The Black Room is a 2017 horror film starring Natasha Henstridge of Species fame. You are probably interested in the film for that reason, so I regret to inform you that she's one of the only women in the film who doesn't get naked at some point.
Still here? Okay...
The gist of the plot is: newlyweds Paul and Jennifer move into a house whose basement is haunted by an evil, horny demon. Technically it's a side room in the basement, although it's not actually Black, just very very dark. The previous tenant was keeping it contained with a dinner plate (yes really) until the demon gave her 18+ granddaughter a wet dream and she died enforcing Morals. Anyway, it's not long before the room starts eating people and possesses Paul, and Jennifer has to put a stop to it.
This isn't a bad premise for a horror movie, and to be fair if this were an early '90s movie the effects and gore would be pretty solid. The demon's not great when you see it, but it mostly stays off-camera and lets its mutilated victims provide the gross-out factor.
The sex scenes aren't bad either, and what makes this movie stand out to me is that the filmmakers weren't shy about cranking up the fan disservice: there are at least three scenes where the sex and the monsters overlap, and they're the standout scenes in the movie. (I didn't lie about Natasha Henstridge keeping her clothes on, but she does turn in some quality heated scenes. Aren't you glad you stuck around?)
But one big problem with the movie is that Paul and Jennifer (and really the rest of the cast) act like a parody of a Lifetime original movie couple, as seen on a television in the background of a soap opera. There's almost no chemistry between them, and the movie is best watched while intoxicated and/or in the mood to mock the hell out of their relationship disintegrating because Paul gets possessed in the first twenty minutes and Jennifer doesn't notice!
And that's the other big problem, the movie basically runs on having Jennifer be completely oblivious to everything going on around her. It is immediately clear that something is wrong with Paul, but Jennifer either ignores it completely or just gently remonstrates him for being an ass. A character literally has to grab her and explain the whole plot for her to understand there's a problem, with an info dumping flashback that would kill the film's momentum dead, if it had any.
Overall, the film's worth watching if you remember renting bad horror movies because they had a great cover on the VHS box, and you've in a mood to be amused and occasionally squicked. And it's on Netflix, so it probably won't cost you anything extra.
Sure ain't no Species, though.
If you enjoyed the review, be sure to check out my books! They're all free to read on Kindle Unlimited, and The Ritual: A Futa Coven Story features a botched summoning of a horny demon, so at least I'm on theme. :-)
-Lea
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