Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Horror imagery, violence, language in disappointing horror.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
From Black
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In FROM BLACK, Cora (Anna Camp) is a former drug addict and grieving mother mourning the loss of her son five years ago. She recently left her addict boyfriend, begins rehabbing the family house now that her mother has also recently passed, and joins a support group led by Avel (John Ales). One day, Avel arrives at her new home and makes a disturbing but irresistible offer: the chance to bring her son back. Little does she know that the way in which Avel wants to bring her son back is by summoning a demon. Once everything is set in place, Avel begins to conjure the demon, but it doesn't take long for Cora to realize that she's about to get much more than she bargained for by trying to resurrect the dead.
Is It Any Good?
This is a horror movie that starts out promising but slowly descends into pretension and clichés. From Black fearlessly explores both drug addiction and grieving, and this is where the movie is at its best. The acting is solid and the story is engaging, but these aspects get lost in the morass of goat sacrifices, salted circles with hieroglyphics, and spell conjuring. The music eventually becomes more annoying and trite than anything scary, and it speaks to the clunky direction overall.
There's also the awkward lurching between the present day, in which lead character Cora is now in jail getting interrogated by her sister, and the flashbacks to what happened. This structure doesn't really serve the story. There's an earnest attempt to connect a resurrection demonic horror story with the very real horrors and suffering of drug addiction and the grieving process, and it may have worked in more capable hands, but the second half of the movie gets worse with each passing scene.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror movies like From Black. How is this similar to and different from other horror movies you've seen?
How does the movie address issues like the grieving process and drug addiction?
What were some of the clichés of the movie? How do clichés lower the quality of a movie?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : April 28, 2023
- Cast : Anna Camp , John Ales , Jennifer Lafleur
- Director : Thomas Marchese
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Shudder
- Genre : Horror
- Run time : 100 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : May 9, 2023
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