Bruce Campbell and Devon Sawa battle alien-controlled holiday shoppers in new first look images from the horror film Black Friday. Campbell and Sawa are both noted horror stars, but Black Friday marks the first time they’ve been paired up on-screen.
Campbell of course has achieved genuine horror icon status thanks in large part to his work with Sam Raimi in the classic The Evil Dead and its sequels Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Sawa may not quite be on that same iconic level, but he was at the center of the Final Destination franchise and did give a legitimately memorable horror performance in the movie Idle Hands, which saw him battling his own out-of-control limb. Losing control of a limb coincidentally is something Campbell knows all about too, as he famously was forced to hack off his own possessed right hand in the bonkers second Evil Dead film, replacing the amputated body part with a chainsaw (which came in handy as he had to go on battling endless hordes of deadites).
Campbell and Sawa’s first pairing Black Friday sees them once again battling some form of possession, though this time it’s not demonic limbs they have to worry about. As the movie’s title suggests, it’s set during the biggest holiday shopping day of the season, but this year the shoppers are particularly rabid – because they’ve been taken over by alien parasites. See Campbell and Sawa along with their castmates in first look Black Friday images in the space below (via JoBlo):
Black Friday is the latest feature film for director Casey Tebo, whose other credits include 2020’s Barely Legal and 2016’s Happy Birthday. In addition to Campbell and Sawa, the movie’s cast includes Ivana Baquero, Michael Jai White, Andria Blackman, Ryan Lee, Mark Steger and others.
With its story concerning possessed holiday shoppers going on a rampage in a toy store, Black Friday belongs to that very specific sub-genre of horror movies set in retail spaces, a sub-genre that includes the classic zombie feature Dawn of the Dead as well as the ‘80s cult item Chopping Mall and the Stephen King adaptation The Mist. As it happens, Campbell himself previously made an appearance in another less-well-known store-set horror movie, 1989’s low-budget slasher Intruder – which also featured appearances by Sam and Ted Raimi. Black Friday could also be said to belong to the holiday sub-genre of horror movies alongside classics like Gremlins and Black Christmas, though in this case the movie is not literally set on any holiday (Black Friday has of course become a Thanksgiving-week tradition and a very unfortunate one in the minds of many). Black Friday will have its world premiere later in September at Fantastic Fest.
Source: JoBlo