BLACK AS NIGHT

 

Welcome to the Blumhouse is back for a second time on Prime Video and alongside Bingo Hell comes Black as Night, a vampire film that offers a fun enough time but sadly lacks a fair bit of bite. 

A teenage girl with self-esteem issues finds confidence in the most unlikely way, by spending her summer battling vampires that prey on New Orleans' disenfranchised with the help of her best friend, the boy she's always pined for, and a peculiar rich girl.

Teens hunting vampires is something we have definitely seen before, Buffy the Vampire Slayer springing to mind as the best to probably ever do it. Black as Night takes the same approach in grouping together a crew of very different personalities to take the battle to some fanged foes however, the dynamic between them just isn't there to make this last long in the memory.

A lot of that comes down to the lack of depth to any of the characters with the narrative feeling underwritten too, the strange goings on in New Orleans offering an interesting angle for the film to work with yet never feeling like its explored enough. There's a bit of a flat feeling to the film too, Maritte Lee Go's direction not doing enough to make this exciting while the visuals hardly do anything to bring any life into proceedings.

The cast clearly had a blast making Black as Night, even if it's not the best film, none more so than Keith David in the villainous vampiric role. Asjha Cooper shows signs of having a promising future with a lead performance full of bravery and heart, with the crew she assembles to take on the enemy all offering up valiant support.

With two films down in the new Welcome to the Blumhouse collection, I hope the quality picks up with the two films due next week because both Black as Night and Bingo Hell are not going to make a mark in the horror genre any time soon.

Verdict: ★½