Black as Night (2021)

Boring. Boring. 15 minutes. 1 meh, off-screen death from the first minute. Uncomfortable characters: for their accents, fashion, how they talk (word choice and attitude), and how borrrrrrring they are.

Wow. Waste of time and money. Free, but wanted a refund.

The new black-vampire movie on Netflix is way more fun and fast-paced.

Fmovies: Keith David is a fine character actor, he has been in some of my favorite movies, like the masterpiece CRASH. How in HELL did he end up in such a train wreck of a movie!!? It has a plethora on unknown "actors" in it. Maybe he lost a bet, or his mind!?

Ever since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the woefully inadequate efforts to rebuild many residential areas, New Orleans has served as glaring example of income inequality, racism and government stasis. This darkly comic film piles one more problem onto the shoulders of a blighted, mostly minority neighborhood - vampires who feed on junkies and the homeless. From the bloodsuckers' point of view, it's a way to fly (figuratively, if not literally) under the radar, since they're feeding on those least likely to be missed by the authorities. Locals understandably feel otherwise, once they're aware of the situation.

When a teenager (Asjha Cooper) happens to see a group feeding on one poor soul, she tries to intervene, getting bitten in the process. Fortunately a passing car causes the vamps to pull out - suckus interruptus - before she's been drained enough to be killed or turned. She researches the creatures, recruiting a few allies for a more serious version of a Scooby Doo or Nancy Drew counterattack. Casualties occur in a moderately gory battle for the community and our species.

The script by Sherman Payne efficiently packages a nice mix of humor, suspense, action and social messaging. A couple of performances and scenes border on the campy (Keith David, consider yourself warned), but the author's important points land without pontification or other forms of overkill. The trio of plucky protagonists discharge their acting duties as well as their slaying. Better, actually, since they're forced to learn the essential techniques on the fields of battle, with inevitable missteps along the way. Dangerous setting for a long learning curve.

Cooper's performance as actor and narrator is noteworthy, particularly for a relatively new face. As her initially-shy character grows in confidence and determination, she reminds me of another female vampire foe - a younger version of True Blood's Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley). The film comes from prolific low-budget horror source Blumhouse Productions, and rates as one of their better efforts among those I've seen. They know how to get the most value per dollar of investment.

Black as Night fmovies. This movie was okay for a one time watch. The music in it did suck and the Pedro character ruined the movie by far.

It was a pretty fast paced vampire flick though.

The actors are great. The plot is almost okay. But the execution is terrible.

Blumhouse stay making checklist films, and this one had no quality control.

The black and white remarks are all very positively resolved in the end.

They should have copied Buffy and moved forward, because this whole film was corny af.

Again, the final scenes are decent.

The last movie he did that sucked this bad was Thriller! Not surprising enough it was almost all blk actors. Seems like all of his all white acting movies were above par. I am sick of blum placing blk ppl in the hood when I bet Blum has never even stepped foot in one himself. News flash NOT all blk ppl live in the hood blum and you could do a movie about successful blk ppl but NO! This movie just made me more upset because the first movie, I thought, ok maybe the next one will be good. But now it is like all the fake acting and false emotions he saves for his all blk actors. I am still a blum fan but plz STOP DOING FILMS LIKE THIS! Because you are not the only one who will be shamed here. The girls acting was laughable, her reaction to her mom falling out the window was so stupid. I could go on but just know, this movie is not worth anyone's time!!! Which was sad because the lead was beautiful and her b/f was very handsome. I will say if you made a movie with JUST Pedro in it I would watch because he has flavor and draw. I loved every scene he was in.