Black Box – Review [Prime Video] (3/5)

BLACK BOX is out on Amazon Prime Video now. Part of the Blumhouse Halloween 4-movie anthology released in October 2020. This new horror, sci-fi, thriller hybrid draws on the world we’ve become so familiar with through the Black Mirror series. Read our full Black Box review here!

BLACK BOX is a new horror, sci-fi, thriller on Amazon Prime Video now. It’s one of the four movies released during the Halloween month as part of the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” genre film anthology.

The movie has a runtime of 100 minutes and manages to keep a good pace and keep its viewer engaged. Definitely worth checking out for fans of sci-fi horror and thriller movies.

Continue reading our Black Box review below and check it out on Amazon Prime Video now.

Black Mirror meets Jordan Peele.

For this particular movie, it’s easy to be reminded of both Black Mirror and the wonderful mind games we’ve become familiar with in Jordan Peele movies. Not quite as elegant or well-executed, but still deserving of a comparison. This movie is entirely its own story, but I’m sure you’ll be able to feel a sense of familiarity.

For the record, no, I’m not just comparing Black Box to Jordan Peele’s work due to the cast being black. Rather, the comparison is all about the way our minds work and how reality can become blurred. Whether it’s due to the power of hypnosis and technology or simply our own personality.

Figuring out exactly how it all fits together and who is involved where is part of the mystery. You’ll probably guess many plot points ahead of time, but it doesn’t ruin the overall entertainment value. It didn’t for me, anyway.

The cast of Black Box

Mamoudou Athie (Underwater) plays the lead in this movie as Nolan, but he is extremely well supported by the young Amanda Christine. In Black Box, Amanda Christine (How to Get Away with Murder) plays Nolan’s daughter, Ava, and she is simply perfect in every heartbreaking way.

Also, the always wonderful Phylicia Rashad plays the key role of the doctor helping Nolan get his memories back. We recently saw Phylicia Rashad in Tyler Perry’s Netflix movie A Fall from Grace (2020) and I do hope we’ll see her in more genre movies in the future.

Finally, I have to mention Troy James, who does the craziest things with his body as the “thing”… you’ll see! You won’t know the face of Troy James, but you will know his body horror work. He was Baba Yaga in the 2019 Hellboy movie and Jangly Man in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Watch Black Box on Amazon Prime Video now!

Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour directed Black Box based on a script he wrote with Wade Allain-Marcus and Stephen Herman. This is the feature film debut for Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour as both a director and screenwriter.

For Stephen Herman, this is also a feature film debut, but he already has his next feature in post-production so we’ll see another sci-fi thriller from him soon. Prior to Black Box, Herman wrote 5 short films. Wade Allain-Marcus has worked as an executive story editor on the series Grown-ish and also co-wrote the 2015 movie French Dirty. 

At 1 hour and 40 minutes, this horror sci-fi thriller definitely packs a punch without ever being too much of a slow-burn. It is definitely a mindf*ck but isn’t that what we love from our sci-fi horror stories?! If the title of this Blumhouse horror production made you think of the anthology series Black Mirror then that’s perfect for what Black Box delivers!

Welcome to the Blumhouse: Black Box is out on Amazon Prime Video worldwide from October 6, 2020.

Details

Director: Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour
Writers: Wade Allain-Marcus, Stephen Herman, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour
Stars: Mamoudou Athie, Phylicia Rashad, Amanda Christine, Tosin Morohunfola, Charmaine Bingwa