Black Mold

Sitting here, unable to sleep, feeling miserable with a head cold, I stumbled across this made by Tubi movie. So let me say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I had more energy to write a proper review I could try to do it justice, but if nothing else I'll put my vote out there.

Starts off, first third feels like an art film. Camera work is good. Main actress good. Those YouTube videos of old buildings, abandoned places... take that creepy backdrop and then apply some original ideas for a story, and you start to get a feel for this well done movie.

Just a small cast but everyone held there own. The story keeps you pulled in tight, and there are things to keep considering... why, what, who, how. Good stuff.

Near the end...The initial credit scene, before the text centric credits, brought back that eerie vibe you got at the start. It is truly unrelated, but it somehow reminded me of The Walking Dead's opener. Maybe I was imagining it, but I really dug it regardless.

Clearly, they didn't have much money although the effects are pretty good. I just got a little annoyed with the characters just staying in the awful place with the mold and with the dangerous guy when they could easily walk somewhere else or at least breathe fresh air outside. Maybe if they couldn't exit the building so easily or if they established that people exposed to black mold don't have the common sense to get away from it then I could accept their actions more easily. I was hoping there would be transforming or some kind of unique monster but it's more just a drama with some tension. I was pretty engaged though.

This isn't a new concept for a film. People go into decrepit places and unusual events happen. Instead of the supernatural occurring, this film follows the idea of "What is real and what is imagined?" I liken it to Session 9 as we aren't certain what is happening even though we are seeing what the characters see.

The set up has a mildly amateurish quality foreshadowing the idea of fear. But both of the main actors do well with less than stellar script dialogue in the beginning. Once the movie moves into the second section, the plot begins to expand into what is the meat of the story, and now acting and mood improve.

I was drawn to this film waiting for the reveal and loved that ambiguity remained a central point but with enough clarity that I wasn't frustrated. I was questioning in the film, uncertain of what was imagined or what was real, and I never felt completely lost. Decent low budget yet quality film.

When I sat down to watch the 2023 movie "Black Mold" from writer and director John Pata here in 2024, it was actually the first I had ever heard about it. So I literally didn't know what I was in for, aside from it being a horror movie of sorts. I was intrigued by the movie's title. And with it being a horror movie of sorts, then of course I had to watch it, given my love of all things horror.

While "Black Mold" proved to be watchable, I have to say that I was disappointed with the script. It was a fairly empty script. And I have to say that I didn't understand why Brooke (played by Agnes Albright) and Tanner (played by Andrew Bailes) just simply didn't walk out from the building and just simply walk away. It made zero sense for them to remain in the building with the things that were happening. Plus, the storyline just wasn't all that impressive.

The acting performances in the movie were fair, in all honesty. The only familiar face on the cast list, for me, was actor Jeremy Holm.

Sure, I managed to sit through the entire 92 minutes that the movie ran for, but I was only mildly entertained. This is not a horror movie that will find its way back on my screen a second time, however, as there hardly was sufficient contents for the first viewing. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend horror afficianados to go out of their way to track down and watch.

The movie was lacking a drive to engage the audience and invest themselves in the narrative and the characters. And the massive plot holes just wasn't really working out in favor of the movie.

Ultimately, not a particularly outstanding or memorable movie, but a watchable movie. My rating of writer and director John Pata's "Black Mold" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Black Mold is a simple, yet effective, psychological horror.

It's not flashy.

Or laden with state of the art special effects.

But it's a solid little story; and has some pretty decent production quality!

In it, two up-and-coming photographers, head to a dilapidated location, with a storied history.

Only to find that it's inhabited by a homeless squatter...who warns them about what the darkness brings...if they find themselves stuck there, overnight.

Because- as you might have guessed from the film's title- the place is (apparently) filled with a type of black mold that causes their most deep seeded fears to become reality, in the form of hallucinations.

With that being said...it's a bit of a slow burner.

That is, for the most part, dramatically driven.

But it does manage to exude a, slight, air of tension.

And manages to keep you engaged enough, as you wait to see how it's all going to play out in the end.

As a result of it's relatively slow pace...you find yourself beginning to expect there to be an explosive twist at the end.

Though- while this, arguably, does play out- it ends on a weird note, that you can't help but feel is anti-climactic.

Even weirder, though, is the fact that- if it weren't for the title- you wouldn't have known the whole thing was driven by black mold at all.

You are completely left to deduce that based on the film's title alone.

Which isn't necessarily a fault.

But it doesn't really suggest mature writing skills, either.

That being said...it's entertaining enough.

But it could have been substantially better, if they just sussed out the narrative a little more thoroughly.

Particularly in regards to the ending.

But it is what it is.

3.5 out of 10.