The Black Demon

• Directed by Adrian Grünberg
• April 28, 2023

A stranded family on a damaged oil rig in Mexico faces off against a giant shark.

Horror with a message done right can make something scary a little bit more special. Done poorly it makes an adequate scenario kinda bad and weakens something that could be passable. Like a monster a shark going on a killing spree.

I knew I was going to get that in The Black Demon. What I didn’t expect was the heavy environmental message in this. I am steeped in Jaws, and it was not exactly message heavy. I’m not against a message in a film but this film was poorly done from stem to stern. Apparently this shark (one the characters assert must be a megalodon because its big) is attacking an oil rig because man is destroying the planet. It’s doing so at the behest of the Aztec god of rain Tlaloc who punishes anyone that takes far more than they need from nature. And by punish I mean kill. Let’s just ignore the massive amount of leaking oil that is coming out of the rig and the uncontrolled flow that will probably occur if the rig is destroyed incorrectly. Incorrectly like, for example, a giant shark just causing random damage in the hopes of toppling it into the water.

Our ‘hero’ Paul (Josh Lucas) is sent by Nixon Oil to conduct an inspection of this rig so he decides to make a vacation of it with his family. Not that he ever really inspected it before which leads us here. It is clear the company is well aware of what’s going on and has set up Paul to be a sacrifice both in the public eye and for the shark. If you don’t figure that part out then you haven’t seen nearly enough heavy handed movies.

This film becomes a huge diatribe against big oil and environmental pollution rather than simply slipping that message in. The story idea is good, but then they take time out to just talk. Our main character explains his guilt. He practically throws himself to the floor and begs for forgiveness. Seeking atonement is one thing but begging to be forgiven is another.

When they mention an ultimate sacrifice and that one figure falls into the water I knew exactly how The Black Demon was going to end. I didn’t expect a last minute save at all. No moment of mercy for the dad realizing his sins. No forgiveness for the one truly in an optimal position to not only write this wrong but prevent it from happening again. His wife and some no name worker are left to prevent the evil corporation from continuing on. An angry widow and a bitter ex-employee. Two easily discredited voices. Tlaloc may not have thought ahead.

And the impoverished locals who were thriving when the rig was working? How are they off the hook for sending out a group to be human sacrificed to a giant shark? Seriously. They are probably as worse if not more so than the oil company for being willing to kill Paul and his innocent family. Yet the film does nothing to say that these people allowing murder to passively happen might be in the wrong. They are framed as the good guys almost because human sacrifice is okay.

Our story does begin promisingly. The shock of the family having a nice little trip and everything being pleasant with them arriving in the dead town that was once thriving and vibrant is a nice start. And things get appropriately creepy and dark from there. Standard horror stuff but not bad standard horror stuff.

This engages in some lazy/stupid elements like Paul’s wife Ines (Fernanda Urrejola) bringing up everything he did and starting a fight while they are on a ticking clock to get away from certain death. It makes no sense to stop everything for a fight. And what does it say about their marriage that she so quickly turns on him? I get her being mad, but the fact that she goes into divorce mode right there makes no sense.

This was close to being a guilty pleasure with a message, but Adrian Grünberg put message over story and turned it into a lecture with all the subtlety of a kid trying to be deep. Then again this is from the director of Last Blood which was easily the worst Rambo film let alone among the worst from Stallone.

The Black Demon tries to be a horror film with a message but does not think things through while also telegraphing much of what comes later. It’s okay for the weirdness but beyond that you might have a few questions. I’ll give this a barely ‘if you want’ for the weirdness but not the message.