Recensioni degli utenti

I ended up quite liking this one much more than I thought I was going to. I actually really wanted to give it a 7 but there were two major downfalls that made it so I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

This movie had quite a few factors going for it. It looked quite nice with a generally antmospheric setting and had some awesome sfx and monster makeup. It also did quite a good job at having a slow pace that was tension building and not boring. There were parts that definitely could have been picked up a bit but I was intrigued and engaged throughout the movie.

Another thing I really liked about this movie was the script. I found it quite well written to the point where it stood out to me for the positive, when usually it's the opposite. There were a few clunky/cliche moments but I think that fell much more on delivery than the writing.

One of my two main issues was the acting. Unfortunately it really did not do it for me and I thought it did the movie and script a disservice on multiple fronts. The other thing was its blatant derivative plot. If you have not seen 2016s A Dark Song, it is almost identical. The only problem is... I was not in love with A Dark Song and honestly thought that From Black was more entertaining as a whole. Regardless, the feeling of it being a rip off 7 years later is for sure there.

Despite this, I still had quite a good time with this movie and if they could have done some recasting and sprinkled some originality into the story I think it could have been very successful. Would recommend.

Fairly cliched plot. Grieving parent, wanting to bring child back. Obviously things go wrong.

Actors did good. Detailed scenes featuring the ritual creates good intrigue. But that's all there is in the movie. A lot of build up, but it doesn't go anywhere. No real scares, pretty disappointing on the horror front. (The ritual reminded me a little bit of Fullmetal Alchemist.)

The movie also starts in the present and goes back and forth, with the main character telling us the story, but that didn't really serve any real purpose, I'm fairly certain the movie would've played out better if it was linear. The movie is primarily in the past, a flashback, and cutting back for very brief moments to the present didn't add anything to the plot.

Overall, some good moments in the beginning, but ends in disappointment. 4/10.

A Dark Song is one of the most surprising movies I've ever seen. Its intense atmospheric buildup, flawed characters, and absolutely beautiful cinematography draw you in, but the film's attention to detail and reverence for its subject matter are what truly stand out.

From Black is such an obvious ripoff of A Dark Song that it's embarrassing. From bits of score that seem ripped directly from the latter film, to poorly recreated scenes, to a nearly identical story it's more than clear what inspiration the filmmakers were drawing from. If this film had absolutely anything interesting to add to that concept, I would have been extremely interested to see where it went. But it doesn't. In fact, it's almost impressive how this film butchers every single aspect of its inspiration.

The beautiful scenic vistas of Ireland are replaced with drab, ugly views of Mississipi. The old house with so much character and detail is instead a boring modern build with white walls and bland dark wood. The lighting is universally bad, with overlit exteriors and incompetently simple keylights for anything on a set. All of that is bad, but the acting is truly what ruins this film. The delicate performances of A Dark Song really draw you to the characters, who start so harsh and guarded but slowly reveal more and more of what they're truly seeking.

At their core, both films are about broken mothers desperately desiring to see their children one last time. Except From Black is afraid to even commit to that. Cora expressed trepidation at every single step of the way, too afraid and completely unresolved to actually see the ritual through. Where we see the painstaking detail of the incantation in A Dark Song - a process almost impossible to master with months of work and heavy risks - the ritual in From Black seems all too easy, with our characters connecting almost instantly with the other side.

There is truly nothing about this film that succeeds at what it sets out to do. The atmosphere is cheap, the acting is awful, and the only major change from A Dark Song (which I won't spoil here) is a truly horrible deviation from the story that steals away any tiny bit of meaning or growth our character could have. Do yourself a favor and don't waste 90 minutes of your life. Just watch A Dark Song.

I really like horror movies and liked the premise of this movie very much, but it could have been way better.

The directing and sets are good, the story is good, the soundtrack is good, the special effects are good, but....

