Black Box is one among four new scary-season films debuting on Amazon Prime this month lumped under the Welcome to the Blumhouse banner. Y’all know horror mainstay Blumhouse as the production company bankrolling everything from Paranormal Activity to Paranormal Activity 2, from Paranormal Activity 3 and Paranormal Activity 4 — and also non-Paranormal fare like Get Out and The Invisible Man. Point being, it’s a logo representing silly cheapo stuff AND wily knockout thrillers, so be thankful we’re here to tell you which is what.
The Gist: Six months ago, the odds were not in Nolan’s (Mamoudou Athie) favor. He was in a car wreck that killed his wife and left him brain dead — until he inexplicably recovered. “An anomaly” reads his medical record. Now, he’s an amnesiac, and daughter Ava (Amanda Christine), who’s maybe nine or 10 and very precocious, is his de-facto caretaker, helping him remember things, making dinner, etc. He’s a photographer, but the newspaper where he was employed doesn’t think his work is up to snuff anymore. He’s lost.
Nolan visits his doctor pal Gary (Tosin Morohunfola), who works down the hall from the neuroscientist who’s been courting him for experimental treatment, Dr. Lillian (Phylicia Rashad). She promptly hypnotizes him until he’s in a place that’s a lot like the sunken place, except it’s also sort of a spotless mind. Next thing you know, she straps him into a chair and oversized VR goggles, which will help him plumb the depths of his subconscious for his old lost memories. They’ll be exactly how they’re supposed to be, Lillian says. Except the memory of his wedding is in a church, then he goes home and looks at photos of his outdoor wedding, and now two plus two equals… not four.
His hallucination-dream-memories are full of people who say nothing and whose faces are blurred. That’s just a thing called prosopagnosia, Lillian says. Neat! One of those people is a man bent and folded in all manner of unnatural ways, scuttling around like a crab and making those crackly-bone sounds you hear in horror movies, you know, the sound of your rotisserie bird being crunched under the wheel of your Celica. Lillian keeps pushing him to go deeper and deeper, and not to let Mr. Cracklybones intimidate him. There are rules, of course. She tells him not to go out the door of the room he finds himself in when he’s in there, but doesn’t say anything about not getting wet or eating after midnight. Should he trust her? Of course he should — she’s Phylicia Rashad, not some mad scientist, right? NOOOOOOOO SPOILERRRRRRRRRRRRRRS!
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Get Out and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are references, and my hope that Nolan would bump into Bing Bong somewhere in his subconscious went unfulfilled.
Performance Worth Watching: Athie gives a fine central performance here, although as his character gets more complex, the movie itself only gets dumber.
Memorable Dialogue: Decontextualized for greater comedic impact: “I died. And now I’m here.”
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Enough of the bone crackin’ fever, horror movies. Enough already, sound designers. So many crackity crackity bones. It’s like someone fell into a “But that’s not the shark-jumping!” moment in Black Box. No, that happens when we suss out the twist three or four story beats before it happens, which is early in the game, allowing us to realize there’s another twist coming down the pipe. You’ll probably see that one coming, too. The plot just doesn’t hold its H2O long enough.
Granted, movies needn’t outsmart us to be entertaining. But this one emphasizes its twist, short-shrifting us on theme, character and dramatic oomph. It begins as a compelling mystery rooted in a man’s trauma, and ties in a statement about domestic violence, then pushes aside any substantial content as it deteriorates into high-concept hogwash. It’s not about anything but its own vaguely clever twists, and devolves into a blend of poker-faced horror and preposterous, overwrought Tyler Perryisms. You’ll giggle a little as this riff on the sunken place sinks into silliness.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Black Box is like a cardboard box in the rain — starts off sturdy but slowly falls apart.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.
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Directed byEmmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.Screenplay byProduction
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100 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget< $10 million[2]Black Box is a 2020 American science fiction horror film directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. and written by him and Stephen Herman. The film stars Mamoudou Athie, Phylicia Rashad, Amanda Christine, Tosin Morohunfola and Charmaine Bingwa. Jason Blum executive produced under his Blumhouse Television banner.
