Black Box

 

Name: Black Box

Directed By: Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour 

Subgenre: Psychological Thriller

Series: Spooktober 2020 entry #29; review #91

Review: "I run my mind. It doesn't run me." 

Nolan has a problem: he died. Thankfully, he got better. Well, mostly: you see, Nolan is suffering from a bit of amnesia following the devastating car crash that killed his wife and left him alone with their only daughter. The bits of memory loss--forgetting to pick her up from school, failing to recall their secret handshake, etc.--aren't just getting in the way of their relationship: they're now have an active impact on his career. But, will the experimental memory recovery treatment he enrolls in save him or send him into the dark depths of his damaged mind?

It's an interesting premise and one that's reels you in with its sci-fi psychobabble until the film pulls the rug out from underneath your feet when crossing over into the second act. We fairly rapidly transition from intriguing Black Mirror territory into Lifetime Channel thriller turf with rapid shift in acting to boot. Mamoudou Athie maintains composure as the film's lead throughout the transition, but the rest of the characters either feel like hollow placeholders or lose whatever complexity they had into the third act, with Tosin Morohunfola's Gary getting ham-fistedly melodramatic immediately following the climax. Even the film's main attempt at scares, the Backwards Man (played by masterful contortionist Troy James), will likely leave you yawning given how the scenes just sort of happen without any of that tension-building foreplay; seriously, Nolan just sort of stares at the Backwards Man--well, until he opts to absolutely deck the dude, so yeah: very spooky stuff. Black Box has an interesting premise and brings some interesting concepts to the table but the story feels like it was poorly shoehorned into the horror/thriller genre in order to get more eyes on it, and those attempts at horror only weakened the film overall.

Overall Score: 2 out of 5 Chads with identity crises (and crackling back pain)! Did Black Box scare you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

IMDB: Here

How to Watch: Black Box is available on these platforms.

Official Trailer