Black Friday (III) (2021)
6/10
Black Friday: Evil Dead Lite
5 December 2023
Plot

A group of toy store employees must protect each other from a horde of parasite infected shoppers.

Cast

The underrated Devon Sawa, stunning Ivana Baquero, Michael Jai White and the legend that is Bruce Campbell. Oh and Seth Green as the voice of a teddy bear, for some reason.

Verdict

I'll be honest, when I saw the stills and learned that Bruce Campbell was in it I thought here's a movie that's cashing in on the popularity of Evil Dead and is unofficially providing us with more. I was wrong, so very wrong.

Let me be clear in saying these are NOT deadites, and Campbell is great here but he's nothing more than a support character. Our leads are Sawa and Baquero who were great, but I'd got my hopes up seeing Campbell leading a ragtag group against evil not this.

The setting is interesting but underutilized, the cast are solid and a decent mix of characters, the creatures are rather bland and generic, the comedy is very hit and miss and overall I was left disappointed but still did have a decent enough time watching Black Friday despite its very blatant flaws.

The thing I believe that bothered me the most was how cheap it felt in places. Some of the cinematography and effects were unforgivably bad and there was no excuse for that.

Marginally above average but remember this is not Evil Dead, this is hardly a Campbell movie and appreciate its limitations.

Rants

Baquero was a joy to watch, I'm not familiar with her works beyond Pan's Labyrinth so seeing her as an adult was a delight. Decent little actress, I'd love to see her in more and she's changed her appearance to such an extent I don't even see Ofelia anymore. Am I alluding to plastic surgery, very likely.

Breakdown

Fun in places Solid cast Looks and feels cheap at times Not on the level you'll likely hope/expect.
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