It is that time of the month again where I team up with my friend Terry. It was Terry's turn to pick a movie for us to watch and he let me know that he wanted to watch The Black Room (2017). This time around, another friend of mine was invited to our little party. Dawn, who I became friends with through my other blog, decided that watching a movie with friends and having a chat about it after sounded like a lot of fun. Terry was fine with adding her to our little movie club so she will be joining us from here on out. I was actually glad that Terry picked this movie after I looked into it some, but I will get into that later.
Jennifer (Natasha Henstridge) and her husband Paul (Lukas Hassel) have bought a new house and managed to get it for a nice price. As an added bonus, it even comes fully furnished. It seems the previous owner vanished and her granddaughter wants nothing to do with the house, which includes selling it on the cheap side. Things go well until Jennifer's younger sister Karen (Augie Duke) shows up earlier than expected. Karen and Paul don't get along all that great. Down in the basement is a door that seems to be locked but they weren't given a key for. Soon after Karen arrives, Paul finds the door open and gets possessed by an incubus. It uses Paul to bring more people into the room because it has a plan to stay in our world. Will Jennifer figure all this out and be able to stop it in time?
The Black Room was written and directed by Rolfe Kanefsky. His name didn't ring a bell with me at first, but once I looked into it, I was a little mad at myself for not remembering his name. Kanefsky is fairly well known in soft porn, having written and directed a lot of Emmanuelle films. Every now and then he will also cross over into the horror/comedy genre. I have watched Dead Scared, I actually watched it under the title The Hazing, and Nightmare Man and I loved them both. Once I figured out I would be watching another movie by Kanefsky, I was pretty damn excited. To me, at least, Kanefsky managed to blend horror and comedy in the perfect way. This is coming from someone that can be pretty hard on horror/comedy movies. Did The Black Room manage this as well? Yes...and no.
It would seem that Kanefsky allows his soft porn side to shine through The Black Room a lot more than the other two films that I have watched. This is very evident right off the bat, so to speak. The film actually opens with Miss Black, played by Lin Shaye, waking up as she realizes the demon is trying to get out. What she doesn't realize, until it is too late, is that the demon is having its way with her granddaughter at that very moment. Many don't seem to care for this soft porn type of horror film, and I can't fault them for that. I have burned down a couple of horror films here for that very reason as well. If you decide to watch a movie about an incubus, perhaps you should expect at least some sexual situations. After all, that is what the demon is after. Knowing Kanefsky's other horror/comedy films, the whole soft porn thing wasn't why I was watching. I could have done without it, but it wasn't overly done to the point that I got tired of it. No, I was watching because I was hoping it would be just as good as the other two films of his that I loved. As I said, it is but it isn't. I didn't find The Black Room to be all that funny. There were still some moments that gave me a good laugh, but I just didn't find this movie as funny as his other films. I also didn't really get the big plan all that much. I mean, I understood what the end game was, but I guess I didn't get how the demon was setting this all up. The demon is using sexual feelings to feed its big plan, but how do you do that from a dead body?
The effects here are pretty good. Not as bloody as I was expecting from the various effects, but still good. The demon itself was pretty cool looking.We don't see it in its true form a lot, but I liked it when we do get to see it. The body count is fairly high with this movie and people die in various ways. My favorite kill had to do with someone losing their head thanks to the dryer door. You just don't ever see that kind of death these days. The acting was fun. I also just liked seeing some of the actors that pop up from time to time. It was a nice surprise to see Lin Shaye for example. She isn't in the film a lot, mostly at the start of the movie. She gave me a good laugh with one of her lines. Dominique Swain seems to be having a resurgence lately with horror films. This is the second somewhat recent horror film I have watched her in now. Tiffany Shepis is also in a few scenes but has the least amount of screen time. She seems to be a go-to person for Kanefsky. Natasha Henstridge gets the lead role in this film and I thought she did a very good job with it. I don't remember a lot about Species, but I still feel like her acting has improved over the years. I also liked Augie Duke a lot in her role. I know her character has a goth thing going on, but I did feel they went a little heavy with the makeup early on. Even so, I enjoyed her acting. My favorite had to be Lukas Hassel though. I thought he got the right mix of being the bad guy while remaining funny.
The Black Room was a bit hit and miss for me. Even so, I got what I was expecting out of a Rolfe Kanefsky horror film. There are some good funny moments and, of course, some nudity is thrown out now and then for good measure. I can't complain about those things. I didn't care for the more soft porn direction that the story seemed to take, but it didn't bother me as much as it has some other people. Since The Blood Room had plenty of other things going on, I guess the soft porn side of it didn't bother me as much as it has in other horror films. It does detract from the film some, but then again, it is about an incubus so I can forgive it more because of that. The opening scene, which reminded me a lot of The Entity, might not have been the best way to open the film, but I'm sure it grabbed some peoples attention right away. I was a little disappointed with The Black Room but I still found it to be a fun film. It is getting beat up pretty bad on rating sites so far and while I won't give it high marks, I'm feeling like people are being too hard on it. As I write this, I have not read Terry's or Dawn's reviews yes, nor have I asked them what they thought of it. You can click on the links to find out for yourselves if you want to. Anyway, I say give The Black Room a chance. Maybe you will like it more than most if you know what you are getting out of it.
