Jim first solo short dives into Nick Frost’s terrifying taxi thriller ‘Black Cab’ on this week’s Streamin’ Demons, awarding it 4/5 Cthulhus. Discover why this nail-biting British horror deserves your attention. Spoiler-free review.
(4 / 5)
Black Cab review Transcript:
00:01.17
Jim Phoenix
Everyone Jim Phoenix here and today’s stream and demons. This is definitely not take 18. By the way, we are doing a small stream and demons. One of the solo shows. We’ve been teasing this for a while because sometimes brandic is at a convention. Sometimes I am. But those movies keep coming in. And for our solo stream and demons, we’re focusing only on what’s current. but We’re not doing deep dives and older films. This is the new and what is absolutely current.
00:32.66
Jim Phoenix
And do I have a surprise for a very first one? I’ve been sitting on this screener for some time now. And if you read the title, it’s not a surprise. Just read the title of the podcast you’re viewing, really. But we’re going to do Nick Frost’s Black Cab, a shutter original, all this nut and next demon demons.
01:05.19
Jim Phoenix
and We’re not going to play the entire thing. You know, I miss the banter I do. You know, there’s no one else to do that with me. mr Yeah. I know. During that banter, I’ll get Rise of the Drow, the collector’s edition. You can actually kill someone with from AAW games. Love it. Coming soon as a review, by the way. Spoiler alert, five out of five.
01:32.62
Jim Phoenix
Oh, wait, we’re back. Hey, kids, a year one. That’s actually day 11. Wow. I’m ripping off Letterman in my very first show. Good for me. All right. So today it’s just me. Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t touch that dial. You do not touch that dial. I’ll use my sexy voice if I have to. But you were not going to touch that dial on our very first mini stream and demons. We’ve got black cab.
02:01.08
Jim Phoenix
with Nick Frost. It came out this year, it came out this month. What am I talking about? It came out a couple of days ago on Shutter. It’s a Shutter original and I’m gonna read off the IMDB. A couple who find their Jovio cab driver, diverse them into a remote haunted road, revealing disturbing motives and his true intentions. If you don’t understand that this is a Nick Frost movie, it’s horror and it’s really well done.
02:31.02
Jim Phoenix
This is written by Virginia Gilbert and IMDB gave it a little bit of a toss, which is weird. Usually ah myself and IMDB are kind of on the same spot on this. But here we go. I think I will give the IMDB the best review so far, apparently. It’s like I’m a taxicab driver, so I wanted to watch a movie, but I didn’t Google it first.
02:59.75
Jim Phoenix
if If you are a Tastic Cab driver and you’re like, oh, Black Cab, it must be about me. I don’t know. I can’t help you. I can’t help you. What I can help you right now is the setup and the premise for Black Cab is great. From the moment the picture actually starts to roll, the psychological drama starts.
03:25.99
Jim Phoenix
And it’s only an hour, 24 minutes. So it’s it’s actually a pretty tight movie. I will give you some spoiler free reviews because there’s something in act three that didn’t work for me. So I’m going to parse that out as a spoiler free review, because this is brand new. It’s on shutter. If you don’t have shutter and you’re a horror fan, why the hell don’t you have shutter? Honestly, if you have like five bucks, wherever much it is, don’t quote me at five bucks. No more. I have no idea how much shutter it costs anymore.
03:54.75
Jim Phoenix
And you got to spend it. Well, you’re going to spend it on like another Winnie a Pooh latte from Star Fox. No, you’re going to go to Shutter and you’re going to put the streamline and Joe Bob Briggs, whatever it’s going to be and get all this cool Shutter originals like Black Cab. This is worth it alone. Think about this. It’s like renting a movie, writing a movie once a month pays for your subscription at Shutter. Do it thus. Thank you, Shutter. Oh, wait, wait. They just texted me. OK, cool. The money’s in the bank.
04:24.24
Jim Phoenix
But for real, I don’t know what else I can say about this movie other than if you’re a Nick Frost fan, it’s all you need to know. And if you’re not, don’t read the IMDB. If if you’re not a Nick Frost fan, don’t read the IMDB. Go directly to Shutter and start watching it. It is a mix of practical and like spooky, spooky looks like Luba CGI. and But not enough to really throw you off. This story is not this big fantastical CGI ride. No pun intended. It’s scary because. You could probably feel parts of this being real. Meaning. The beginning where the abusive guy is the abusive guy, right? And of course, the controlling his his wife or soon to be a wife or a girlfriend.
