The road from comedy to horror is a short one for Black Cab lead Nick Frost, yet unlike past roles, this new one isn’t played for laughs. The Shaun of the Dead star is dead serious as his character, a crazed cabbie, takes two unsuspecting passengers on a nightmarish ride. The hellish route in Bruce […]
Hats off to Goodison and cinematographer Adam Etherington for creating a properly haunting road setting. Because of their attention to mood and lighting both in and out of the car, Black Cab fares well in the atmosphere department. It is almost enough to compensate for the uneven story. The nighttime scenery has all this sudden depth without succumbing to the standard appearances of some other modern horrors. The movie never goes over the top with its environments and aesthetic, however, the subtle bits of surrealism still pay off.
For a movie that takes place largely inside a car, Black Cab keeps your focus even when its own attention is divided. Frost has a lot to do with that captivation. In terms of story, there is an absence of genuine surprise or complexity, but the overall moodiness and taut atmosphere help to smooth everything over. Especially once this ride gets a bit too bumpy.
Black Cab premieres on Shudder on November 8.
Pictured: Nick Frost and Synnøve Karlsen in Bruce Goodison’s Black Cab. Courtesy of Vishal Sharma. A Shudder Release.
