While I had never heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "Black Daruma", as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2024, then of course I would sit down and watch it, given my life-long fascination and love of the horror genre.
The concept idea for the storyline definitely was interesting, and I will say that writers Fionn Watts and Toby Watts, both of whom also directed the movie, had some interesting ideas on the drawing board and brought to the storyline. However, despite all the good intentions and ideas, it just sort of caved in on itself, because nothing overly interesting happened in the narrative, as it dragged on and on in a rather slow pace.
As for the character gallery, well the character Ryan very quickly grew annoying and frustrating to look at and listen to. This was on no account because of actor Richard Galloway, not at all, no it was simply the way that writers Fionn Watts and Toby Watts had fleshed out the character for the movie.
Despite of having a rather small cast ensemble, I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. And truth be told, that is actually something I do enjoy, watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen. The acting performances in the movie were definitely fair.
Something that didn't sit well with me in the movie was the way that it was shot. Yeah, those hand-held, shaky camera things just doesn't really work for me. And that is what 90% of this movie consisted of, hand-held and shaky camera angles. And I have to say, that at least for me, these unbearable hand-held and shaky camera angles took away so much from the movie, and made it rather difficult to properly enjoy the movie.
While "Black Daruma" is listed as a horror movie, I have to say that there wasn't an ounce of anything scary in the movie, unless you consider ridiculous camera work and an annoying leading character as scary, well then you're in luck.
What a swing and a miss of a movie. Trust me, you don't want to waste your time, money or effort on this dumpster fire. Some of us suffered through the 75 minutes, so you don't have to; you're quite welcome.
My rating of directors Fionn Watts and Toby Watts's 2023 movie "Black Daruma" lands on a one out of ten stars.
