The Black Demon

Paul Sturges returns to a small town to check on an offshore oil rig while incorporating a family vacation. However, the areas economics have taken a turn and their tranquil retreat is hijacked by a colossal megalodon shark.

Beyond directors Adrian Grünberg captivating visuals, Boise Esquerra's screenplay delves into meaningful ecological and spiritual legends themes, making it more than just a creature feature. Although a little talkie and preachy it highlights the importance of preserving our environment and respecting the sacredness of nature. It's weaves these themes into its storyline, along with the importance of family.

It's a little too human-focused, but includes periodic scary vision interludes, along with the few and far between shark setups. Leonardo Heiblum and Jacobo Lieberman's score adds impact to the proceedings, the effects are good considering the budget, especially the rig itself.

Josh Lucas delivers a great performance, along with notable Fernanda Urrejola and Julio Cesar Cedillo. It's a pity that the film is unapologetically downbeat in its resolution. While the somber tone serves the narrative well, it might leave some viewers hoping for a more optimistic outcome.

Overall, Black Demon combines some interesting underwater visuals, and an eerie cautionary tale of manmade ecological disasters, reminding us of the importance of the ocean's preservation.

This movie was so boring and average that even the shark did not wanted to appear for more than 1-2 minutes or so in the entire movie. He preffered to do more valuable things than wasting his time in to this movie.

The cast was not bad and the acting was ok but the plot was ridiculus and they beeped our balls all the time by preaching how we destroy the environment all the times like we don't know that already.

Anyhow if u are a shark film lover then u could check this out once in a theater but i would not suggest to buy the dvd when becomes available.

This is not worth your $$$.

There are a lot better shark films out there.

Here are a few recommendations of so bad it's good b movie shark films which are way better than this.

The meg // deep blue sea trilogy // ice sharks // sand sharks // mega shark vs giant octopus // two headed shark // three headed shark // five headed shark // the shallows // open water.

Some of you acting as if the Director kidnapped you, rinsed your savings account as a ticket fee, and Strapped you Clockwork Orange style to watch this 33,000 times on loop.

Ok list style, here we go.

1. The Kills: Pretty original, some offscreen. I mean how much excitement do you really expect from a 70 foot shark eating a person? Is it a Spielberg level event when you eat a single mini m&m? Grade B 2. The plot: It was alright. A small twist in it. I could see this having a different ending a few ways. Grade B 3. Acting: It was hit and miss. Possibly due to the writing. Don't even try to sell me that 50 shades would have been a better movie with Sir Anthony Hopkins in his Prime with Helen Mirin go cast. Actors can only do so much with the role. Grade C+ The wife, and Son are probably the most believable acting in this.

4. CGI SFX: B It was better than anything The Asylum ever did, but yes it's not the MEG and it's not Jaws and it doesn't have to be.

Over all grade with no Zach Galifianakis-Alan mathematical questions in a casino is a B + cause I like shake movies. To score an A though it's tough to come close to Jaws. Even Bruce the shark for all the issues looks like something you'd NEVER want to see in the open ocean.

Never judge a book by its cover. The poster makes you think you're going to see a creature feature with a cool monster shark eating people. But nope. It's just a 1 location C movie with a family on an oil rig.

The characters are entirely unlikeable, the acting is bad, there's constant preaching about how humans are destroying the planet, with about the same subtlety of some idiot gluing themselves to the street to save the weather.

The actual shark is in it for about... 20 seconds of screentime. If at all.

Worst of all, the film takes itself entirely seriously. If you don't have the budget (or talent) to make a serious drama, at least make it fun.

No fun to be had here. It's just bad.

Right, well of course I opted to sit down and watch the 2023 movie "The Black Demon", as I had the opportunity to do so. After all, I am a sucker for shark movies, despite the vast majority of shark movies being utter garbage. But I opted to give writers Carlos Cisco and Boise Esquerra's 2023 movie the benefit of the doubt.

And I mean, a shark movie with a megalodon, that has to be cool, right? Well, some movies with megalodons are, but just not this particular 2023 movie. Sure, I managed to sit through the entire movie, but I was not particularly entertained by the script and storyline that writers Carlos Cisco and Boise Esquerra had put together. It was just, hands down, a bit too silly and preachy.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from Josh Lucas, Jorge A. Jimenez, Héctor Jiménez and Julio Cesar Cedillo. The acting performances in the movie were actually fair enough, despite the fact that the actors and actresses had very little of anything proper to work with.

Visually then "The Black Demon" was adequate. The megalodon was nicely enough rendered by CGI, though it wasn't really as much on the screen as I would have liked it to be, much less actually expected it to be with "The Black Demon" being a shark movie.

There are far better shark movies out there, and "The Black Demon" came and went without leaving as much as a ripple on the waters in which it swam and ultimately sank. This is not a movie that I will recommend you to rush out and get to watch. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Adrian Grunberg's 2023 movie "The Black Demon" lands on three out of ten stars.