The Black Demon (2023)

"More Megalodon Mayhem"

That's right, before Ben Wheatley's THE MEG 2 hits cinema screens in August, those desperate for their fix of a movie featuring an outrageously super colossal CGI shark need look no further than THE BLACK DEMON, getting a digital, DVD and Blu-ray release from Signature.

Paul Sturges (Josh Lucas) is a troubleshooter for Nixon Oil. Asked to assess one of their rigs he travels to a town in Baja with his family in tow, only to discover that the locals are unfriendly and nearly everyone on the oil rig has been killed by the most enormous shark ever to be conceived by a low budget digital compositor. By a series of contrivances Paul's wife and two children end up on the rig with him and pretty soon it's showdown time.

THE BLACK DEMON is directed by Adrian Grunberg who made the ultimately underwhelming RAMBO: LAST BLOOD. The same feeling of going through the motions is present here. The script offers some excellent opportunities for chills and thrills (not least when the teenaged daughter falls into a sea filled with body parts), but they're all fumbled, as are suspense sequences that, if you can suspend your disbelief as regards the CGI shark, could still have been a lot better. In the 1970s this kind of film could have been saved by the acting but again everything is strictly bland and one-note with nobody giving any real characterisation to what amount to little more than cardboard cut outs. Music could have saved this one as well but not in this case. If you're a completist for movies featuring a massive CGI shark you'll want to see this. Admittedly the locations are gorgeous and the disused oil rig they found to shoot on is effective, but a little more talent all round could have gone a long way with this one. Anyway, here's the trailer:

THE BLACK DEMON is out on digital on Monday 19th June and on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 17th July 2023