Budget: Unknown
Directed By: Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour
This movie is one of four horror films made or selected by Blumhouse for Amazon Prime over the October period. I'll be reviewing each one with my thoughts on each Starting with:
Black Box, I thought I had this film sussed from the beginning but it did throw me off for a few minutes then after that I did kind of guess what was going on, though by then it was very obvious.
We join Nolan on the sofa watching home movies, he's got a puzzled look on his face, we learn that Nolan has lost his memory after being in a car crash that killed his wife and left him brain dead and in a coma for a while.
Even at the beginning here we see he's been acting uncharacteristic of himself, it seems his kid daughter has been looking after him and trying to jog his memory with things too. Seems he lost his temper and hurt his hand punching a wall. After a few things go from bad to worse, like not getting his job back as a photographer because his work seems different. At the urge of his friend He goes to see a doctor who specializes in rebuilding neural pathways.
While 'under' He see's a scary blank faced apparition that moves and sounds like it's all broken like, despite this things do slowly start to come back to him. Though the memories are in direct contradiction to how other people know or describe how he usually acts.
This is where the movie threw me for a few minutes though I was right in thinking the 'thing' was a allegory for something, which it sure did end up being in the end!
A few more sessions however reveal the true nature of what was/is going on within his head, as well as what part some other players have in his story. I won't say no more as I don't want to spoil any of the twists and turns as they are a major part of the film.
Suffice to say it's quite a big error here, as if he hadn't gone to meet the doctor what would have happened?
Would he have just lived as is, would she have tried to intervene some other way?
That's the only way I think it's a little weak.
Acting wise there's some good chops going on here, seems the older the actor the more believable the performance. Doctor Brooks being, for me a stand out.
Effects wise there's a lot of clever using an effect to cut to a new scene, cheap, easy and effective. All practical effects look decent enough, all equipment looks authentically medical and believable in use.
It's not exactly horror it's more a thriller too I feel like.
Final verdict if your hankering for a twist movie with some spooky elements It's worth a watch, THN awards Black Box a reasonable 3 out of 5 stars.
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