Among the movies receiving their premiere at Fantastic Fest 2021 at the end of the month,Black Fridayis a film with future cult classic written all over it in bloody-stained letters. It has mutant shoppers, practical effects, buckets of blood…oh, andBruce Campbell. What more could you ask for?
The first look images forBlack Fridayfeature the king ofThe Evil Deadand the group attempting to stay alive in a shopping mall full of monsters all out to hack and slash anything in their path. Being described as “the best commentary on the dark side of capitalism sinceDawn of the Dead,” the story unfolds during that wonderful time of year when everyone in the retail industry turns up for work expecting carnage, but in this case, what ensues makes a typical Black Friday look like a trip to a petting zoo.
As well as Bruce Campbell, the movie also starsChucky’s Devon Sawa as a “down-on-his-luck father in the midst of divorce, lamenting his job as a low-level toy store employee. He and the other rambunctious, overworked crew of staffers are prepared for a typically exhausting Black Friday full of shoppers hungry for a deal, but they could never have expected the shoppers to turn into blood-hungry maniacs with only one goal: Come together to feed and combine their powers into something full-on Lovecraftian.”
All sounding good so far. Sawa’s group leader is joined by Bruce Campbell’s star turn as uptight manager, Johnathan, who is a complete reversal of the heroic action man that we have come to expect him to play in these situations. Along with Campbell and Sawa,Michael Jai White is also featured. With the promise of “ooey-gooey” monster effects and “outrageous” gore, anyone looking for a fun Thanksgiving horror movie to see them through the holiday is going to loveBlack Friday.
Sawa spoke to Bloody Disgusting last year about the movie, saying, “We’ve relied on old-fashioned filmmaking. Robert Kurtzman, the SFX team, has all prosthetics. It’s like you walk onto where we’re shooting and there’s rooms of like heads, and a whole team of people painting, and we got hydraulic bubbles. I’m sure there’s going to be a few where they’re gonna have to do CGI because there’s some car throwing and all this stuff, but we’re back in old school prosthetic world.”
Sawa has been having quite a renaissance in the horror genre of late, harking back to his early roles in the likes ofIdle HandsandFinal Destinationjust over twenty years ago. In 2020 he appeared in the Canadian-American thrillerHunter Hunter,Death Rider in the House of Vampires, and plays Logan Webber in Don Mancini’sChild’s Playsequel series,Chucky, whicharrives on USA and SYFY next month.
Bruce Campbell is someone who is never away from screens or the horror genre for long, and while he may have put his most iconic role of Ash Williams to bed, he has a big behind the scenes role in the upcomingEvil Dead Rise. He has also just announced “BruceFest,” an event taking place in November that celebrates all things Bruce with the man himself.The Evil Dead also returns to theatersin October in honor of its 40th anniversary.Black Fridaycurrently has no general release date. You can check out the first look photos below, which arrived first atFantastic Fest.
