- Directed by Adrian Grunberg
- Written by Carlos Cisco, Boise Esquerra
- Stars Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola, Venus Arial
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1xJAyVKAPY
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
From the publisher:
Now streaming on Redbox On Demand, Josh Lucas stars in the heart-pounding action thriller, THE BLACK DEMON. An idyllic family vacation turns into a fight for survival when they encounter a ferocious megalodon shark that will stop at nothing to protect its territory. Stream THE BLACK DEMON instantly on Redbox today for the ultimate battle between humans and nature. Rated R. From Paramount Pictures.
There are some thrills and chills and decent action scenes, so there’s a lot to like here. It’s not amazing, a little predictable, but entertaining overall. If you’re a fan of “sharks gone bad” movies, this one is worth checking out.
Spoilery Synopsis
We are told of a legendary, godlike shark that only comes when summoned. We open on two men, one a diver, out late at night, checking out the base of an oil rig. Why they are doing this at night is anyone’s guess. We see the diver looking at a clock that looks an awful lot like a countdown timer a bomb would have, attached to the rig. The diver is eaten, as is his tender and the boat he’s on. Credits roll.
Tommy, Paul, Ines, and Audrey drive in their car on vacation somewhere in Mexico. Paul is there to inspect and possibly decommission the huge oil rig out on the horizon. He knows the area, but it’s been a while and the whole little town has gone way downhill; even the hotel has closed down.
They soon run into El Rey, who’s not into gringos at all. Wife Ines takes charge and rescues Paul from an assault. Tommy steals something from a local shop. El Rey takes them to a place to stay and mentions protection from a demon, but Paul doesn’t believe any of it and soon leaves on a boat to the oil rig.
The boatman says the oil rig woke up a demon from the deep; that’s why everything is so bad in town. Paul smiles at the ignorant man. The boatman gets off and sends Paul the rest of the way on his own; he won’t go near that place.
Back on the beach, Tommy points out to Audrey and Ines that there are no birds here, which is weird. Local toughs notice the trio, and things soon escalate into Ines breaking a bottle over some guy’s head and running away back to their car… which has flat tires. She offers a different boatman a handful of cash to take them out to the oil rig.
Paul arrives on the oil rig, and it appears to be deserted. He finds two men and a little dog. They see Ines’s boat approaching and start making a bunch of noise– we see a huge shark destroy Paul’s boat. Audrey falls into the water, and we see lots and lots of body parts floating down there. They watch as the second boat is swallowed whole by the most outrageously huge shark that ever was.
Chato, the man from the rig, says he doesn’t know how long the beast has been out there. He says it’s not just a shark, it’s a megalodon. The radio’s broken and there’s no way to signal the company. “Nothing works!” Also, it’s been leaking oil for months, but Chato says the company was well aware of it.
Paul thinks he can restore power, but someone will have to go down in a diving bell. Chato says the thing is an extension of an old god, Tlaloc, who wants revenge for the company’s environmental damage. Paul, of course, is skeptical, but there is a big shark out there.
Chato and Junior, the other mechanic, go down in the diving bell to restore power. They find the bomb that was planted in the pre-credit sequence, and it’s got about two and a half hours left. The shark eats the diving bell and Junior, but Chato swims to the surface.
Paul and Chato talk about the bomb. Paul hallucinates seeing nearby ships. “It makes you see things’ it plays games with your mind,” Chato explains. They argue about Paul’s shirt color – from the company, and Chato calls Paul a company puppet.
Tommy finds little ritual figurines all over the rig. Inez finds some scary-looking environmental reports, all signed by Paul, who knew all about the environmental problems. Tommy sets the little figures into a toy boat and floats them out into the ocean. Suddenly, everyone winds up in the water, but everyone gets out unscathed. Ines calls Paul the monster since this is all his fault.
Paul admits that the rig has failed every inspection since it was built, but he thought he could fix it. It was either fake the reports or lose his job, a really good paying job. He’s also pretty sure that the bomb was placed there by the company to get rid of the evidence of all the corruption– and him, personally as well.
The kids work on patching up an old escape raft. Paul accuses Chato of not trying to escape before; he was willing to destroy the rig and save his village. Still, they all come together to pray to Tlaloc.
Paul says his goodbyes and puts on a wetsuit. Chato gets the whole family outside and into the escape raft. Paul fixes the oil leak and cuts the bomb loose and goes looking for the giant shark. He calls on the radio and says goodbye to everyone yet again as the tear-jerky music plays.
As the bomb’s timer counts down, Paul swims toward the shark and it swallows him whole before blowing up excessively. Not long after, El Rey comes to pick up the people on the raft, including the dog. As they sail away, the entire oil rig just sort of falls apart and sinks.
Commentary
Evil corporations– what’cha gonna do?
As soon as we saw the bomb, we knew exactly how this would end, and we were right.
They were able to see the oil rig from the beach, but there is clearly no land in sight at all from the rig. I’m pretty sure vision works in both directions.
The sets are cool, and the situation is interesting and unique. The acting, direction, and special effects are middle of the road. The plot is very predictable and overly melodramatic, but well executed for what it is. This is not “Jaws” or even “The Meg,” this is more of an isolation-with-a-time-limit thriller.