Blumhouse, the sort of oasis in the perpetual wasteland that is moderate to bigger budget horror, is now expanding its empire into the auspices of a streaming partnership. Having found a new collaborator in Amazon, “Welcome To The Blumhouse” is a series of films being released over time by a diverse slate of filmmakers and focusing on a centralized concept of horror by way of familial secrets and trauma. It’s an enticing bit of ingenuity…and ‘tis the season after all! So, the pump for this in terms of audience is particularly primed.
This week sees the first pair of films of this lineup drop on the streamer in Black Box and The Lie, and I’d be lying (ba-dum-tsh) if I told you it was a particularly smooth initial rollout, though at least one of these two efforts is at least worth 90 minutes of your precious horror movie marathoning time.
Black Box
Black Box is a bit of horror/sci-fi blend, helmed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr in his first film. It sees Nolan (Mamoudou Athie), a photographer who has recently recovered from a car accident that has left him widowed and raising his daughter (Amanda Christine) alone. He’s suffering from amnesia due to the accident, which is causing both personal and professional turmoil in his life. Nolan is no longer the photographer he once was, he regularly forgets to pick his daughter up from school, and he’s prone to uncharacteristic fits of anger. With the help and support of his best friend Gary (Tosin Morohunfola), Nolan connects with a medical professional (Phylicia Rashad) whose experimental techniques may be the answer he’s looking for. But those answers may uncover new wrinkles into Nolan’s past far beyond what he’s prepared to face, including a deeply seeded monster straight out of a J-Horror picture.
There are two underlying thoughts that cross one’s mind when watching Black Box. The first is that it’s really quite similar to a premise you might see in Netflix’s Black Mirror anthology series, with its blend of technology and the human condition. As such, this would be a cracking 60 minute episode of television. At 90 minutes, it sometimes struggles to completely fill its runtime, particularly as its centralized conflicts and bigger revelations come to bear in the final 20 minutes or so. That’s not to say though that Black Box isn’t generally worthy of your time, as for much of its proceedings, the film is a pretty compelling study of memory and self, especially as Nolan is unraveling his own past and why certain elements that his procedures are uncovering do not quite align with the stories that Gary and the photographs in his home seem to tell.
It gets increasingly implausible as it goes, with a villain turn that really just doesn’t at all ring true, but its difficult to not get caught up in the overall emotional thrust of the film and the core relationship between father and daughter, which gives great credit to the performances of Athie and Christine throughout. It is also encouraging to see space made for a film made by a black filmmaker, and an entirely black cast, that isn’t necessarily about being black. While films like Get Out and Candyman are vitally important for the cultural conversation and opening doors for diverse genre filmmaking, it’s equally refreshing to be offered a story that centers on black characters without the same weight of messaging or even the need for it. On balance, it marks another exciting step forward for horror and science-fiction in this regard.
The Lie
The Lie, on the other hand, is a little more complex of a concern.
Filmed by television vet Veena Sud, this “thriller” was originally set to release a couple of years ago, but for whatever reason was shelved by the powers that be until now. If you see it, you’ll basically know why. The set-up concerns Kayla (Joey King), a ballet student, being driven up to her class by her musician father, Jay (Peter Sarsgaard). Seeing her friend Brittany (Devery Jacobs) at a bus stop heading to the same class, Kayla gets her father to give Brittany a ride. Brittany begins to immediately flirt with Kayla’s dad, to the latter’s perturbance. After asking for a roadside pitstop, which finds the two girls wandering off, Jay finds Kayla distraught, having pushed Brittany over the edge of a bridge and into a frozen river. When he can’t find her body, Jay, in a panic, takes Kayla and flees the scene and to consort with his ex-wife and Kayla’s mother, Rebecca (Mireille Enos), as they hatch a plan to keep Kayla’s secret between themselves. It doesn’t go very well.
The Lie is a strange fit for Blumhouse in general. It only barely flirts with horror elements – I’d argue it isn’t a horror film at all – and is tonally more of a fit for something that would appear on Lifetime. Sud’s script is aggressively stupid at times and at its better moments, painfully ponderous. Sud, whose resume includes television series like The Killing, certainly attempts to cloth this turkey with a type of Norwegian mystery sheen and its snowy-capped compositions are probably its most recommendable element. But, really The Lie has all the creative juice of something like The Snowman, but without even unintentional hilarity to keep things moving.
In fairness, between Jay and Rebecca hemming and hawing over their own failed marriage, how to fend off Brittany’s father (Cas Anvar), and getting their story straight for the cops in the most ridiculous fashion ever, there’s a brief moment where it seems like the film might turn into something particularly thrilling. As Brittany’s aforementioned dad begins to chase after Kayla to learn the truth about what happened, there’s a stalker/home invasion element that the movie momentarily flirts with. It’s the lone time that The Lie even begins to show even a shred of life and tension. But then it’s as gone as quickly as it appears. Learn from my mistake. Steer clear.
But hey, 1 out of 2 ain’t bad, and at least Black Box offers just enough thrills to leave you wondering what next week’s offerings might bring.