Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“Stranded on a crumbling rig in Baja, a family faces off against a vengeful megalodon shark.” Director: Adrian GrunbergWriters: Carlos Cisco, Boise EsquerraStaring: Carlos Solórzano, Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola, Venus […]
“Stranded on a crumbling rig in Baja, a family faces off against a vengeful megalodon shark.”
Director: Adrian Grunberg
Writers: Carlos Cisco, Boise Esquerra
Staring: Carlos Solórzano, Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola, Venus Ariel, Julio Cesar Cedillo
Release Date: April 28, 2023
IMDB
This one is going to be short because I am currently in Omaha, Nebraska working a college football show. Wish us luck that it’s a good show and that it runs smooth!
The Black Demon (2023) is a Buzzfeed produced movie, and it is just as disappointing as one of those “What Disney character am I?” quizzes. Even the most gusto of creature feature film lovers will find nothing but an empty vessel of a shark movie. The Black Demon delves deeper than the “so bad it’s good” level. It sinks lower than the Titanic (which I just saw, finally) and any vessel that would go looking for said Titanic.
The main essence of The Black Demon is a legendary tale of terror told from generation to generation. Making its home down in Mexico, this fictional Megaladon (called El Demonio Negro) is said to purouse the coasts of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Countless fisherman and boaters have never returned from voyages to these seemingly haunted waters. Will this film’s sea-faring characters make it home alive?
Unfortunately some do. I wish none of them did.
Paul Sturges (Josh Lucas) works for an oil company and he has been sent to examine an oil rig in the Baja California peninsula. Wanting to spend time with his family, Paul has brought along his wife Ines (Fernanda Urrejola) and two children to an area that was once filled with life. Now the area is run down with unsavory types, and the bad vibes will follow the family out to sea.
The oil rig is lifeless when Paul reaches it. Somehow he doesn’t see all the oil that has leaked into the ocean, but he knows nothing good can be happening when he is greeted by a machete in the hands of a very distressed rig worker. Turns out that there is a killer shark that is prowling the waters outside of the rig, and it is there to feast upon the sorrows and sins of man.
So there is a killer shark. Not great. To make matters worse, the entire rig is sinking into the ocean. Now there is a time crunch. The setup for The Black Demon is rudimentary, and that is not a bad thing with a creature feature film. The disaster comes in the execution. The pile of wreckage comes with the visuals and the acting.
It is petty of me to complain about poor movies because making a movie in itself is a feat, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. The Black Demon feels cheap, but it doesn’t embrace the cheap. It tries to weave in concepts of capitalism and environmentalism, but none of its attempts find anything to latch onto. The family infighting and weird hallucinogenic body dismemberments that appear in the eyes of the stranded all contradict the attempted effects of a global message.
The Black Demon is directed by Adrian Grunberg, and one would think that a movie this poor would be his first project. However, Grunberg has made two other movies…both of which I have seen! How crazy is that? In 2012 he made Get The Gringo with Mel Gibson which is his best reviewed movie of his young career. Seven years later (yes that is a long time), Grunberg paired up with Sylvester Stallone for Rambo: Last Blood (2019) which is admittedly not the best movie, but it seeps right into my wheelhouse. The Black Demon is a major step in the wrong direction, but let’s hope it doesn’t anchor his career aspirations.
If we want to end this debacle of a reaction on a positive note, there is one scene worth watching in The Black Demon. When members of the Struges family get dropped off at the rig, the boat and its captain they came on turns back and tries and scurry away from the haunted waters as fast as possible. As one would expect, no little putt-putt boat can escape the terror of El Demonio Negro. This poor man’s boat gets launched into the stratosphere. I would imagine this native would have to giggle at the way he was dying. It is impossible not to let out an audible shock at just how ridiclious the boat’s launch angle is.
But this is where I end it. No need to give The Black Demon any more flack. If people choose to watch it, I hope that people enjoy it more than I did. You will be a stronger movie viewer than I.
The Black Demon is streaming on Amazon Prime.
STANKO RATING: F
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