The Black String

After hooking up with a random woman, a guy in a dead end job finds his life falling into a weird and menacing decline ...

Vivid tale of psychosis that flashes back and forth between the occult and the mundane. The pace and energy are right up there, helped by sophisticated editing and well judged music, as the upbeat opening descends into frantic flight. The lead performance is good, with that anxious little face delivering some real aggression.

As a straight look inside a mental breakdown, this is very good, and the confrontations with concerned outsiders brings home the ashamed escape from uncomfortable truths that addicts suffer. There's also a clever dig at self-help books, where the original life affirming recommendations are reversed in a survival guide to witchcraft.

The story does take it further than distorted realism, into gothic horror, with a distinct vibe of Lynch about the mysterious characters who circle the hero in his desperate paranoia. But these figures remain on the surface of his delusion and don't really stand for anything in his own life, and so it remains an old-fashioned story with no feedback from the mysterious other side. There is some corroboration of an alternate reality, but in the end it's a clumsy balance. For a more skillful walk along that separating line in madness, check out Unsane by Steven Soderbergh from the same year.

Overall: Well produced terminal journey into madness.

Hail to producer, writer, director Brian Hanson for 'The Black String'! Wow, this was much creepier than anticipated. The film plays like a nightmare. It is weird at times, but effectively so. The make-up is very good as well s the visuals and practical effects.

Frankie Muniz is incredibly good as Jonathan. He completely sold the story - and his dilemma - to me, and I believed his agony and horror. This is a uniquely different horror film. Some scenes are grotesque, while others are simply nail biting suspense.

For some reason the reviews on here are trending negative. This is a paranoia-fuelled nerd ride to hell as the main character is in a dead end job bored to death with his best friend telling him he needs to get laid. One night he gets high and the TV tells him to phone a number to meet some mystery girl. He does. Chaos ensues. Evil abounds. Bad ending for my dude. It's a solid movie. It doesn't try to be huge. It is what it is. I rate it fully. Peace.

There are horror movies where you really have to suspend your disbelief - way more than with others that is. Especially I reckon for fans of Muniz, who know him from something completely different. Sometimes it is quite tough to imagine a certain person as something else.

Also I reckon because of that or generally will not buy into the character he's portraying. But if you can overcome all these obstacles, there is some "fun" to be had. There is enough tension and there is ambiguity and enough horror plus thrill to keep this going til the end ...

You know the deal with Amazon Prime Video, let's say that the quality of the films on offer aren't exactly going to set the world on fire. When I watch something on this platform I often find myself wondering "why the hell am I watching this crap?" But every now and then Amazon Prime throws up a decent movie and The Black String is one of those rare occasions.

The main protagonist is a lonely, sex-starved liquor store clerk. He has little in his life except his drawing and his job. One night, in desperation, he calls a "sexy singles in your area" hotline and, as luck would have it, hits the jackpot by going out on a date with an actual sexy single (and she IS sexy.) His luck continues when he actually gets to have sex with the sexy single, to him it's nigh on miraculous.

His luck runs out however when he wakes up to find her gone, leaving him with a very nasty rash. An STD? That quickly? Believe me when I say, he's going to wish it was an STD before the end of this film.....

The Black String is one of those ambiguous films where the protagonist is either the genuine victim of a conspiracy or simply as mad as a lorry. It doesn't make it easy on the viewer as every event could be interpreted either one way or the other. Even with the very downbeat ending it can be interpreted either way and, incidentally, the ending is very downbeat indeed.

It's actually not a bad film. It kept me entertained, the story was good, the acting decent and it held my attention throughout. There was very little gore, except for right at the end, but it wasn't gratuitous in any way. So, it's well worth a look.