05:19.28
Jim Phoenix
into getting one cab, they know ah the mail, I’m in the mail, stuff like that. That’s all gross. And I love how they did the dinner party because it feels real. It feels real and it sets up the characters really well. And you have a flashback prior to this.
05:38.18
Jim Phoenix
that will actually fit in when you watch the rest of the movie. So you have to piece a bit of it together. So maybe that’s why people didn’t really love too much of the editing because yeah, you do have to piece a bit of this together. It’s not hard. They kind of do it for you in the movie. I mean, if you can’t pay attention for more than. Kidding. Just paying making sure you’re paying attention. I’m paying attention. You’re paying attention. You know who else got to be paying attention?
06:07.49
Jim Phoenix
Wrong one. I should be paying attention. I want to say baby Yoda. Baby Yoda. I’ll just do it myself. So you you have this thing and you are getting into a cab after a bad night out. And it’s England or whatever city or small town or it’s an Uber driver or whatever it’s going to be. And the point is you’re trapped with a monster and you think the monster is your significant other. And they probably are a bit of a dick.
06:35.01
Jim Phoenix
But you realize that the cabbie, this is not spoiling the movie whatsoever. I mean, it’s actually in the damn log line. You know, is he mad or just plain evil? That’s actually the synopsis from Shutter. You see this and it’s really not quite stranger danger. Because we think cab drivers aren’t strangers to us. And yet we get in. We.
07:02.39
Jim Phoenix
don’t know their driving background. We don’t know who they are really. We know they’re providing a service and really the only thing that separates us from them is that small piece of plexiglass or if you’re in an Uber nothing whatsoever. So it preys on those fears of the familiar yet the unknown. And I think that does really well. And the acting, by the way, is phenomenal. There’s there’s no one, they’re like, oh, it’s a bad that’s a bad acting job. No, no one’s gonna say that if they attack the acting, they’re just wrong. I’m sorry. You’ve got, beyond Nick Frost alone, can carry this movie. And he doesn’t have to. That’s the cool thing about it. Nick Frost could carry this movie, but he doesn’t have to.
07:46.77
Jim Phoenix
You know, Chanel Carlson does a fantastic job as Ann. And you have people that you absolutely will hate in this movie. And Nick Frost ain’t one of them, really weird. it i Because he’s, you know, the antagonist for us.
08:03.06
Jim Phoenix
But this is where the story kind of gets convoluted. And this is where act three, I think. So I think, you know, act one is great. The setup’s awesome. They spring in the two. That’s amazing. I love it. I love the isolation. He’s taken people from the downtown city center all the way through like this isolated country. You know, we we know the fear of going out to the countryside because no one can hear you scream. Oh, that’s whatever. No one can hear you scream in the countryside either. Trust me.
08:31.44
Jim Phoenix
like
08:35.75
Jim Phoenix
We have the psychological happen. And we start seeing a little bit why Nick Frost’s character is doing what he does. And you’re almost sympathetic for a while. You start sympathizing with the bad guy. Because you realize if you were in his situation, would you do anything differently? Would you do anything differently? And it’s not like he’s just doing this on a whim.
09:06.18
Jim Phoenix
there’s actually something compelling him to do this a pretty decent reason. And if you take away the supernatural part of it all, bring it down. I’m not going to spoil the movie, but bring out the supernatural and bring it down to the very human elements, the very human elements. If this was you in a Nick Frost situation with things happening that you could rationally explain. So not supernatural. So a rational explanation.
09:37.59
Jim Phoenix
And that’s really hard to say without giving it away. And you had the decision to make someone else like pay for it, would you? How how far are you gonna protect your own world versus someone else’s? At what point do you just go eff it? At what point do you become that monster?
10:05.59
Jim Phoenix
And I think each of us has to answer that ourselves. And I think Black Cab poses the question beautifully. It really does. Because if you’re like me, you actually start thinking like, man, I don’t think I’ll do the anything differently. you know So you have the acting great, the writing, the premise is great. The premise and the premise is great, right?
10:29.38
Jim Phoenix
You have the setup is fine, the act one is smooth, act two goes well, act three, it derails. Notice, I didn’t say derails and cars the car crash and burns up in flame. I just said it derails, and I don’t know if this is editing, I don’t know if this is part of the writing at the end, I don’t have the script in front of me. Although that’ll be pretty damn interesting. I don’t know, but something happened where the audience has to fill in a significant gap.
