Normally I've got some investment or interest in a movie before sticking it on, but Black River I went into completely blind. It was simply an algorithm recommendation to me and the synopsis, while not exactly original, sounded vaguely appealing.
I'll admit my heart sunk fairly early on when I was greeted with Dean Koontz name in the credits. Now, I actually quite enjoy Koontz work, but very rarely does it translate well to movie form. Indeed movies based on his works make his rival Stephen King look prolifically successful movie wise.
The movie follows Bo Aitkens (Jay Mohr) a moderately successful Hollywood author leaving LA behind in search of a quieter life following his divorce. While passing through the small town of Black River he is pulled over by the police and sent to the cells. Local Chief Salks (Ron Canada) lets him our and apologises for his erroneous arrest, but informs him his car has been impounded.
Stuck in the town, he encounters its eccentric Mayor Tomas (Stephen Tobolowsky), diner worker Mandy (Ann Cusack) and her recently discovered sister Laura (Lisa Edelstein) but starts receiving menacing phonecalls from someone calling himself Pericles instructing him what he can and cannot do. While menaced by a black SUV and thwarted at every attempt to leave the town by various fantastic means. He sets out to try and find out the town's mysterious secret and put an end to his imprisonment in the town.
Black River is a very strange movie to try and convey my feelings on. It becomes clear we are dealing with a TV movie within seconds, and I always feel like these deserve a bit of a break. These aren't made with huge budgets or great resources, and in all honesty most involved probably never really imagined it would be getting viewed after the initial broadcast, let alone over 20 years later.
Mohr is an actor I know I've seen in several movies, and while I can't name any of them, I feel like he's usually cast as the protagonist's rival for the affections of the female lead, or a jock. Here as a lead...he's a mixed bag. I mean he is working with less than spectacular material, but I'm not convinced we missed out on a great star here. Interestingly, his best moments are the couple of comedy spots which he's a lot more natural at, and even impressive with the timing and facial expressions on.
The rest of the cast? Well, they're tv actors. I don't mean that inherently as an insult, but don't expect anything memorable. Passable, but don't expect to come out looking these guys up for further viewing.
The plot is...I mean if you've watched any sci fi, horror or fantasy tv show in the last 30 years, you've seen an episode with this premise, give or take the antagonist. This doesn't reinvent the wheel, and is silly in places - when Bo tries to leave on foot where do those things that stop him come from? But it's all a rather tired trope. I found it passable, but nothing gripped me, and I feel like in a week's time I'll have forgotten almost all of it.
Still, it's not bad. Had I came across it on tv at original broadcast date I daresay I'd have enjoyed it a bit more. I couldn't honestly recommend seeking it out, but as far as tv movies go? It's a passable waste of time.
