Sean Parker
It’s Halloween Weekend, and just like any store you’re about to walk through the aisles of, it’s time to expect an unholy amount of Christmas stuff. Yes, I know it’s shameful of me to trick you into a holiday mindset with Halloween only a day away, but I promise the Black Friday trailer is a treat, especially if you hate shopping for the holidays. Featuring heavy hitters such as The Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell, Final Destination’s Devon Sawa, and Spawn’s Michael Jai White, the film looks like the most fun you’ll have Thanksgiving week, and you won’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to see it.
Set on Thanksgiving night, Black Friday follows a group of toy store employees forced to set up stock for the hordes of shoppers expected to ransack the store at midnight. When a meteor crashes to Earth carrying a parasitic alien, the shoppers turn into deadite-looking monsters swapping their feast for bargains for grisly murder and assimilation. With the leadership of their manager Jonathan (Campbell) and seasoned employee Ken (Sawa), the employees must fight their way out of the store and stop whatever the aliens have in-store for our planet.
Aside from Black Friday being the second scariest day of the year, with stampedes for discount electronics turning some stores into crime scenes, the nightmarishly long lines to check out in any of the stores, and the dead-eyed gaze of an employee that’s pulling a double because someone didn’t show up for their shift, the film feels primed to take on the social relevance of consumerism through a horror lens. Or we could be looking at some silly fun where Black Friday workers can take back the day by getting to live out their fantasies on their worst customers. From the line Campbell drops about Black Friday being the most harmful day to store employees to the consistent poundings the affected store shoppers take, maybe we’re looking at both.
Black Friday shows us blood, some fantastic makeup, and costume effects, and utter chaos in a toy store and I’m completely here for it. Michael Jai White looks jacked and ready to handle whatever comes at him authoritatively, like he’s about to travel back to Black Dynamite’s Kung Fu Island (why has there not been a sequel to Black Dynamite?). And if someone could hand Campbell a broomstick, I think we could get into some S-Mart territory. What I mean to say is Black Friday seems like a good time. Something you can watch while munching on leftovers and making those deeply discounted holiday purchases on your phone.
Black Friday is set to hit theaters on November 19, just days before hitting VOD on November 23.
So what do you think of the trailer for Black Friday? Do you agree with Sean that it looks like a brutal and disturbing ride? Let us know in the comments! And if you’re looking for more trailers, we’ve got you covered!
