACK FRIDAY

Written By:

Paul Mount
black friday

There’s almost certainly a decent horror-comedy to be made around the bizarre modern retail concept known as ’Black Friday,’ the post-Thanksgiving madness (that has now spread across the Atlantic and seems to last most of December) that compels normally-sane consumers to work themselves into a frenzy at the thought of missing out on saving five quid on some piece of cheap plastic tat for Christmas. Sadly Black Friday, despite its best intentions, isn’t that film.

A meteor of unknown origin crashes through the roof of a big retail department store as it prepares to open for its Black Friday evening shift. A parasitic organism emerges and turns those it infects into rampaging blood-crazed killers. Nasty. Meanwhile, reluctant workers at a We Love Toys outlet (do such places even still exists these days?) are similarly gearing up for the hell of Black Friday; in their number are Ken Bates (Devon Sawa), estranged from his wife and looking after his two young daughters, geeky Chris (Ryan Lee) and a slew of other cannon fodder stereotypes (including genre legend Bruce Campbell as store manager Jonathan Wexler).  Shoppers pour into the store (although in truth it seems that the budget couldn’t run to that many of them) but the parasitic mutation is spreading and the shoppers soon become even uglier and more violent than usual. Ken and the survivors of the first attack are forced into hiding before trying to find a way out of the beleaguered store even as something nasty is growing in Santa’s Village.

Black Friday’s not especially big or clever; its targets are easy and obvious we’ve been here before – George Romero was pointing out the similarity between mindless shopping frenzy and zombies decades ago – and the film commits the cardinal sins of so many would-be comedy horrors – it’s not funny enough and it’s not scary enough. The humour is limp and predictable, the gore is either tame or derivative. One sequence in which the characters, trapped in a storeroom, attempt to explain how their lives led them to the retail sector, at least attempts to put flesh on the bones of wafer-thin characters and the climax is pleasantly, if rather stupidly, ambitious and in the best traditions of would-be apocalyptic cinema, is ambiguous and open-ended. But ultimately Black Friday is a bit of a disappointment, despite Bruce Campbell doing his best to inject some life into the proceedings and delivering the best performance here, as it wastes a promising premise because it doesn’t seem to know what to do with it or how to properly exploit it. In the best traditions of the shopping experience, you might well be tempted to take Black Friday back and ask for a refund…

Signature Entertainment presents Black Friday on Digital Platforms February 14th

You May Also Like...

First-Look Images and Sizzle Reel for Disturbing Shocker CARA

You can now get your first look at the upcoming disturbing kitchen sink horror film CARA, directed by Hayden Hewitt (Lips) and starring Ellie O’Hara, Johnny Vivash, Laurence R. Harvey,
Read More
chinese remake of anaconda drops trailer

ANACONDA Trailer Grants First Look At Remake Of 1997 Horror Flick

Three sequels and a spinoff-crossover film wasn’t enough for the 1997 creature feature Anaconda, which not only has a new movie in development, but is getting a Chinese remake! From
Read More
black widow star scarlett johansson in talks to lead new universal jurassic world film

Scarlett Johansson In Talks To Join JURASSIC WORLD Film

Another MCU star appears to be taking up the reins for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie: two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson is reportedly in talks to lead the franchise that
Read More

Exclusive Reveal! Titan Comics to Deliver Prehistoric Hysterics in First 2 DUMB DINOS Collection

Titan Comics have exclusively revealed to STARBURST that they’re gearing up to publish the first-ever collection of the hilarious cult digital comic strip 2 Dumb Dinos, and we’re not the
Read More

New Dates For Lovecraftian Key of Dreams

Key of Dreams has announced new spaces for its titular immersive luxury horror event. The critically acclaimed company is known for its overnight experiences that dunk you into a strange
Read More

FAB Café to Host Free Film Screening of New Indie Comedy SECRETS OF A WALLABY BOY

We’re well known for our championing of truly independent filmmakers here at STARBURST, so it’s doubly exciting to be writing about one of our own! After joining the crew in
Read More