10:59.57
Jim Phoenix
And it’s like, well, what the actual fuck? Oh, by the way, I swear on this one anyway, motherfuckers. So I don’t. Think that works for the ending. Which is what some people are. are Also, this is one thing I will agree with and with IMDB. They give an eye for incomplete, like one guy is giving an eye for incomplete, the cabbie, the cab guy.
11:25.25
Jim Phoenix
And you’re like, well, you’re right. It’s and I don’t I think that’s too a little too harsh to say it’s incomplete, but it’s not an incomplete movie. I think just something happened in Act three. That we’re not exactly sure about. We’re not exactly fine with. It’s just.
11:47.08
Jim Phoenix
you know, like the the set designs, the ambience, the music, everything is great. It’s just, damn, act three just kind of like derails it, it does. But I could be wrong, and maybe this dude on IMDB who I’m not, Red Robin 62, oh my God, there’s a bunch of numbers, fuck it. Red Robin’s also could be wrong, who knows? We might be wrong.
12:13.30
Jim Phoenix
Maybe we’t not ah one way to find out, hour 24, it’s worth it. Cthulhu rating, you already know it, four out of five. Four out of five kafoolos, if the act three landed, it’ll be a 4.5 and easily a sequel-able movie, depending on who lives and who doesn’t. like though I think the premise is sequel-able, without giving it away, right? I think this could be ah along the lines of ah Woman in Black, Purge, stuff like that. It could you it could be sequel-able to the part where it’s franchisable.
12:51.10
Jim Phoenix
but act three really need to work. and I don’t know what I’m wrong. So four out of five, I’m not gonna drop down on 3.5 because it’s just the the acting and the rest of the story don’t deserve to get lower than four. And that’s it, oh my God, that’s it. A 13 minute streaming demons, holy crow.
13:10.49
Jim Phoenix
All right, next up, we’ve got more. we he He never left. We’ve got some stuff, another video coming out, another movie review. And if you like this format, let me know. We can do a few more of them. Basically, this is just the box and I taking me some time to breathe and movies keep coming in. So if you like this one, let us know. If you hate this one, go fuck yourself. All that and more in the next stream of demons. Wait, what? Hit it.
13:40.96
Jim Phoenix
Meow, meow, meow. And we really are going to start reviewing games, video reviews, which means Jim’s going to be very awkward in them. This game is brilliant, by the way. Rides of Drow. Five out of five.
14:03.00
Jim Phoenix
Meow, meow, meow, meow.
14:09.97
Jim Phoenix
Do we have to listen to the entire thing? I guess so.
14:20.11
Jim Phoenix
Do you hear, Kat? Yeah, motherfucker.
What makes a great horror mom? From Silent Hill’s Rose Da Silva to Pamela Voorhees, Empty Hell’s Jo Szewczyk and shark enthusiast JM Brannyk dive into cinema’s most memorable maternal figures. This special episode explores how motherhood shapes some of horror’s most compelling narratives – including a surprisingly deep analysis of maternal instincts in Jaws 3.
![Friday the 13th Collection [Blu-ray]](https://hauntedmtl.com/wp-content/plugins/aawp/public/image.php?url=YUhSMGNITTZMeTl0TG0xbFpHbGhMV0Z0WVhwdmJpNWpiMjB2YVcxaFoyVnpMMGt2T0RGdFUyZDNablJzU2t3dVgxTk1NVFV3TUY4dVgxTk1NVFl3WHk1cWNHYz18MTc0ODkzMDM0Mg=)
- Jason is back in a new deluxe set of the long–running slasher series! This set enshrines the most successful horror series in cinema history
- Jason slashes his way from Crystal Lake to outer space and back to fight Freddy! This Deluxe Collection includes all of the previously released extras plus all-new bonus materials, including new audio commentaries with cast and crew! Disc 1 – Friday the 13th (1980): * New 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative * U
- S
Last update on 2025-05-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Silent Hill – The ultimate mother’s sacrifice
- Aliens – Ripley vs The Queen: A tale of two mothers
- Child’s Play – Single motherhood meets supernatural threat
- Jaws 3 – Maternal instincts under the sea
- Plus some controversial real-life examples that might surprise you
Want more Empty Hell content? Find us on Instagram and Blue Sky, or follow Jo’s author updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/czykmate
Coming Soon: Bruce Campbell special with Brannyk, and a deep dive into Barry with Amelie
What if ours weren’t the only reality? What if the past paths converged, if those moments that led to our current circumstances got tangled together with their alternates and we found ourselves caught up in the threads?
