News

Inside Blumhouse’s ‘Black Box’ with Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie

Published

4 years ago

October 5, 2020

Welcome to the Blumhouse is slated to launch this week. The eight-film anthology tackles a variety of topics centered around family, relationships, and the terrifying positive and negative wielded by each. The first two films–Black Box and The Lie–are set to drop on Amazon Prime on October 6, 2020 with two more features the following week. The back four feature-length episodes will drop in 2021.

In advance of its opening this week, Black Box stars Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie sat down with iHorror to talk about the film and the particularly dark vision it presents.

Athie plays Nolan, a single father suffering from amnesia after surviving the terrible car accident that killed his wife. His life is falling apart and he is at his wits’ end when he is convinced by a doctor (Rashad) to take part in an experimental treatment in an attempt to recover his memories.

The experiment works, but with terrifying results revealing far more questions than answers with a mind-blowing conclusion you must see for yourself.

When I began watching this film, I couldn’t help note that this was exactly the kind of role I would expect Rashad to play, but the genre was surprising, and I had to know what what drew her to Black Box.

“I liked the story,” the legendary actress explained. “I like the way it’s told. I like the humanity of the story. Also, I really like the challenge and the opportunity to research a field that I haven’t researched before. I mean, not since college studying general psych and abnormal psych, but this was on another level. This was researching from a practitioner’s point of view. Not just learning about it. So that was quite nice.”

One of the particularly interesting points of the film was the growth and development of the relationship between doctor and patient. Athie and Rashad’s chemistry onscreen is incredible, especially considering there was very little time to rehearse.

“We were thrown in like peas and carrots in a pot of soup,” Rashad said with a laugh. “We didn’t have much rehearsal because we didn’t have much time.”

“Yeah we were just really just thrown right into it,” Athie–who you might remember for the recent deep sea horror film Underwater–agreed, “but you know with an actor like Ms. Rashad it’s like you’ve been there all your life.”

It’s not only their relationship that evolves throughout the film, however. Athie’s character has an incredible arc especially as he begins to feel a darkness in the memories that are coming back to him in the healing process.

It’s an intense transformation to watch, and offered its own challenges to the actor as he was preparing for the role.

“It’s one of those things where it looks kind of awful,” the actor said. “I had a teacher that once said you can use acting as a kind of therapy sometimes and get some things out of you. This was an opportunity to do that. I was like, this is the one. It was wonderful.”

“He’s very modest,” Rashad said of Athie. “He’s really phenomenal. Al Freeman, Jr., I don’t know if you remember him or not; he was a masterful actor and a master teacher, and he would say to his students that acting is movement of thought. Move to the center of thought and put yourself in the way of the reality. He never studied with this master, yet that’s what Mamoudou does.”

Black Box premieres on October 6, 2020 on Amazon Prime. Check out the trailer below and don’t miss this excellent film!

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

News

Watch ‘The Burning’ At The Location Where It Was Filmed

Published

14 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Fangoria is reporting that fans of the 1981 slasher The Burning will be able to have a screening of the film at the location where it was filmed. The movie is set at Camp Blackfoot which is actually the Stonehaven Nature Preserve in Ransomville, New York.

This ticketed event will take place on August 3. Guests will be able to take a tour of the grounds as well as enjoy some campfire snacks along with the screening of The Burning.

The Burning

The film came out in the early ’80s when teen slashers were being churned out in magnum force. Thanks to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, filmmakers wanted to get in on the low-budget, high-profit movie market and a casket load of these types of films were produced, some better than others.

The Burning is one of the good ones, mostly because of the special effects from Tom Savini who had just come off of his groundbreaking work on Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He declined to do the sequel because of its illogical premise and instead signed on to do this movie. Also, a young Jason Alexander who would later go on to play George in Seinfeld is a featured player.

Because of its practical gore, The Burning had to be heavily edited before it received an R-rating. The MPAA was under the thumb of protest groups and political bigwigs to censor violent films at the time because slashers were just so graphic and detailed in their gore.

Tickets are $50, and if you want a special t-shirt, that will cost you another $25, You can get all the information by visiting the On Set Cinema webpage.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Movies

‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram

Published

18 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.

The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NEON (@neonrated)

Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.

Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Eli Roth and Crypt TV’s VR Series ‘The Faceless Lady’ Episode Five

Published

19 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and Crypt TV are knocking it out of the park with their new VR show, The Faceless Lady. For those unaware, this is the first fully scripted VR horror show on the market.

Even for masters of horror like Eli Roth and Crypt TV, this is a monumental undertaking. However, if I trust anyone to change the way that we experience horror, it would be these two legends.

Ripped from the pages of Irish folklore, The Faceless Lady tells the story of a tragic spirit cursed to wander the halls of her castle for all of eternity. However, when three young couples are invited to the castle for a series of games, their fates may soon change.

So far, the story has provided horror fans with a gripping game of life or death that doesn’t look as if it will slow down in episode five. Luckily, we have an exclusive clip that may be able to satiate your appetites until the new premiere.

Airing on 4/25 at 5pmPT/8pmET, episode five follows our final three contestants in this wicked game. As the stakes are raised ever higher, will Ella be able to fully awaken her connection with Lady Margaret?

The newest episode can be found on Meta Quest TV. If you haven’t already, follow this link to subscribe to the series. Make sure to check out the new clip below.

Eli Roth Present’s THE FACELESS LADY S1E5 Clip: THE DUEL – YouTube