Black Box was released on October 6 by Amazon Studios on its OTT platform Amazon Prime Video as the second installment in the anthological theme-based film series Welcome to the Blumhouse.[3]
Plot
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Nolan Wright survives a car crash physically intact but suffering from amnesia. Having lost his wife in the accident, he is now a single father to his 10-year-old daughter, Ava. Nolan has a hard time remembering his past and doing basic tasks, including cooking and picking up his daughter from school. Ava is very mature and highly precocious, and aids him in many of these tasks, even making excuses for him when he falls short in social settings. After receiving three warnings from Ava's teacher regarding his forgetful behavior (which she sees as neglect), and failing to get a photography contract at work, Nolan reconsiders his options.
After talking with his friend, Dr. Gary Yeboah, Nolan ultimately decides to opt for an experimental procedure that might help him get his memory back by enlisting the help of Dr. Brooks, a neurologist at the hospital he was first brought to after the accident. After using hypnosis, Dr. Brooks explores Nolan's mind and deems him a suitable subject for her "black box" treatment, saying that together they can try to regain his memory.
Unfortunately, this is not an easy process; Nolan sees figures, but not faces, and is frequently confronted by some sort of monster that causes him to panic and leave the memories. However, outside Dr. Brooks' office, he begins to catch glimpses of other memories, which help him work towards a more normal and healthy relationship with Ava.
None of this lasts long, though; as Dr. Brooks pushes Nolan further and further, he begins to suspect that there is a dark truth in his past, and although Dr. Yeboah assures him this is not the case, Nolan is frantic with worry. Eventually, in a session with Dr. Brooks, Nolan defeats the monster in his memories and looks into a mirror, only to realize he is not Nolan at all. When he comes to, he is aware of his true identity: Thomas Brooks, Dr. Brooks' own son.
Dr. Brooks reveals that Thomas died some time previously, but before he died she had mapped out his consciousness and uploaded it to the black box, so she could download his consciousness into the suitable host when one arrived. Thomas leaves, pretending to still be Nolan, but is struggling with this new knowledge. Eventually, he leaves Ava with Dr. Yeboah, as he says he no longer trusts himself. Thomas seeks out his wife, and tries to explain to her that he is back, but finds that she has erased all traces of him, and does not want him in her life.
At the same time, Dr. Yeboah is looking into Nolan's file and realizes there are some irregularities. He grows suspicious of Dr. Brooks. Ultimately, he and Ava break into Dr. Brooks' office, where they find her trying to replace what is left of Nolan's consciousness with Thomas's. They manage to interrupt her in time; Thomas and Nolan are physically acting out the fight for Nolan's mind in his consciousness, but Ava's screams remind Thomas of his own daughter's screams, and he gives up, realizing that he was killed by his wife, who threw him down the stairs after years of abuse.
It appears that Thomas has let go of his hold on Nolan as Nolan, Ava, and Dr. Yeboah are shown leaving, but Thomas's exact fate is left unknown. Dr. Brooks is then shown repairing the black box and trying to run Thomas's mapped consciousness, which seems to work, as she looks into the black box, says his name, and smiles.
Cast
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Production
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In February 2020, it was announced Mamoudou Athie, Phylicia Rashad, Amanda Christine, Tosin Morohunfola and Troy James, had joined the cast of the film, with Jason Blum producing under his Blumhouse Television banner, with Amazon Studios distributing.[4] The film is the first in an 8-part deal Blumhouse has with Amazon Studios.[5] Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana.[6]
Release
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It was released on October 6, 2020, alongside The Lie, as one of the first two films in the eight film anthology Welcome to the Blumhouse.[3]
Reception
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Critical response
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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 67 reviews and an average rating of 6.3/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "An intriguing debut for writer-director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Black Box compensates for a lack of surprises with strong performances and an emotionally rewarding story."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]
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