I don't know if it's the writing or Anna Camp's acting, but at no point did I find her character believable. John Ales was really the stand-out actor is this movie, and even Jennifer Lafleur who played Anna's sister put on a good performance. Every time Anna had any dialog though, it just slapped me in the face and popped me out of the atmosphere.

Anna has a number of acting credits, so maybe it's the writing, but it just seemed like she was monotone and her emotions didn't seem reasonable, nor matched the dialog correctly.

It's funny, I only watched this movie with actors I never heard of because it was rated a whopping 9.0, but by the time I finished the movie it had already fallen to 4.5 which is a bit harsh. I would say this is what I expect from the low 6's.

The movie is worth watching because the premise of the movie is kind of cool, but don't expect too much. Honestly, this could have easily been more on the level of the movie Seven if they had some more seasoned actors, or possibly writers.

This is one boring movie. First the good part -- the production values are solid. It looks like a TV movie, and I guess it sort of is since it's on Shudder.

But that's where it all ends. The acting is attrocious. And the directing plods along, putting you to sleep.

There's plenty of omnious music to let you know when you're supposed to feel tension or are about to be frightened but it never happens because the movie sucks.

My god, the acting is downright laffable at times.

The whole thing drones on and on with really nothing of interest happening. It's just slow as mollasses. What a borefest!

An extremely disappointing effort that has no new ideas and takes no chances. As I say in the title, it does what Bird Box did with A Quiet Place....it takes an engaging and interesting story and strips away all that made the original film (A Dark Song...which its obviously trying to rip-off) memorable. Just a really lazy effort here. Its not juat that the movie is slow (it is), but that the movie never bothers to build tension or give you are reason to care about anyone or anything in it. As others have pointed out, the main character is so stupid and selfish, you find yourself openly rooting for her to fail and be punished. One can tell that any positive reviewers are casuals and probably haven't seen many horror movies.

Think this movie deserves higher than its current low rating. The plot, cinematography and effects were all top notch.

While in a drug addicted haze Cora's 5 year old son ends up disappearing and is never found again. Fast forward 7 years and Cora leads a life of sobriety incase her son ever did come home, she wants to be sober. Through a grief support group she meets a man who used dark magic to get his deceased daughter back and offers Cora the same chance for her boy.

By the end it's hard to believe Cora would just snub her nose and refuse to complete the final "payment" and ritual in getting her son back. Especially after going through so much preparation. This was about the time where I felt it got a bit tedious. Cora's character needed to remain steadfast in her dedication.

The plot of this movie reminds me of A Dark Song. Between the two A Dark Song is the clear winner. But this one is still worth watching, at least once. It will keep you entertained.

From Black (2023) is a movie that was released on Shudder last week. The storyline follows a woman who became a drug addict after her son mysteriously disappeared. As she is released from the clinic and begins adjusting to society she is approached by an individual who offers to tell her what happened to her son that day, but at what cost?

This movie is directed by Thomas Marchese (Fallen) and stars Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect), John Ales (Euphoria), Jennifer Lafleur (Nope) and Travis Hammer (Godless)

This is another one of those movies where nothing happens for over an hour into the movie. The storyline, acting and dialogue were all mediocre to bad. There's some scenes that were not needed at all (the baby daddy scene). I will say the first action scene was really good. The mask, makeup and costume of the villain was solid. As the movie progresses and the main character evolves, this ends up concluding better than it starts.

Overall, this is a very average addition to the horror genre with nothing new. I would score this a 3.5/10 and only recommend it to diehard horror enthusiasts.

I'm not sure why anyone thought this deserved 10 stars, but I'm assuming those people are related to people involved or were involved themselves, because this is one of the dullest things I've ever watched.

There were ridiculous plot holes all the way through, I could not have cared less for the main character and the other to character was wooden and completely useless uninspiring.

I did not care what happened to any of the characters and that was the theme of the whole movie. Nothing happens. If I had to choose something good to say, it would be the antagonist was pretty impressive.

I just really wish I hadn't wasted so much of my life watching this.

Side note: people with main characters life story don't have perfect teeth.

Total rip off of A Dark Song with a little bit of "black Phillip" thrown in for good measure. I can't imagine copying another person's work,making a movie out of it and expecting praise for it. Sure, there are some differences but not enough to let me forget where the idea for this story came from. Even the creepy music was copied and it just wasn't that creepy here. Acting was just so-so and the make up was deplorable....junkies should look like junkies and a person should be sweating after battling a demon...not perfectly coiffed. I never once was scared or had even a jolt. Writer should be ashamed.

I was intrigued into watching this one by seeing the trailer for movie first. I am a seasoned horror fan. I have been watching horror films made from the 1920's till the present. I also watch foreign language horror films.

Occultism has taken a recent trend into mainstream and independent horror movies. I don't know what the agenda is, but films of this sort get me disturbed. Especially if the younger generation of moviegoers are watching these types of films.

This movie is about a drug-addicted mother who loses her young son while in a stupor. When she wakes up, her son is gone. Try as she might her son is never found.

Years later while in a group of similar people who are discussing their problems, a man approaches her and tells her that he knows a ritual that will bring her son back.

Desperate to get her son back at any cost the woman yields to all the man's terms. Watch the movie to see what happens next...

Verdict: the movie is not all that bad for a one-time viewing. The film held my attention through-out which is rare. The acting, photography, background-music and direction is professional. The special-effects though very meager are inspired from Clive Barker's Hellraiser. I loved the special effects however short they were in the film. This is the only plus point of the movie.

Movies like these definitely spawn a sequel and I won't be surprised if this one does. Shall I recommend another film similar to this? It's called Pumpkinhead(1988) directed by the legendary special-effects wizard Stan Winston(Predator, The Terminator, Aliens) and stars the legendary actor Lance Henriksen(Hard Target, The Nature Of The Beast, Johnny Handsome, Millennium TV Series).

Let me just say right up front, that this movie won't be for everyone. It is a slow burner, and reminded me in places of the movie A Dark Song, and both have a similar storylines. However, if you're looking for lots of gore and jump scares, you'll be disappointed. There is some of the aforementioned, but used sparingly.

With out giving too much away, the basic plot is about a women who is a drug addict, and one day her young son wanders out of the house while his parents are passed out, and is never seen again. Flash forward 6 years, and the mother gets her life back together and is attending a support group.

One of the other attendees say he knows how to get her son back.

It's hard to say much more without giving too much of the plot away The story does begin near the end, and progresses through large chunks of flashbacks, and although I'm not usually a great fan of flashbacks, it works in this instance. The acting was good throughout and all in all I really enjoyed this.

This is an interesting film.

The setting it opens with is different.

A woman in recovery wrestling with the loss of her son.

The drug/recovery aspect is portrayed with a degree of focus and relative accuracy. Something you don't see in alot of movies.

As the movie starts to kick into gear it offers a pretty compelling and engaging journey into it's central theme.

Unfortunately, this movie has a very severe problem.

The acting. The main actress has a crucial flaw in her acting.

Whenever she should have a grimace or sadness in her face she is smiling.

And it looks like a smile.

She is competent in the rest of her acting though.

But this flaw in her acting is too severe to overlook.

I think it comes from a misguided film school tip of how to portray emotion.

I will explain it like this: Alot of times we will see competent actors whose mannerisms when crying is very close to laughing.

This is something that is taught in more dubious film schooling.

That's why they do it.

And, of course, the result is dubious.

I think why she smiles when she's supposed to be grimacing is something she was taught in film school.

It's strange because her acting is otherwise adequate. But such a severe flaw in acting cannot really be overlooked or forgiven.

I liked the movie quite a bit while I was watching it. To me, the main story thread was a little new and different. For me it was pretty engaging.

But in the end it's just an average movie. I can see why it's rate so low here, with her strangely flawed acting.

But for me, even with the flawed acting from the lead, I'll still give it a 6 because it does portray it's main theme/story thread in a good and relatively compelling way.

In this movie, everything is building to the final reveal. But this film does lack teeth. It's ultimately pretty tame.

This movie also has what I call a "modern horror feel".

What I mean by that is slick, simple and streamlined. A very simple concept and a very straightforward execution.

An example of a movie with a "modern horror feel" would be Smile.

Though I enjoyed that movie it still had that slick, simple, streamlined feel to it.

Films like The Harbinger(2022) for example, fall into this category for me.

Often films with this "modern horror feel" lack teeth. Or at least sharp teeth.

Now this movie has a sister cop interrogating and having close involvement with the main character, her sister.

This is severely unrealistic because a police officer would not be allowed to be involved in the investigation and interrogation of their own sister because of the very clear conflict of interest.

No police department is going to allow that.

In the end, this movie doesn't go too hard with the horror and that is an ultimate weakness of this film.

There is a quite interesting aspect of the final reveal but in the end it doesn't save the movie from the "decent-ish" category.

The final end is meant to shock and close with an umph but it fails and just comes across as a cop out(for me anyway)

How far would you be willing to go if you lost a child, and had a chance to bring them back?

This is what one, young, heroine-addicted mother is forced to confront in the new film From Black.

Because, after she loses her son- partially as a result of her own neglect- she's gets such a chance.

When she meets a mysterious man, who teaches her about an ancient mystical ritual, through which she can barter for the return of someone she has lost.

This man claims he learned about the ritual, after losing his own daughter.

And walks her through the steps, required to initiate an agreement, with a dark, occult force...who promises to bring her son back from the dead, once all the steps of the ritual have been carefully followed.

That is, unless, he's just a conman, who has set out to entrap her in a snare, designed to free himself from a deal he could not renege on.

Either way...it unleashes a demon, from which she cannot escape.

Inevitably landing her in jail.

Under the watchful eye of her sister, who works as a detective, that is trying to understand what, exactly, her sister has been going through...and why.

In a desperate attempt to help her.

The story is told to us told through a series of flashbacks, as our protaganess explains the situation to her detective sister.

Though, unsurprisingly, she doesn't believe her.

Until she is forced to confront her doubt, face on.

The flashbacks are broken up into the different stages of the ritual, as she went through them, on the path to achieve her goal.

Giving the whole story an air of mystery.

Of course, it cannot be ignored that this is a bigger budget, high concept, ripoff of the 2016 film A Dark Song.

I noticed a couple other reviewers commenting on the similarities between the two films.

So I went and watched it for myself.

And concur.

Arguably, they did make a few improvements...and completely changed the ending (having completely removed her redemption), in the process.

But, by doing so, they also dumbed it down, as a result of removing all the references to esotericism (Kabballah, Gnosticism); the psychedelic aspect; and character development of the guy running the ritual.

Some changes also took the forms of tweaks.

Like how they made the main character an opiate addict, instead of an alcoholic; and removed the sexually abusively, toxic, nature of the occult dude (who is actually the heroine addict in A Dark Song)- having transferred those qualities into the character of her former boyfriend.

But she's still trying to get her kid back.

The sister still plays a supporting, yet critical, role (albeit, not one central to the plot, like we have here).

And, like someone already mentioned...they even copy the jerky violin music straight from the original soundtrack.

But, while this film is wholly unoriginal...it's just different enough to not be a total write off.

Because, for one, they do improve upon the special effects.

Albeit, with CGI.

The monster has a very Del Toro vibe to it (think, Pan's Labyrinth).

Which, although, it is rendered with CGI (something I would normally hate)...it's actually not done too horribly...and doesn't come off as out of place in the film.

And, they also fashion a more clear introduction (removing the ambiguity from the opening of the original).

With Anna Camp doing a great job in the leading role.

Her torment feels genuine.

So the problem, here, is not that the film is not entertaining.

Because it is definitely entertaining enough to hold your attention.

It's just so hard to overcome how horribly they rip off the other film (which is a low budget feature, no less).

Unless you consider this a remake.

Because the plot is almost entirely the same.

Only, with the disturbing, psychological, torture, she is forced to endure, revamped.

You shouldn't be able to take someone else's original idea, dumb it down, and make a bigger budget, high concept version of it.

Without repercussions, at least.

Though, it's not inherently clear whether they purchased the rights to do so, or not.

Either way, it comes off as bad form (not to mention low class).

Although, by removing the redemptive aspect present in the original...they do make it a somewhat different film.

Transforming it into more of a true horror, as opposed to a psychological thriller.

You can tell they were trying to make it less drawn out, and remove the ambiguity, for more mainstream audiences.

But it's still far too close to the former film for comfort.

Especially if they DO straight up rip it off.

But watch them both, and judge for yourself.

See what you think.

4.5 out of 10.

Ughh...there is a lot wrong with this movie. From Black seemed to borrow very heavily from 2016's U. K. film A Dark Song . Without the interesting script, good acting, storytelling, suspense , or tension building , of the U. K. film. There are some bizarre, jarring soundtrack choices in some of the flashback scenes, with the main character Cora's, son. But the music is so disjointed and out of place, that it sounded silly and almost comical. Probably not what they were going for. The actor playing Cora was decent in some scenes, and terribly over acting in others. The otherworldly , demon character , is sporting this Hot Topic Gothic slash Raver apparel, which provided some laughs. If you have ninety minutes to kill, it's not the biggest steaming pile that I have ever seen, but it's not well done, or good, either.:-/

Trying to contact her dead son, a troubled woman signs on to join a mysterious stranger in staying at a remote house through an arduous series of tests for them to perform an occult ritual inside which soon tests their resolve and patience as they wind through the exacting ritual.

This one was a rather bland and overall uneventful effort. What tends to downplay this one is the rather dull pacing found here that just doesn't offer any kind of excitement for a large portion of its running time. This mainly consists of the two of them engaging in dull conversations over long periods that don't amount to anything as the lack of urgency or intensity as what they're talking about doesn't generate any heat in the matter, so it comes off as incredibly dull. It doesn't help matters much that these are portrayed as being so cryptic on his end towards her that it never really has a chance to build to anything since the entire purpose or meaning of their activities is kept away from the viewer until incredibly late in the film so what it means to have him go through the decorations in the different rooms or the language difficulties throughout here when she doesn't get what they're doing don't serve any point. Even the few digressions outside the house at the beginning are quite obvious as they're utterly unnecessary to see in the film and it gives a profound sense of filler in time during the story that didn't need to have happened since it just eats up time here that it desperately doesn't have. This is mostly held up by the interactions with the former partner who is a deadbeat drug abuser or the constant flashbacks to the interrogating police officer that eat up the running time and stretch this out. There's no reason for the film as it is to be as long as it is, which is due to all these rather bland and action-devoid activities taking up the running time that it feels as though nothing is happening in the film which aids to the bored feeling here. This is the main problem with the film as it doesn't feel as though anything is happening and the horror-based happenings are kept to a minimum for large sections of time being filled with extraneous, non-horrific versions of horror-based actions. While these here hold it back, it does have some enjoyable parts to it. However bland they may be to see play out, the fact that the majority of the first half sees the series of tasks that must be undertaken to accomplish their goal does serve the purpose of starting their ritual. They don't make much sense but it does serve the overall goal of providing the foundation for the steps they take to keep pushing forward in their antics as the gradually escalating series of scenes do provide this with a dark feel once this changes into the darker practices. To be as precise and detail-oriented as this is with its different performances and tactics that are carried out along the way does have a dark and spiritual tone about the proceedings and it does spend the majority of this time with the two of them engaging in rather detailed activities. The only other bit that works here is the rather strong finale which is way too obvious about its intentions but has a rather eerie and more traditional horror outing than anything else committed in the film thus far making it the film's best feature. It's not enough to save this one, though.

Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language and Violence.