Black Cab

When I sat down to watch the 2024 movie "Black Cab", I had never heard about it. But it being a horror and/or thriller movie that i hadn't already seen, much less ever heard about, of course I opted to sit down and watch it. I am a huge fan of all things horror, after all.

Writer Virginia Gilbert put together a fair enough script. However, I must admit that somewhere past the mid-point of the narrative, I was starting to zone out, because there just wasn't much of any thrilling pacing to the narrative. It felt like a rather monotonous droning. Sure, I made it through the movie, but what started out pretty fair sort of turned to a monotonous mush.

The acting performances in the movie were good. I was only familiar with Nick Frost and Synnøve Karlsen.

"Black Cab" had adequate special effects, though it was not a movie that made use of an abundance of special effects though.

If you enjoy supernatural thrillers, then you might want to check out "Black Cab", as you might just find it to be enjoyable.

My rating of director Bruce Goodison's 2024 movie "Black Cab" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Rating Breakdown: Story - 1.00 :: Direction - 1.25 :: Pacing - 0.75 :: Performances - 1.25 :: Entertainment - 1.00 :::: TOTAL - 5.25/10

Horror movies should do one of two things: terrify you or, at the very least, keep you engaged. Black Cab (2024), unfortunately, does neither. Instead, it's a sluggish, uninspired supernatural thriller that feels like being stuck in the world's longest and most awkward taxi ride, only instead of fearing for your life, you're just wishing the journey would end.

The premise had potential: a young woman, Anne (Synnøve Karlsen), takes a ride in a cab that turns out to be more than just a mode of transport. It should have been a tense, psychological horror about isolation and the supernatural. Instead, it's a mystery that forgets to drop clues and a ghost story that forgets to be scary. The pacing is painfully slow, and while director Bruce Goodison does have an eye for lighting and atmosphere, it's not enough to salvage the film's plodding nature.

Nick Frost as the sinister cab driver is the best thing about this film, though for the wrong reasons. Rather than playing his role with the chilling subtlety it needed, he instead delivers a performance best described as Ghost Story: The Pantomime Edition. He overacts to the point of absurdity, making it impossible to take him seriously. Meanwhile, Synnøve Karlsen, as our protagonist, plays her role with such visible disinterest that you'd think she wandered onto set by accident and was too polite to leave.

Ultimately, Black Cab is a film that squanders its premise, fumbles its horror, and crawls at a pace that makes even the slowest taxi meter look like it's running on turbo mode. Unless you've already watched Pulse for the umpteenth time and are desperate for something new, this is one ride you might want to skip.

What starts as a would be Dead End/Twilight Zone first half deteriorates into a confusing mess that had us scratching our heads.

The setting is perfect for a horror-old backwoods roads in spooky fog infused England and the story set up is unusual in it's telling. Nic Frost gives a committed performance for a horror though not the usual comic (though there are some comic timings) and it certainty isn't his fault he looks like Jon Hill with a beard.

As a horror it isn't that scary as a thriller it isn't thrilling but if you want a film where you just let the visuals wash over you and not think AT ALL then this is a formulaic and forgettable fare!

British indie horror can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. This one is fairly middle of the road.

Nick Frost plays his part well. Equal parts troubled, scared, creepy and even endearing. He steals the show for me although Synnove Karlsen puts in a decent turn.

The movie plays on classic haunted highway ghost stories and has some creepy moments. Theres an interesting angle about how vulnerable we really are in a cab driven by someone we know nothing about but that isn't really the purpose of the story, although the depth in Frost's performance did make me think.

Shot in the dark and taking place in a single night with a significant proportion inside a London cab, there's some good use of light. A couple of jump scares and some creepy exposition delivered nicely by Frost give the film just enough atmosphere to keep you engaged.

My favourite part was the ending which is a little ambiguous and probably open to some interpretation.

Overall though I thought it was pretty average fare.

Holy heck this was a tough watch. And quite a bizarre one too I have to say. On the one hand you have a lame duck of a horror movie with almost nothing to offer, yet amongst all that you have the natural charisma of Nick Frost doing everything it can to shine through. Could he do enough to save it? He could not.

This movie just didn't work on any level. It wasn't intriguing, it wasn't scary or mysterious or tense. It was just a nothing ride. And frankly quite an unpleasant one too. All the characters were highly detestable people and not a lot of fun to spend 90 minutes with.

For whatever reason the British do not seem to do horror all that well. I've seen very few British horror movies over the years that I've actually enjoyed and 'Black Cab' was certainly not one of them. 4/10.