Steve Blackwood first showed up on the big screen back in 1988, a bit part in an indie horror flick called The Undertaker. Perhaps best known for his ten-year stint as Bart on Days of Our Lives, Blackwood has also had parts big and small in such familiar flicks as Machine Gun Preacher, Stuck, Peabrain, Ed Gein and a host of others.

However, it's been this kind of work that has brought Blackwood into my cinematic circle. Along his journey, Blackwood has written and directed a handful of modestly budgeted indie shorts tackling a variety of subjects. With this film, Family Game Night, Blackwood asserts that this is his final effort and one can sense it's one for which he is most proud. 

Family Game Night is set in 1990s Detroit during the holidays. Semi-famous soap opera actor Dan Whitehall (Brian J. McDonald) has returned home to his wildly dysfunctinal family with his new wife and fresh, complicated grief over the recent death of his father. 

It only takes about a minute into the film to start mumbling "Thank God this isn't my family!," and one can feel that tension in the air early on that settles in somewhere between awkward humor and an unresolved Hell. Into all of this sets the semi-presence of Phil (Blackwood), Dan's deceased father whose spirit here resembles a game night purgatory that will likely leave anyone who's experienced complicated grief shrugging with familiarity. 

It felt familiar to me, for sure, as someone whose own father passed away just about a year ago. Family visits were always awkward, never completely horrible yet something I was always glad to see end. Yet, as I journeyed with my father through hospice I saw my father exorcising his own demons as I was doing the same. 

In many ways, that's exactly the idea behind Family Game Night and I would agree that this is likely Blackwood's best performance in one of his self-directed indie shorts, though I'll always confess a fondness for his vocal work in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure. 

But, I digress. 

Family Game Night also features one of Blackwood's best ensembles. Brian J. McDonald adds a deep layer of emotional resonance as Dan, whose visible discomfort feels constantly on the line between explosive and laugh out loud. Pamela Jayne Morgan is tremendous as Joan, Claire Aucoin shines as Deanne, and there's really not a weak link to be found here. As Chis, Ashley Risteen takes a complicated role and makes it feel natural. Blackwood's own original score fits the film quite nicely. D.P. Christopher Bowden's observational lensing and oft-intrusive lensing is an inspired way to approach the ever-present Phil. 

If, indeed, Family Game Night is the final indie short we see from Blackwood it's both thematically appropriate and an engaging, meaningful place to end the journey. With a story that is universal in themes and intimate in storytelling, Family Game Night taps into the complicated nature of family, grief, unresolved issues, and the love that still binds us all. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic