A dozen days in now, kiddies, on our journey through horror movies, and up today is the horror/comedy The Black Room, from director Rolfe Kanefsky (Nightmare Man). A happily married couple, Jennifer (Natasha Henstridge) and Paul (Lukas Hassel), move into their dream home, which they’ve gotten for a steal. Down in the basement, they discover a mysterious room. Naturally, said room is tied to the unfortunate demise of the previous owner, as well as the disappearance of several repairmen. And then Paul is taken over by a demon. Things get a bit tense as Jennifer needs to find out what she’s dealing with so her and her husband can escape with their lives.
The movie is intended to be a mix of demonic infestation and sexual comedy, though it never quite works fully as either. Henstridge (Species) does what she can with the material, and Hassel (who has appeared in episodes of TV series like The Blacklist and Limitless) tries to pull off the demonically possessed sex crazed husband with only partial success. There are a couple of chuckle worthy lines as well as some that are just laughably bad. The movie does boast some decent make-up effects, and the practical special effects are nicely done. A couple of CG effects don’t work nearly as well. Some may enjoy this, as it’s one of those “so bad it could be entertaining” type movies, while others will find it just bad. Now showing on Netflix. 4.5/10 stars
