From Black

From Black (2023) is a movie that was released on Shudder last week. The storyline follows a woman who became a drug addict after her son mysteriously disappeared. As she is released from the clinic and begins adjusting to society she is approached by an individual who offers to tell her what happened to her son that day, but at what cost?

This movie is directed by Thomas Marchese (Fallen) and stars Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect), John Ales (Euphoria), Jennifer Lafleur (Nope) and Travis Hammer (Godless)

This is another one of those movies where nothing happens for over an hour into the movie. The storyline, acting and dialogue were all mediocre to bad. There's some scenes that were not needed at all (the baby daddy scene). I will say the first action scene was really good. The mask, makeup and costume of the villain was solid. As the movie progresses and the main character evolves, this ends up concluding better than it starts.

Overall, this is a very average addition to the horror genre with nothing new. I would score this a 3.5/10 and only recommend it to diehard horror enthusiasts.

How far would you be willing to go if you lost a child, and had a chance to bring them back?

This is what one, young, heroine-addicted mother is forced to confront in the new film From Black.

Because, after she loses her son- partially as a result of her own neglect- she's gets such a chance.

When she meets a mysterious man, who teaches her about an ancient mystical ritual, through which she can barter for the return of someone she has lost.

This man claims he learned about the ritual, after losing his own daughter.

And walks her through the steps, required to initiate an agreement, with a dark, occult force...who promises to bring her son back from the dead, once all the steps of the ritual have been carefully followed.

That is, unless, he's just a conman, who has set out to entrap her in a snare, designed to free himself from a deal he could not renege on.

Either way...it unleashes a demon, from which she cannot escape.

Inevitably landing her in jail.

Under the watchful eye of her sister, who works as a detective, that is trying to understand what, exactly, her sister has been going through...and why.

In a desperate attempt to help her.

The story is told to us told through a series of flashbacks, as our protaganess explains the situation to her detective sister.

Though, unsurprisingly, she doesn't believe her.

Until she is forced to confront her doubt, face on.

The flashbacks are broken up into the different stages of the ritual, as she went through them, on the path to achieve her goal.

Giving the whole story an air of mystery.

Of course, it cannot be ignored that this is a bigger budget, high concept, ripoff of the 2016 film A Dark Song.

I noticed a couple other reviewers commenting on the similarities between the two films.

So I went and watched it for myself.

And concur.

Arguably, they did make a few improvements...and completely changed the ending (having completely removed her redemption), in the process.

But, by doing so, they also dumbed it down, as a result of removing all the references to esotericism (Kabballah, Gnosticism); the psychedelic aspect; and character development of the guy running the ritual.

Some changes also took the forms of tweaks.

Like how they made the main character an opiate addict, instead of an alcoholic; and removed the sexually abusively, toxic, nature of the occult dude (who is actually the heroine addict in A Dark Song)- having transferred those qualities into the character of her former boyfriend.

But she's still trying to get her kid back.

The sister still plays a supporting, yet critical, role (albeit, not one central to the plot, like we have here).

And, like someone already mentioned...they even copy the jerky violin music straight from the original soundtrack.

But, while this film is wholly unoriginal...it's just different enough to not be a total write off.

Because, for one, they do improve upon the special effects.

Albeit, with CGI.

The monster has a very Del Toro vibe to it (think, Pan's Labyrinth).

Which, although, it is rendered with CGI (something I would normally hate)...it's actually not done too horribly...and doesn't come off as out of place in the film.

And, they also fashion a more clear introduction (removing the ambiguity from the opening of the original).

With Anna Camp doing a great job in the leading role.

Her torment feels genuine.

So the problem, here, is not that the film is not entertaining.

Because it is definitely entertaining enough to hold your attention.

It's just so hard to overcome how horribly they rip off the other film (which is a low budget feature, no less).

Unless you consider this a remake.

Because the plot is almost entirely the same.

Only, with the disturbing, psychological, torture, she is forced to endure, revamped.

You shouldn't be able to take someone else's original idea, dumb it down, and make a bigger budget, high concept version of it.

Without repercussions, at least.

Though, it's not inherently clear whether they purchased the rights to do so, or not.

Either way, it comes off as bad form (not to mention low class).

Although, by removing the redemptive aspect present in the original...they do make it a somewhat different film.