Marla returned home after the funeral and wake. She drew the key in the lock and opened the door slowly, the looming dread of coming back to an empty house finally sinking in. Everyone else had gone home with their loved ones. They had all said, “goodbye,” and moved along.
Her daughter Misty and son-in-law Joel had caught a flight to Springfield so he could be at work the next day for the big meeting. Her brother Darcy was on his way back to Montreal. Emmett and Ruth were at home next door, probably washing dishes from the big meal they had helped to provide afterward, seeing as their kitchen light was on. Marla remembered there being food but couldn’t recall what exactly as she hadn’t felt like eating. Sandwiches probably… she’d have to thank them later.
Marla had felt supported up until she turned the key in the lock after the services, but then the realization sank deep in her throat like acid reflux, hanging heavy on her heart – everyone else had other lives to return to except for her. She sighed and stepped through the threshold onto the outdated beige linoleum tile and the braided rag rug that stretched across it. She closed the door behind herself and sighed again. She wiped her shoes reflexively on the mat before just kicking them off to land in a haphazard heap in the entryway.
The still silence of the house enveloped her, its oppressive emptiness palpable – she could feel it on her skin, taste it on her tongue. It was bitter. She sighed and walked purposefully to the living room, the large rust-orange sofa waiting to greet her. She flopped into its empty embrace, dropping her purse at her side as she did so.
A familiar, husky voice greeted her from deeper within the large, empty house. “Where have you been?”
Marla looked up and glanced around. Her husband Frank was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, drying a bowl. Marla gasped, her hand shooting to her mouth. Her clutched appendage took on a life of its own, slowly relinquishing itself of her gaping jaw and extending a first finger to point at the specter.
“Frank?” she spoke hesitantly.
“Yeah,” the man replied, holding the now-dry bowl nestled in the faded blue-and-white-checkered kitchen towel in both hands. “Who else would you expect?”
“But you’re dead,” Marla spat, the words falling limply from her mouth of their own accord.
The 66-year old man looked around confusedly and turned to face Marla, his silver hair sparkling in the light from the kitchen, illuminated from behind like a halo. “What are you talking about? I’m just here washing up after lunch. You were gone so I made myself some soup. Where have you been?”
“No, I just got home from your funeral,” Marla spoke quietly. “You are dead. After the boating accident… You drowned. I went along to the hospital – they pronounced you dead on arrival.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Frank said. “What boating accident?”
“The sailboat… You were going to take me out,” Marla coughed, her brown eyes glossed over with tears.
“We don’t own a sailboat,” Frank said bluntly. “Sure, I’d thought about it – it seems like a cool retirement hobby – but it’s just too expensive. We’ve talked about this, we can’t afford it.”
Marla glanced out the bay window towards the driveway where the small sailboat sat on its trailer, its orange hull reminiscent of the Florida citrus industry, and also of the life jacket Frank should have been wearing when he’d been pulled under. Marla cringed and turned back toward the kitchen. She sighed and spoke again, “But the boat’s out front. The guys at the marina helped to bring it back… after you… drowned.”
Frank had retreated to the kitchen to put away the bowl. Marla followed. She stood in the doorway and studied the man intently. He was unmistakably her husband, there was no denying it even despite her having just witnessed his waxen lifeless body in the coffin at the wake before the burial, though this Frank was a slight bit more overweight than she remembered.
“Well, that’s not possible. Because I’m still here,” Frank grumbled. He turned to face her, his blue eyes edged with worry. “There now, it was probably just a dream. You knew I wanted a boat and your anxiety just formulated the worst-case scenario…”
“See for yourself,” Marla said, her voice lilting with every syllable.
Frank strode into the living room and stared out the bay window. The driveway was vacant save for some bits of Spanish moss strewn over the concrete from the neighboring live oak tree. He turned towards his wife.
“But there’s no boat,” he sighed. “You must have had a bad dream. Did you fall asleep in the car in the garage again?” Concern was written all over his face, deepening every crease and wrinkle. “Is that where you were? The garage?”
Marla glanced again at the boat, plain as day, and turned to face Frank. Her voice grew stubborn. “It’s right here. How can you miss it?” she said, pointing at the orange behemoth.
