It’s been a while since I’ve been late on a post. I really had my schedule down for a while there. All things considered, I did have a good excuse for my lateness, but apologies nonetheless. The usual post for this month (April) will be out on time.

In spite of the current events of my life, I was still riding the high from All Light Will End when I sat down to find a movie. I thought about trying to switch up my genre again this time, but I was ready for more horror, especially of the psychological variety.

This brought me to Mercy Black, which is one of the first times I’ve found a movie in its early stages of release (excluding huge phenomenon films like Bird Box). The premise of the movie relates to something a have a relatively solid amount of knowledge on, and I was interested to see where a movie with these ideas would go, so I was ready for the ride.

The crux of what made Mercy Black interesting to me is its obvious inspiration from the “Slenderman stabbing.” For those who don’t know, two young girls became obsessed with characters from the online horror “Creepypasta” genre, most notably Slenderman, and wanted to make a sacrifice to him to become his proxies, essentially mindless slaves for him. Slenderman is, of course, a fictional character created for a contest, and not a real paranormal entity.

Mercy Black draws on this event and turns it on his head. Where movies like The Bye Bye Man have been called Slenderman ripoffs, Mercy Black starts with the concept of the stabbing and changes from there.

Where the Slenderman stabbing is a result of a cultural meme and mental illness, Mercy Black’s place in society is exactly the inverse. The creature of Mercy Black was created by the children who committed the stabbing, which spawns from it a cultural meme and mass hysteria. We are led to believe that Mercy is not real, but several scenes are designed to give us pause as to whether or not she is. For certain characters to be aware of certain things, it seems almost impossible that Mercy is fiction. But, then we’re given more evidence as to her lack of existence.

This back and forth is exactly what I have wanted to see in a movie of this kind. The questions that arise when a monster like this becomes a part of someone’s psyche. If you truly believe something is real, does it become real?

Mercy Black is more than a Slenderman-inspired movie. It’s a movie about culture, and what sensationalism can do to a person. We see so many examples of how fear and obsession attack people, turning them into monsters.

While I believe Mercy Black takes its premise and transforms it into a cool, unique film, that isn’t to say the movie isn’t without its problems. Much of the acting leaves something to be desired, and the dialogue was just a bit too in my face for my liking. There was potential for a lot more subtlety– both in how characters speak, and how some characters die. Fair warning: there’s plenty of dead animals happening in this movie, the age old “how to turn your audience away” ploy of horror.

I also need to stress that the best part of this film is the third act. The first act is grueling, I can’t lie. But, the movie becomes better as it goes along, which is a mark in its favor. I felt satisfied with the ending, from its ambiguity to its shock factor, and that’s more than I say for most films I review in this series.

All in all, I think this movie will shine most with people who like the analysis of behavior and social phenomena. I can see this being a fun character study piece for people in the know about Creepypasta and Slenderman, as it was for me. The average horror fan will likely enjoy this, but I doubt it will be as memorable for them as aspects were for someone like me.

Overall Personal Rating: 6/10

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-Vincent

© 2019 Vincent C. Russo. All Rights Reserved. This post is intended for review and constitutes fair use. These films and any images used belong to their respective owners.