Black Out (2008)
Plot: Three people are stuck in an elevator, in a nearly abandoned building. Though a series of flashbacks it is revealed that each person has a major reason for needing to be out of the elevator in a timely matter…but there doesn’t seem to be any hope of rescue…or escape. They each become more and more agitated with the situation and it is revealed that one of them is a actually a killer.
My Review: This isn’t so much of a horror movie as it is a psychological suspense thriller type of movie. I’m honestly quite surprised at it. Reading the plot I thought ‘How on earth are they going to have a film take place on an elevator for an hour and a half..with a killer?’ Well, its really only an hour and 17 minutes, and most of the film is told in flashbacks as to what happened to each character before they ended up on the elevator.
You don’t know who the killer is for about an hour or so into the film, but its sorta obvious. I honestly think this would have been a better movie if I had gone into it NOT knowing that one of them was a killer.
There was one thing I didn’t care for with the movie. The timeline. It took them four and a half hours to attempt to climb out the top of the elevator. That should have been done almost immediately and it wouldn’t have effected the storyline any differently. It just seems like checking that out first would have been common sense. I worried that if the writer overlooked that aspect, what else was done poorly.
That’s pretty much all there is to this film. Is that bad? No, actually it isn’t. I found myself enjoying it, I wasn’t bored to tears waiting for it to get over with. In fact, the entire movie seemed to go by fast.
The ending had a little CGI that didn’t seem to fit well. But it was hard to tell since I watched it on a computer screen streaming from Netflix. So perhaps its better on a big TV screen.
Gore: There isn’t too much. But its more of a psychological thriller anyhow.
Sexual Content: We do see a little brief female nudity during a rape/murder scene. It’s a little bizarre, but I have to be honest and say I haven’t seen anything like it before.
Acting: There are really only three main characters. In a few scenes the acting was a little over the top here and there. But its not horrible, it can be overlooked. Fans of horror movies (or soap operas) will recognize Amber Tamblyn (The Grudge 2, General Hospital, Joan of Arcadia) and Katie Stuart (General Hospital). I didn’t recognize the other two actors.
Overall: Its worth a watch. I saw that it had less then two full starts on Netflix, and almost didn’t watch based on that. So, going into it I was expecting it to be bad. As long as you aren’t expecting a slasher flick with murders and gore galore you should enjoy it.
[rating:3/5]
View The Trailer
