The Black String

I love movies that keep you guessing between possible narratives, and The Black String delivered without being overwrought or pretentious. Just fun characters, a well-paced story and a great balance of scares, suspense, and a few laughs.

There are no deep dives into character backgrounds, but it's not necessary. Everyone is likable or spooky enough to keep the plot moving. Muniz is a sympathetic protagonist, and you are pretty quickly sucked into his world. A few little hints at past events are adequate to add some depth. The bad guys are sufficiently menacing and the clerk buddy is good comic relief.

This film is a welcome respite from horror films that are trying too hard to win gold medals for suspense, gore, zeitgeist or twists. It's a worthy entry in the genre that the writers and director can be proud of and fans will enjoy.

Hail to producer, writer, director Brian Hanson for 'The Black String'! Wow, this was much creepier than anticipated. The film plays like a nightmare. It is weird at times, but effectively so. The make-up is very good as well s the visuals and practical effects.

Frankie Muniz is incredibly good as Jonathan. He completely sold the story - and his dilemma - to me, and I believed his agony and horror. This is a uniquely different horror film. Some scenes are grotesque, while others are simply nail biting suspense.

You know the deal with Amazon Prime Video, let's say that the quality of the films on offer aren't exactly going to set the world on fire. When I watch something on this platform I often find myself wondering "why the hell am I watching this crap?" But every now and then Amazon Prime throws up a decent movie and The Black String is one of those rare occasions.

The main protagonist is a lonely, sex-starved liquor store clerk. He has little in his life except his drawing and his job. One night, in desperation, he calls a "sexy singles in your area" hotline and, as luck would have it, hits the jackpot by going out on a date with an actual sexy single (and she IS sexy.) His luck continues when he actually gets to have sex with the sexy single, to him it's nigh on miraculous.

His luck runs out however when he wakes up to find her gone, leaving him with a very nasty rash. An STD? That quickly? Believe me when I say, he's going to wish it was an STD before the end of this film.....

The Black String is one of those ambiguous films where the protagonist is either the genuine victim of a conspiracy or simply as mad as a lorry. It doesn't make it easy on the viewer as every event could be interpreted either one way or the other. Even with the very downbeat ending it can be interpreted either way and, incidentally, the ending is very downbeat indeed.

It's actually not a bad film. It kept me entertained, the story was good, the acting decent and it held my attention throughout. There was very little gore, except for right at the end, but it wasn't gratuitous in any way. So, it's well worth a look.

Oded Fehr is in this movie, but isn't listed anywhere or on anything! Why? X.

The film itself is an interesting idea, but there are large chunks that could have been cut and it would have made NO difference to the film. Some of the effects were very good, but some were awful. I really enjoyed the imagery of the 'visions/hallucinations' and wanted more from that and the mythos behind it. It can be quite gory in places, so if that's not your thing, this might not be the film for you.

It's an interesting horror movie with elements of different genres, but it isn't going to change the world or cinema any time soon.

For some reason the reviews on here are trending negative. This is a paranoia-fuelled nerd ride to hell as the main character is in a dead end job bored to death with his best friend telling him he needs to get laid. One night he gets high and the TV tells him to phone a number to meet some mystery girl. He does. Chaos ensues. Evil abounds. Bad ending for my dude. It's a solid movie. It doesn't try to be huge. It is what it is. I rate it fully. Peace.