Black Site is an action horror film about an elite military unit that encounters a supernatural entity that forces them into battle against an army from another world.
A lot of movies like to pit mankind against incoming forces of epic scale and might, from massive monsters of outer space to demons from another universe to hidden creatures under the sea and more. Most of these are special-effects-driven spectacles featuring big brawny battles between seemingly unbeatable beasts and a band of scrappy heroes who save the world. Into this sorted mix is writer and director Tom Paton‘s independent film Black Site, that certainly has a welcome twist to the genre though is held back by its lack of that scale and might, even as it finds some genuine originality here and there that flip a few expectations.
In a nutshell, we here on Earth have our hands full, as usual, what with overpopulation, global warming, social injustice, and those pesky inter-dimensional-jumping Elder Gods. “What?” you say. No worries. Fortunately, we got a hold of that last problem way back in the 1920s, building and maintaining a secret military-like underground site called Artemis that houses and then ‘deports’ these gods back to where they belong. We’re down to the last few in fact, one a god named Erebus (Kris Johnsom), conveniently hosting himself in the body of a serial killer, sent to the facility to be on his way, but uh-oh, he’s brought along a host of minions who sweep the place, hunting to set him free. While they run amok, thankfully there is Ren (Samantha Schnitzler), already personally connected to Erebus, guarding Sam (Mike Beckingham) the deporter, the two discovering things might not be what they seem.
So far so good. This is an interesting story with some decent legs. Still … borrowing a bit of the Dharma Initiative from the television series LOST, the dank, dimly-lit catacombs of the Artemis bunker remain the primary, confining setting for just about the entire run time of the film. That leaves its brief run time fairly repetitive, one dreary low-light shot followed by another, populated by a small cast that mostly talk their way through the admittedly well-written dialogue. There are the occasionaly fistacuffs, though this is not really an action film per se, the story of why Erebus came and the relationship Ren has in the larger scheme of things the meatier part of the whole show.
Schnitzler does get to show off some physicality here and there but if you’re looking for a monster-sized beat ’em up, as the storyline seems to suggest, this isn’t it. There is very little momentum in large sections of the story where characters are literally sitting and talking, which certainly does give some umph to the small bouts of shadowy kickassery where it does pop up.
Given what he’s got to work with Paton does manage to keep his small sets and plotting authentic, wisely choosing to forego visual effects he knows he can’t afford and instead stick to a more practical approach, which lends the whole thing – along with its solid 80s-fused electronic score by Max Sweiry – a time capsule-esque feel of an old late DVD rental. It is not one of those so-bad-it’s-good movies, properly taking itself seriously while keeping a gentle tongue in cheek, working hard to be legit. It doesn’t always work of course, and while fans of the genre and low budget thrillers are sure to find some value, Black Site winds up not all that significant. It does what it intends however, and maybe that’s all that matters.