Black Mold

Sitting here, unable to sleep, feeling miserable with a head cold, I stumbled across this made by Tubi movie. So let me say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I had more energy to write a proper review I could try to do it justice, but if nothing else I'll put my vote out there.

Starts off, first third feels like an art film. Camera work is good. Main actress good. Those YouTube videos of old buildings, abandoned places... take that creepy backdrop and then apply some original ideas for a story, and you start to get a feel for this well done movie.

Just a small cast but everyone held there own. The story keeps you pulled in tight, and there are things to keep considering... why, what, who, how. Good stuff.

Near the end...The initial credit scene, before the text centric credits, brought back that eerie vibe you got at the start. It is truly unrelated, but it somehow reminded me of The Walking Dead's opener. Maybe I was imagining it, but I really dug it regardless.

Well shot/nice cinematography and some good art direction.

The characters make a lot of absurd choices. The lead female makes incredibly frustrating choices that don't feel true to the character and the lead male character is pretty unlikable throughout. I don't think it's the actors so much as the writing that let us down here.

Lots of moments where it was hard to believe the circumstances they were in, but a decent ride with lackluster end.

Good atmosphere. Nice visuals. It's a well made slow-burn horror movie, the script definitely needed work though. But the cinematography was pretty solid and I definitely look forward to seeing more from the director as there is some potential there.

Whilst at a lovely little genre-festival in my home country, a mate and I had to choose between two appealing titles that were scheduled at the same time but in different screening rooms. Of course, we chose for the least mainstream one (*), playing in the much smaller screening room with uncomfortable stools! But hey, the plot of the film - "Black Mold" - sounded promising, and my pal told me writer/director John Pata previously worked as an editor on "The Stylist", which is a movie I quite liked.

Our gamble wasn't a success. We sort of went through the same process at the lead protagonists in the film. Like them, we went in exploring the unknown because it's our hobby, but when we walked out, we weren't exactly satisfied. Oh well, at least we still walked out alive and (relatively) sane. That's more than can be said for Brooke and Tanner.

For their passion of urban exploring, they travel across the USA and sneak into abandoned buildings full of mold, ramshackle floors, and other unforeseeable dangers. Brooke is a champion in scouting terrific locations, and she takes Tanner to a massive and remote former research facility. Once inside, they are confronted with a dangerously violent squatter who prevents them from leaving. While trapped in the facility overnight, the molded walls and floors cause Brooke and Tanner to go insane (at least, that's what I suspect was happening) like the squatter already has. Tanner sees his worst fears manifesting in front of him, and poor Brooke relives her childhood traumas over and over again.

There simply isn't enough content and horror material in "Black Mold". The film easily could have worked effectively as a short feature, but as a 1 ½ hour movie it's tedious, repetitive, and slow. John Pata attempts to compensate for the lack of action by endless talking. Especially Tanner babbles non-stop. At first you simply wish for him to keep his mouth shut, but as the running time strolls forward at a snail's pace, you actually wish for him to die painfully. Eventually Pata is forced to revert back to genuine and classic horror symbols (like scarecrows and werewolves) to generate some real tension and action, but none of it is credible. Agnes Albright is an adequate actress and the filming locations are atmospheric (we shouldn't expect anything less from urban explorers), but that's hardly enough to recommend "Black Mold" to anyone.

(*) the film that played in the other theater was "It Lives Inside", which I'm sure I'll watch at some point soon.

The movie was on it's way to being a really good film minus some rough dialog, but i feel like they didn't know how to end the film and it just comes off as lazy writing, they did a great job with the atmosphere and cinematography but ending it like they did just felt like they didn't know how to land it.

There were some pretty good practical effects used so props to them for not going the CGI route but at the end of the day i feel like the ending hurt this film really bad. You can't build up suspense and atmosphere and never finish the story you started to tell, it's a real rug pull the audience because this film had potential to be great but a mediocre send off takes a lot of points off.

That is why I have to give it a 5 out of 10, It's such a shame because i was really invested in the story.

Clearly, they didn't have much money although the effects are pretty good. I just got a little annoyed with the characters just staying in the awful place with the mold and with the dangerous guy when they could easily walk somewhere else or at least breathe fresh air outside. Maybe if they couldn't exit the building so easily or if they established that people exposed to black mold don't have the common sense to get away from it then I could accept their actions more easily. I was hoping there would be transforming or some kind of unique monster but it's more just a drama with some tension. I was pretty engaged though.