“Honey, there’s nothing there,” Frank exclaimed, exasperation creeping into his voice.
Marla huffed and strode to the entryway, gathering her shoes from where they waited in their haphazard heap alongside the braided rag run on the worn linoleum floor. She marched out the door as Frank took vigil in its open frame, still staring at her. She stomped out to the boat and slapped her hand on the fiberglass surface with a resounding smack. The boat was warm to the touch, having baked in the Florida sun. She turned back towards the front door.
“See!” she bellowed.
The door stood open, empty. No one was there, watching. Marla sighed again and walked back inside. The vacant house once again enveloped her in its oppressive emptiness. Frank was nowhere to be found.
So I guess it’s goodbye for now. Feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
Today on Nightmarish Nature we’re gonna revisit The Blob and jiggle our way to terror. Why? ‘Cause we’re just jellies – looking at those gelatinous denizens of the deep, as well as some snot-like land-bound monstrosities, and wishing we could ooze on down for some snoozy booze schmoozing action. Or something.
Honestly, I don’t know what exactly it is that jellyfish and slime molds do but whatever it is they do it well, which is why they’re still around despite being among the more ancient organism templates still in common use.
Jellyfish are on the rise.
Yeah, yeah, some species like moon jellies will hang out in huge blooms near the surface feeding, but that’s not what I meant. Jellyfish populations are up. They’re honing in on the open over-fished ocean and making themselves at home. Again.
And, although this makes the sea turtles happy since jellies are a favorite food staple of theirs, not much else is excited about the development. Except for those fish that like to hide out inside of their bells, assuming they don’t accidentally get eaten hanging out in there. But that’s a risk you gotta take when you’re trying to escape predation by surrounding yourself in a bubble of danger that itself wants to eat you. Be eaten or be eaten. Oh, wait…
So what makes jellies so scary?
Jellyfish pack some mighty venom. Despite obvious differences in mobility, they are related to anemones and corals. But not the Man o’ War which looks similar but is actually a community of microorganisms that function together as a whole, not one creature. Not that it matters when you’re on the wrong end of a nematocyst, really. Because regardless what it’s attached to, that stings.
Box jellies are among the most venomous creatures in the world and can move of their own accord rather than just drifting about like many smaller jellyfish do. And even if they aren’t deadly, the venom from many jellyfish species will cause blisters and lesions that can take a long time to heal. So even if they do resemble free-floating plastic grocery bags, you’d do best to steer clear. Because those are some dangerous curves.
But what does this have to do with slime molds?
Absolutely nothing. I honestly don’t know enough about jellyfish or slime molds to devote the whole of a Nightmarish Nature segment to either, so they had to share. Essentially, this bit is what happened when I decided to toast a bagel before coming up with something to write about and spent a tad too much time in contemplation of my breakfast. I guess we’re lucky I didn’t have any cream cheese or clotted cream…
Oh, and also thinking about gelatinous cubes and oozes in the role-playing game sense – because those sort of seem like a weird hybrid between jellies and slime molds, as does The Blob. Any of those amoeba influenced creatures are horrific by their very nature – they don’t even need to be souped up, just ask anyone who’s had dysentery.
And one of the most interesting thing about slime molds is that they can take the shortest path to food even when confronted with very complex barriers. They are maze masterminds and would give the Minotaur more than a run for his money, especially if he had or was food. They have even proven capable of determining the most efficient paths for water lines or railways in metropolitan regions, which is kind of crazy when you really think about it. Check it out in Scientific American here. So, if we assume that this is essentially the model upon which The Blob was built, then it’s kind of a miracle anything got away. And slime molds are coming under closer scrutiny and study as alternative means of creating computer components are being explored.
Jellies are the Wave of the Future.
We are learning that there may be a myriad of uses for jellyfish from foodstuffs to cosmetic products as we rethink how we interact with them. They are even proving useful in cleaning up plastic pollution. I don’t know how I feel about the foodstuff angle for all that they’ve been a part of various recipes for a long time. From what I’ve seen of the jellyfish cookbook recipes, they just don’t look that appealing. But then again I hate boba with a passion, so I’m probably not the best candidate to consider the possibility.
So it seems that jellies are kind of the wave of the future as we find that they can help solve our problems. That’s pretty impressive for some brainless millions of years old critter condiments. Past – present – perpetuity! Who knows what else we’d have found if evolution hadn’t cleaned out the fridge every so often?
Feel free to check out more Nightmarish Nature here.