BLACK CAB: The Everything Bagel Of Road Horror

Road horror is a genre trope that we don’t see very much of these days mostly, I think, because it’s hard to get right. You either have your creepy driver or your creepy passenger (sometimes both) and one or the other of them has a secret that will change the course of their trip together forever. There’s a third type of road horror movie that I have yet to mention and that is the “haunted highway” trope, something that is even harder to get right than the first two featuring dangerous strangers. That is very much what we get here in the latest film that tries to take on the theme, Black Cab. They filmmakers said, “what if we just do all three?”

Black Cab was written by Virginia Gilbert and directed by Bruce Goodison. The film stars George Bukhari, Synnove Karlson, and Nick Frost (yes, the usually funny Shaun of The Dead Nick Frost, who’s not so funny here) as a group of people traveling together in the aforementioned black cab. Essentially Bukhari and Karlson are a couple on the mend after an incident of cheating (perpetrated by Bukhari of course) who find themselves in the back of Frost‘s black cab. No surprises here, one of the two members of the couple have a secret and the driver is dangerous. It’s all coming together.

Even The Kitchen Sink

The film opens with what turns out to be a fairly creepy scene involving a ghost that we will meet much later. They filmmakers do a pretty good job of trying to make us forget that and to believe the movie is something else entirely, when a group of friends are having drinks and one decides to tell a horrifying story about a man hiding in the backseat of another woman’s car. It’s a good story and really does setup the next thirty minutes of the film pretty well. The troubled couple of Patrick and Anne (Bukhari and Karlson) climb into the back of the black cab driven by Ian (Frost) and that’s when the real shenanigans begin.

I told you there are three types of road horror, one of them being either the passenger or the driver having a secret, and in this case all three occupants of the car have one. No one seems quite like they are being honest and the constant bickering of the couple clearly gets on Ian’s nerves to the point that he begins to tip his hand a little bit by showing us his temper. He does have a few pretty incredible one-liners where he takes a dig at Patrick and at this point in the movie it is very satisfying to see someone put him in his place. Eventually we learn that they are headed for the third trope in road horror, the haunted highway, and the ghost story portion of the tale begins to unfold. This really was a road horror movie were they threw the pasta at the wall and all of the noodles stuck.

Not At All Out Of Place

I won’t get into the rest of the film because I’m not in the business of ruining twists and I don’t see any reason to start now. What I will say is that Nick Frost, who we usually see in a more comedic setting, really shines here as Ian the cabbie, a completely unhinged and pretty diabolical antagonist. He has a way of delivering his evil lines then stepping back to almost a shy, bashful place that was pretty unsettling at times. Frost gave the character a sadness and played it almost like a father just scolding a couple of children who then felt bad about it. Of course the character of Ian had a lot going on and was fairly complex, Frost nailed it.

The rest of the small cast also did pretty fantastic work, we really hated Patrick so that was a testament to the energy that Bukhari put on screen, creating just a completely unlikable fellow. As for Karlson, her turn as Anne was subtle and full of longing, hinting at there being more to her secret without her having to say a word (until she does).

The film itself was atmospheric and dreary, really setting the tone with the visuals that were presented. Goodison did great work with the camera and the lighting held us in that mood for the duration of the movie. It was well done.

The Last Stop

Black Cab was a decent addition to the road horror sub-genre but ultimately it didn’t really break any new ground. I’m not sorry that I watched it but it probably isn’t something that I will be revisiting. I’ve talked a little about all the different flavors they added to the film and I think in the end that is what hurt the movie. There were too many cooks (read that as ideas) in the kitchen and they really worked hard to overpower one another. I strongly feel like going either the terrible cabbie route, and just having Frost‘s character be the source of all the drama and trouble, or simply the haunted highway route alone, would have made it a much stronger film. The filmmakers really tried to have an underlying message about love and loss, specifically the loss of a child, and the message was lost, probably somewhere along the haunted highway.

For what it’s worth, if you have a Shudder subscription (and if you love horror as much as I do, you really need one) it is worth a one time watch, if for no other reason than to see Nick Frost really let loose. Of course he has two more horror films coming this year so it seems like he may be starting down a new path. A path I’ve talked about before. Apparently all comedy roads lead to horror and for the most part it always ends up working out well. Black Cab won’t change your life but it is a fine way to spend ninety minutes on a boring weekend night if you haven’t been invited to the party. What do you have to lose?

Black Cab is currently streaming on Shudder.