Mercy Black (2019)
Written by: DMG
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Owen Egerton
Producer: Seth Caplan, John Lang, et. al.
Screenwriter: Owen Egerton
Date Released: March 31, 2019
Cast:
Daniella Pineda as Marina Hess
Jamy Lentz as young Marina
Austin Amelio as William Nylund
Elle LaMont as Alice Hess
Lee Eddy as Lily Bellows
Elke Boucher-Depew as young Lily
Miles Emmons as Bryce
Janeane Garofalo as Dr. Ward
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Mercy Black (2019) is about the story of two young girls who kill their friend as a sacrifice for a woman they made up called Mercy Black. As a result, one girl named Marina was confined to a mental hospital for years. Later as an adult, she is released from the institution and lives with her sister, Alice and Alice’s son, Bryce. But Marina again starts to experience the same horrific hallucinations she experienced years ago, only this time Bryce sees it too.
Gore Factor
There is minimal blood and gore in this film. In one scene, a young girls finger is cut off with wire cutters. However, no blood is shown and the scene is mainly shot off-screen. Mercy Black also makes use of some scenes involving jump scares but this too is minimal.
The Grave Review
The plot has a very close resemblance to a true crime story which supposedly made two young girls commit horrific acts on a classmate and stabbed her 19 times as a sacrifice to the underground phenomenon, Slender Man (For a complete story, click on the link). In this case, the antagonist is a myth called Mercy Black. But the film unfortunately did not create a plot that had much substance to it. For a good portion of the film, we follow Marina as she struggles to transition back to society. But by the time any twists in the story were revealed, we have already arrived at the close of the film. The film relied heavily on the true crime story as stated above, but did not execute these events well. As a result, the story did not feel fully developed, bare-boned and rushed.
The film’s cinematography was of high quality. However, Mercy Black incorporated several scenes involving drone-type shots. The use of drones has become so common that it almost takes away from the skill of directing all together. The shots are very pretty and scenic but I would have expected more from a big production company like Blumhouse.
As to the performance, Daniella Pineda who plays Marina, did a good job at her role. Pineda gave her character a nice transformation from an insecure woman to a more confident and stronger woman throughout the film. Her supporting cast also performed commendably. In addition, viewing Janeane Garofalo play the psychiatrist was also a pleasant touch to the film but her on-screen time was limited.
Unfortunately, the performances were not enough to offset the lack of substance within the story. As a result, Mercy Black was a mediocre film that loosely based their premise on a much sinister and true crime story.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Mercy Black (2019) two Graves out of five graves.
Do you agree with our review? Comment Below.
Join the Conversation