From Black (2023) by Thomas Marchese

Director: Thomas Marchese

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

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.

Review:

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 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 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.

Overview: */5

Barely worthwhile in the long run, this one manages to have just way too many issues in a stretched out, unnecessary setup that never provides enough counterbalance to the positives to be enjoyable. Give it a shot if you're intrigued by the concept or not turned off by the flaws while most others out there shouldn't really bother with this one.