Black As Night review by Bobby Blakey
Ever since they burst onto the screen with the sleeper hit Paranormal Activity in 2009 and has since become a juggernaut in horror delivering films including Insidious, Sinister, The Purge and Halloween. In 2020 they teamed up with Amazon Studios for Welcome to the Blumhouse a collection of all-new, diversely-themed, brand-unified films that is taking the anthology concept and stepping it up to full length horror anthology films.
Now they are back for an all-new set of four films that once again look to deliver a series of unique, unsettling thrillers developed and produced with an eye towards original, diverse storytelling. The first two films are now available with the first being Black As Night starring Asjha Cooper, Fabrizio Guido, Mason Beauchamp, Abbie Gayle, Craig Tate and Keith David with director Maritte Lee Go at the helm. Could this film bring the blood soaked vampire fun or will it get lost to the streets?
Black As Night follows a resourceful teenage girl leaves childhood behind when she battles a group of deadly vampires. Fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, a new threat leaves its mark on the Big Easy in the form of puncture wounds on the throats of the city’s vulnerable displaced population. When her drug-addicted mom becomes the latest victim of the undead, 15-year old Shawna vows to even the score. Along with three trusted friends, Shawna hatches a bold plan to infiltrate the vampire’s mansion in the historic French Quarter, destroy their leader, and turn his fanged disciples back to their human form. But killing monsters is no easy task, and soon Shawna and her crew find themselves caught in a centuries-old conflict between warring vampire factions, each fighting to claim New Orleans as their permanent home.
Anytime you throw vampires into the mix there is a chance for some great fun. This flick brought an interesting new story to the genre with a backdrop in the vein of the original Candyman. This brings some of the similar social commentary to the mix that works, but the film that wraps around it is a bit hit and miss. Right out the gate it wastes no time to let you know the kind of
vampires we are getting which are well handled and look pretty cool.
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The cast is fine with it playing up for the majority of the film like your typical teen drama. There are some performances here and there that don’t work all that great but it seems to find its way back on track more often than not. When we get to the second half and more of the horror/action it changes the tone altogether. This offers up the fun stuff the vampire fans are hoping for but sadly not all that much blood. It plays into a more PG-13 level of the kills complete with a Buffy like element to the way they die. Some of the CGI doesn’t work well, but never so bad that it doesn’t work.
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I had a decent enough time with the film that made it worth checking out, but had hoped for something more. Decide for yourself and check out Black As Night streaming now on Amazon Prime as well as the other Welcome To The Blumhouse film Bingo Hell.