Black Cab (2024) Review by Phil Newton
Two couples are having a nice meal out, but things are strained between Anne (Synnøve Karlsen) and her partner Patrick (Luke Norris). He cheated on her in the past but announces to their friends (prematurely) that he’s moving back in and they’re getting married. Anne is pissed off and storms out, hailing a taxi outside, with Patrick hot on her heels. An old-fashioned London black cab stops to pick up Anne, and Patrick insists on jumping in with her… and so our journey begins!
Our cheeky chirpy cabbie is none other than Ian (Nick Frost) who seems very affable, but soon raises concerns when he realises that Anne is distressed. In fact he’s pretty rude to Patrick, telling Anne she should run a mile when he overhears that the pair are engaged, and then branding him a dickhead shortly after that. He also reveals that he’s had Anne in his cab once before, which causes further tension between the couple… It’s no spoiler to reveal that Ian has nefarious plans and has no intention of driving Anne and Patrick to their intended destination.
Instead he drives to Maybelle Hill which he describes as the most haunted road in England. He regales a ghostly tale of a woman who died in a car accident here and whose spirit haunts this area, often spotted at the side of the road looking for her child, or sometimes even appearing inside people’s cars. Oooooh spooky! There’s a lot of exposition from Ian about his unhappy marriage and he then continues to execute his devilish plan…
Directed by Bruce Goodison (LEAVE TO REMAIN, and numerous TV credits) BLACK CAB is a bit of a mishmash of ideas and sadly runs out of petrol long before its conclusion. It starts promisingly with the abduction of Anne and Patrick, and I feel might have been a stronger film had it focused solely on this storyline – single-location thrillers often work quite well. However the supernatural element muddies the waters and dilutes what could have been a mean, edgy nail-biter into a rather pedestrian ghost story.
It’s good to see Nick Frost playing against type here, and he’s a fine actor, but I wish the script allowed him to really lean in to being totally evil. Instead we still get the wise-cracking Nick Frost we know and love, but he’s just up to no good… he just doesn’t seem as menacing as he needs to be, and at times the whole thing feels a bit laughable. As just an abduction horror, or just an old-fashioned ghost story then Black Cab might have worked better, however combining the two elements just doesn’t quite work here and the result is a sadly underwhelming experience which struggles to hold the viewers’ attention.
BLACK CAB is the latest Shudder original title to get a home entertainment release courtesy of Acorn Media International on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. Sadly the special features are lacking this time around, consisting solely of a Behind-the-Scenes Picture Gallery. And Subtitles. With fewer titles receiving physical releases these days I think its always a shame to get a bare-bones release when an extras-packed disc would surely appeal more to fans of the film? Nevertheless, we should be thankful that Acorn is committed to making these Shudder films available to buy, and long may that continue.