PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Going into Meet the Blacks, I was expecting a full on Scary Movie type parody. But the kind of subtlety in this parody falls more along the lines of Shaun Of The Dead. Unfortunately, the quality of Meet The Blacks doesn’t fall along the lines of Shaun Of The Dead.
(Synopsis provided by IMDb.com): In this The Purge parody, Mike Epps (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) plays Carl Black. Carl is a hustling family man who steals money from a drug dealer. He then moves himself, his wife, Lorena (Zulay Henao), his kids, and his cousin, Cronut (Lil Duval), out to Beverly Hills, hoping to have a better life. They move into their house on the exact night that the annual purge commences. But Carl isn’t worried because, according to him, “rich people don’t Purge.” But, as the night goes on, the Blacks realize that that’s far from the truth.
Based on this synopsis, you’d think Meet the Blacks would be a hilarious, fresh take on The Purge, right? Unfortunately, somewhere down the line, the filmmakers fell short of what could’ve been a fantastic film. Of course, it’s hard to seriously criticize a film meant to be goofy, but even a horror comedy at least has to bring the laughs if it isn’t going to bring the scares. It is chock full of racist jokes and crude humor, which is either a hit or miss, depending on the viewer’s sense of humor.
I don’t consider Meet the Blacks a complete waste of time. I love that it has an actual plot and it doesn’t just throw in random things like other parody films. It definitely had some funny moments. Also, I found myself really liking the main characters. If that family was in a sitcom, I’d definitely watch it. They added a few nods to certain horror films, especially towards the end of the film, which is always a plus in my book. Overall, if you like goofy comedies with crude jokes and random cameos from Mike Tyson and George Lopez, you might enjoy Meet the Blacks!
