Black as Night
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Vampire violence, social commentary in teen horror movie.
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Black as Night
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What's the Story?
In BLACK AS NIGHT, Shawna (Asjha Cooper) is an awkward teenager growing up in New Orleans with her father and teen brother. She was born shortly after Hurricane Katrina, and since that time, her mother has struggled with addiction while exiled to one of the last remaining housing projects in New Orleans post-Katrina. At the insistence of her gay best friend Pedro, they go to a party so they can both meet cute boys, and maybe Shawna will work up the nerve to talk to Chris, her sports hero crush. When Shawna's attempted flirtations with Chris crash and burn, she leaves the party by herself, and as she's walking home she witnesses a homeless man being attacked. When she tries to stop the attack, she discovers that the assailants are vampires, and they soon attack Shawna, leaving her with bite marks by her neck as she narrowly escapes. When she tells Pedro what happened, he's skeptical, but when they go to the housing project where Shawna's mother lives, they witness a traumatic event that changes everything. Pedro and Shawna decide to take on the vampires, and are soon joined by Chris. Unsure of the more detailed rules concerning the elimination of vampires, Shawna attends a "vampire book club" and meets Granya, a bookish authority on vampires who learns what's happening and joins the fight. After capturing one of the vampires, they soon learn who's behind these vampire attacks and why they're going after the homeless and impoverished. Now, armed with wooden stakes, silver, garlic, and garlic powder, Shawna and her friends must find a way to stop these vampire attacks before anyone else is bitten.
Is It Any Good?
This is an earnest, if clunky, coming-of-age vampire movie. Black as Night is a movie with a message, or, messages, about, among other things, the plight of African American communities in post-Katrina New Orleans, and how this is only one of the more recent examples of an institutional racism going back for centuries. It's also a coming-of-age movie and a vampire horror movie, with many of the standards and tropes that appear in both genres. "That was the summer I got breasts and fought vampires," recalls lead character Shawna in a voiceover like something from The Wonder Years or Stand by Me, and while this is a clearly heartfelt effort to use these two well-known genres to communicate deeper messages, these messages often tend to slow down the action.
Still, there is a sense of fun in playing with the conventions of setting a vampire movie in New Orleans that works here. The acting from the main characters adds a richness to these characters that could've been mawkish or cliched in less-skilled performers. For instance, as the "sassy all-knowing gay bff" character Pedro, Fabrizio Guido adds dimensions that make the character much more complex than that shopworn cliche so typical of romcoms. Overall, this movie will be entertaining to those who like a side of social commentary or teen angst with their horror.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about diversity in Black as Night. How is a coming-of-age horror movie centered on an African American teen girl different from typical horror movie fare? How are different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations represented in the movie?
How does the movie stick to the conventions of vampire horror movies, and where does it seem to play with the form?
What are some of the deeper social issues that the movie tries to address?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: October 1, 2021
- Cast: Asjha Cooper , Fabrizio Guido , Keith David
- Director: Maritte Go
- Inclusion Information: Black actors
- Studio: Amazon Studios
- Genre: Horror
- Topics: Activism , Brothers and Sisters , High School , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Run time: 87 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: September 28, 2023
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