Black Cab (2024) Review: Nick Frost’s Sinister Turn isn’t Enough to Overcome This Tepid Horror-Thriller
The first thing about Black Cab that caught my attention is Nick Frost playing an antagonist. A creepy taxi driver, to be exact. Besides, fans and most viewers are accustomed to comedy performances seen in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End) and Paul. So, it was a refreshing change of pace for Frost to diversify his acting career and for a while there, Black Cab looks promising.
The story begins with protagonist Anne (Synnove Karlsen) along with Patrick (Luke Norris) showing up at a restaurant one night to enjoy dinner with their two friends. We learn that Anne and Patrick’s relationship hits a snag but then, everything seems back to normal as they have reconciled and even announce their engagement. And yet, Anne doesn’t look too happy about it and that night when she decides to go straight home, Patrick insists on sharing the ride after hailing a black cab.
The driver (Nick Frost) is all chatty and trying to be friendly throughout the journey. But Patrick finds him annoying and if that’s not enough, Ian, whom we later learn the driver’s name, apparently remembers picking up Anne from the hospital. This leads to an eventual argument as Patrick finds out Anne has been hiding something from him. But this is the least of the problem and not long after, Ian made a stop somewhere on a quiet street.
Things soon become sinister after Ian tases Patrick until he falls unconscious before zip-tying him and Anne. Ian then continues the journey along a long stretch of seemingly deserted road — a so-called “most haunted road in England” and he also talks about the ghost who stands beside the road and hitchhike a ride. The spectre itself shows up now and then either outside the backseat window or the roadside but the ghostly visuals fail to evoke a sense of creeping dread. Even the attempted jump scares are disappointingly perfunctory, lacking both elements of surprise and build-up tension.
Frost looks the part playing a cab driver with an ominous agenda and he doesn’t completely abandon his comedy roots except for the humour here is appropriately darker in tones. It’s just too bad no matter how hard he tries to make his role worthwhile, he is ultimately let down by Virginia Gilbert’s weak screenplay. As the protagonist, Synnove Karlsen’s Anne is sadly undermined with an ineffectual character who spends most of the time looking scared and screaming. Yes, her hands are zip-tied and she’s locked in the backseat of a black cab but it was frustrating to see her character’s near-zero survival instinct. It’s not like she doesn’t attempt to escape, which can be seen during the climactic third act but it was too little and too late. The overall problem is that it’s hard for me to root for her predicament as I barely feel her despair.
Director Bruce Goodison tries to blend road trip thriller and supernatural horror — two potentially intriguing combinations of genres but the executions fall flat. One of the biggest sins in Black Cab is ignoring the golden rules of the “show, don’t tell” narrative approach. We see the story lingers with Ian spewing heavy expositions of all the whats, whys and hows related to his motivations and the ghost that has something to do with everything.
By the time the movie slogs and sputters through the third act, the story becomes increasingly muddled as I try to make sense of the whole thing that’s been going on. It was a real pity because I was rooting for Nick Frost to make a breakthrough as a versatile actor who can excel more than just appearing in comedies. He certainly deserves better than this huge, missed opportunity.
Black Cab is currently streaming on Shudder.
