The Blackening

So a group of friends with the usual collection of personal relationship baggage arrive at a rural cabin after ten years of not meeting. After a brief exploration of the place, they find themselves at the mercy of a board game that requires their undivided attention else a crossbow will put paid to each of them. Initially they are all petrified - especially as two of their number take fairly early exits (perhaps they'd read the whole script?) - but gradually they realise that team work might be their only hope of salvation. What now ensues is just a mess. It contrives to include just about every stereotypical character known to man in what seems like an overlong hundred minutes of attitude that really just fell flat. After about twenty minutes I was merrily supporting the would be killer who just couldn't mow down this lot fast enough. There's a bit of a twist at the end which might have worked better had I cared in the slightest about their survival, but even that seemed engineered only to create something that, horrifyingly, suggested that a sequel might be in the back of someone's mind! Sorry, it's neither funny nor frightening and I was glad when the credits started to roll.