I've talked about how much I hate election season. But as of this year, do you know what I hate most about election season? The constant, unskippable ads on YouTube. I hate them. Anyways, let's talk about something a whole lot more wholesome than politics...
Black Friday (2024)
I decided to watch this movie as soon as I saw the cover. It's the content of the cover—just a group of people with different facial expressions looking somewhere slightly off-camera. But front and center was one of my favorite actors, Bruce Campbell! Yeah, I'll watch whatever he's in.
If you couldn't tell by the title, the movie takes place on Black Friday. I never worked in retail and didn't do Black Friday before it started dying out thanks to Amazon. I did make a few Black Friday trips, but that was mainly so I could walk behind McKenzie Keuhnlein's mall live shot at 13abc while I was wearing pajama pants. While I never had the camping out in front of Best Buy experience, Dear worked in retail for many years. She says the movie's depiction of that day is very realistic, including the alien invasion.
The movie starts with a guy getting an off-brand Walmart ready for the shopping holiday. Something crashes through the roof, and upon investigation, it kills him. Fast forward to later that night to employees at a different store, "We Love Toys," which was filmed in a vacant Babies 'r Us (RIP.) We meet the eclectic group; there's the germaphobe, the kiss-ass, the flirty good-looking girl, the too-old-to-be-acting-this-way dude, the bad-ass but cool stocker and every bad manager you've ever worked for, played wonderfully by Bruce Campbell. It doesn't take long for whatever fell from the sky to start infecting shoppers who then start murdering everyone not infected while building... something out of all the merchandise in the store.
The cast is forced to band together, even though they don't particularly like each other, and try to escape the store while not trying to kill each other. You get to see them fight the aliens, and each other and watch their near-deaths and near-escapes as the alien menace closes in around them.
That's the story in a nutshell, and it's a fun one. I liked the setting of Black Friday because it's already humanity at its worst, and throwing in an alien invasion on top of it adds a nice little wrinkle. Going in, I knew my favorite was going to be Bruce Campbell. But I feel like the movie hits close to home. When I started working at the movie theater, it was owned by National Amusements. It was eventually sold off to Rave Motion Pictures (also bought out, but the new company wears its corpse like a cheap suit) and every higher-up that came to speak to us sounded just like Campbell but may have been slightly less slimy.
The reason I described the characters as archetypes instead of other descriptors is because I like their dynamic. They all play off each other nicely and the way they're set up, they're going to be antagonistic toward each other which makes for entertaining moments and conversations. Still, I didn't buy their blowup at the end of the second act because it kinda comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel earned.
For a Bruce Campbell movie, especially one produced by him, it's kind of light on the gore. None of the deaths are particularly memorable. I've been wracking my brain trying to think of how each character, or infected human is killed and none of them are standing out to me. I did like two of the deaths, but my favorite is when one of the people decides he's going to talk to the giant alien monster, actually let me back up a bit. When people get possessed they kill the humans, then they fuse themselves to the growing blob. By the time it's reached full power, it is a giant, hulking pink blob made up of different faces. Despite having multiple faces, I love that one of them has the stereotypical Karen look, complete with an, "I'd like to speak with the manager" haircut.
Anyways, the character tries to talk to the monster like he would an irate customer. It's funny because the monster has to bend down to look at him and it has the same face I was making when those managers were telling me how great The Rave was. Then, with a flick of its gelatinous wrist, the man is sent flying across the parking lot to his death.
I liked it, it made me laugh at multiple points, and I found the characters believable enough, even if I didn't buy everything they were selling. Still, I cheered for them and wanted them to escape, and I especially wanted the dad to see his young girls again. It's not something that will stick with you, but it'll entertain you. Even the cheesy effects work in its favor. Bruce, naturally, is the best thing going for it and I liked his fate (not saying what it was,) because it wouldn't feel right going any other way. Plus, how they defeat the alien is unique and pretty clever, and the final shot is a bit of a highlight.
7.5 Dr. Chainsaws!
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