Transforming it into more of a true horror, as opposed to a psychological thriller.

You can tell they were trying to make it less drawn out, and remove the ambiguity, for more mainstream audiences.

But it's still far too close to the former film for comfort.

Especially if they DO straight up rip it off.

But watch them both, and judge for yourself.

See what you think.

4.5 out of 10.

I really like horror movies and liked the premise of this movie very much, but it could have been way better.

The directing and sets are good, the story is good, the soundtrack is good, the special effects are good, but....

I don't know if it's the writing or Anna Camp's acting, but at no point did I find her character believable. John Ales was really the stand-out actor is this movie, and even Jennifer Lafleur who played Anna's sister put on a good performance. Every time Anna had any dialog though, it just slapped me in the face and popped me out of the atmosphere.

Anna has a number of acting credits, so maybe it's the writing, but it just seemed like she was monotone and her emotions didn't seem reasonable, nor matched the dialog correctly.

It's funny, I only watched this movie with actors I never heard of because it was rated a whopping 9.0, but by the time I finished the movie it had already fallen to 4.5 which is a bit harsh. I would say this is what I expect from the low 6's.

The movie is worth watching because the premise of the movie is kind of cool, but don't expect too much. Honestly, this could have easily been more on the level of the movie Seven if they had some more seasoned actors, or possibly writers.

A Dark Song is one of the most surprising movies I've ever seen. Its intense atmospheric buildup, flawed characters, and absolutely beautiful cinematography draw you in, but the film's attention to detail and reverence for its subject matter are what truly stand out.

From Black is such an obvious ripoff of A Dark Song that it's embarrassing. From bits of score that seem ripped directly from the latter film, to poorly recreated scenes, to a nearly identical story it's more than clear what inspiration the filmmakers were drawing from. If this film had absolutely anything interesting to add to that concept, I would have been extremely interested to see where it went. But it doesn't. In fact, it's almost impressive how this film butchers every single aspect of its inspiration.

The beautiful scenic vistas of Ireland are replaced with drab, ugly views of Mississipi. The old house with so much character and detail is instead a boring modern build with white walls and bland dark wood. The lighting is universally bad, with overlit exteriors and incompetently simple keylights for anything on a set. All of that is bad, but the acting is truly what ruins this film. The delicate performances of A Dark Song really draw you to the characters, who start so harsh and guarded but slowly reveal more and more of what they're truly seeking.

At their core, both films are about broken mothers desperately desiring to see their children one last time. Except From Black is afraid to even commit to that. Cora expressed trepidation at every single step of the way, too afraid and completely unresolved to actually see the ritual through. Where we see the painstaking detail of the incantation in A Dark Song - a process almost impossible to master with months of work and heavy risks - the ritual in From Black seems all too easy, with our characters connecting almost instantly with the other side.

There is truly nothing about this film that succeeds at what it sets out to do. The atmosphere is cheap, the acting is awful, and the only major change from A Dark Song (which I won't spoil here) is a truly horrible deviation from the story that steals away any tiny bit of meaning or growth our character could have. Do yourself a favor and don't waste 90 minutes of your life. Just watch A Dark Song.

I ended up quite liking this one much more than I thought I was going to. I actually really wanted to give it a 7 but there were two major downfalls that made it so I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

This movie had quite a few factors going for it. It looked quite nice with a generally antmospheric setting and had some awesome sfx and monster makeup. It also did quite a good job at having a slow pace that was tension building and not boring. There were parts that definitely could have been picked up a bit but I was intrigued and engaged throughout the movie.

Another thing I really liked about this movie was the script. I found it quite well written to the point where it stood out to me for the positive, when usually it's the opposite. There were a few clunky/cliche moments but I think that fell much more on delivery than the writing.

One of my two main issues was the acting. Unfortunately it really did not do it for me and I thought it did the movie and script a disservice on multiple fronts. The other thing was its blatant derivative plot. If you have not seen 2016s A Dark Song, it is almost identical. The only problem is... I was not in love with A Dark Song and honestly thought that From Black was more entertaining as a whole. Regardless, the feeling of it being a rip off 7 years later is for sure there.

Despite this, I still had quite a good time with this movie and if they could have done some recasting and sprinkled some originality into the story I think it could have been very successful. Would recommend.