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Season's Beatings From Bruce Campbell, Devon Sawa, and Michael Jai White in 'Black Friday'

By Nate Parker | Film | October 26, 2021 |

By Nate Parker | Film | October 26, 2021 |


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Who doesn’t love the Christmas season? Crisp, cold air, snow on the ground, classic holiday songs, good food, presents, sullen children who just want to stay home and play with their toys, family gathered to worship the birth of the world’s most popular ritual sacrifice, murderous Black Friday shoppers … yessir, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. This year, Uncle Brucey’s got something special for you and no, it isn’t his magnificent soup strainer. It’s Black Friday, another Christmas-themed horror movie to add to the collection.

On the most miserable day of the year for retail workers, store manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell) and his plucky band of employees including Ken (Devon Sawa), Archie (Michael Jai White), Chris (Ryan Lee, Super 8, Goosebumps), and Marnie (Ivana Baquero, frickin’ Ofelia in Pan’s Labyrinth) must fight off a horde of shoppers infected by parasitical aliens who came to earth on a meteor. How can you tell the infected from your average Black Friday shopper, amirite?! … Sorry, had to be done.

Anyway, while I’ve never heard of director Casey Tebo or writer Andy Greskoviak before today, this movie looks like a hell of a lot of fun. You really can’t go wrong with a talented cast like this, all of whom look like they’re leaning into the fun. Bruce Campbell is of course a legend, and with Idle Hands, Final Destination, and Nikita on his résumé, Devon Sawa isn’t far behind. That’s to say nothing of Michael Jai White’s killer list of action roles, including Black Dynamite. And if Ivana Baquero is anywhere near as good as she was in Guillermo del Toro’s frightening and deeply emotional 2006 cinematic fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth then I’m excited to see her as well.

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Black Friday hits theaters on November 19. And for those of us still reluctant to visit a theater, it’s available On Demand just four days later. Here’s to kicking back with a glass of high octane eggnog and watching some genre heroes murder the shit out of some selfish, aggressive, spiteful, over-privileged shoppers I mean zombies. Definitely zombies.