3 out of 5 I think I might want an incubus around
Jennifer (Natasha Henstridge) and her husband Paul (Lukas Hassel) have bought a new house and managed to get it for a nice price. As an added bonus, it even comes fully furnished. It seems the previous owner vanished and her granddaughter wants nothing to do with the house, which includes selling it on the cheap side. Things go well until Jennifer's younger sister Karen (Augie Duke) shows up earlier than expected. Karen and Paul don't get along all that great. Down in the basement is a door that seems to be locked but they weren't given a key for. Soon after Karen arrives, Paul finds the door open and gets possessed by an incubus. It uses Paul to bring more people into the room because it has a plan to stay in our world. Will Jennifer figure all this out and be able to stop it in time?
The Black Room was written and directed by Rolfe Kanefsky. His name didn't ring a bell with me at first, but once I looked into it, I was a little mad at myself for not remembering his name. Kanefsky is fairly well known in soft porn, having written and directed a lot of Emmanuelle films. Every now and then he will also cross over into the horror/comedy genre. I have watched Dead Scared, I actually watched it under the title The Hazing, and Nightmare Man and I loved them both. Once I figured out I would be watching another movie by Kanefsky, I was pretty damn excited. To me, at least, Kanefsky managed to blend horror and comedy in the perfect way. This is coming from someone that can be pretty hard on horror/comedy movies. Did The Black Room manage this as well? Yes...and no.
It would seem that Kanefsky allows his soft porn side to shine through The Black Room a lot more than the other two films that I have watched. This is very evident right off the bat, so to speak. The film actually opens with Miss Black, played by Lin Shaye, waking up as she realizes the demon is trying to get out. What she doesn't realize, until it is too late, is that the demon is having its way with her granddaughter at that very moment. Many don't seem to care for this soft porn type of horror film, and I can't fault them for that. I have burned down a couple of horror films here for that very reason as well. If you decide to watch a movie about an incubus, perhaps you should expect at least some sexual situations. After all, that is what the demon is after. Knowing Kanefsky's other horror/comedy films, the whole soft porn thing wasn't why I was watching. I could have done without it, but it wasn't overly done to the point that I got tired of it. No, I was watching because I was hoping it would be just as good as the other two films of his that I loved. As I said, it is but it isn't. I didn't find The Black Room to be all that funny. There were still some moments that gave me a good laugh, but I just didn't find this movie as funny as his other films. I also didn't really get the big plan all that much. I mean, I understood what the end game was, but I guess I didn't get how the demon was setting this all up. The demon is using sexual feelings to feed its big plan, but how do you do that from a dead body?
The effects here are pretty good. Not as bloody as I was expecting from the various effects, but still good. The demon itself was pretty cool looking.We don't see it in its true form a lot, but I liked it when we do get to see it. The body count is fairly high with this movie and people die in various ways. My favorite kill had to do with someone losing their head thanks to the dryer door. You just don't ever see that kind of death these days. The acting was fun. I also just liked seeing some of the actors that pop up from time to time. It was a nice surprise to see Lin Shaye for example. She isn't in the film a lot, mostly at the start of the movie. She gave me a good laugh with one of her lines. Dominique Swain seems to be having a resurgence lately with horror films. This is the second somewhat recent horror film I have watched her in now. Tiffany Shepis is also in a few scenes but has the least amount of screen time. She seems to be a go-to person for Kanefsky. Natasha Henstridge gets the lead role in this film and I thought she did a very good job with it. I don't remember a lot about Species, but I still feel like her acting has improved over the years. I also liked Augie Duke a lot in her role. I know her character has a goth thing going on, but I did feel they went a little heavy with the makeup early on. Even so, I enjoyed her acting. My favorite had to be Lukas Hassel though. I thought he got the right mix of being the bad guy while remaining funny.
The Black Room was a bit hit and miss for me. Even so, I got what I was expecting out of a Rolfe Kanefsky horror film. There are some good funny moments and, of course, some nudity is thrown out now and then for good measure. I can't complain about those things. I didn't care for the more soft porn direction that the story seemed to take, but it didn't bother me as much as it has some other people. Since The Blood Room had plenty of other things going on, I guess the soft porn side of it didn't bother me as much as it has in other horror films. It does detract from the film some, but then again, it is about an incubus so I can forgive it more because of that. The opening scene, which reminded me a lot of The Entity, might not have been the best way to open the film, but I'm sure it grabbed some peoples attention right away. I was a little disappointed with The Black Room but I still found it to be a fun film. It is getting beat up pretty bad on rating sites so far and while I won't give it high marks, I'm feeling like people are being too hard on it. As I write this, I have not read Terry's or Dawn's reviews yes, nor have I asked them what they thought of it. You can click on the links to find out for yourselves if you want to. Anyway, I say give The Black Room a chance. Maybe you will like it more than most if you know what you are getting out of it.
3 out of 5 I think I might want an incubus around
