The Black Demon

The Black Demon is a 2023 science fiction thriller film directed by Adrian Grünberg from a screenplay by Boise Esquerra and starring Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola and Julio Cesar Cedillo. In the film, a stranded family on a crumbling oil rig in Baja faces off against a vengeful megalodon shark.

Plot
Nixon Oil company inspector Paul Sturges is sent to a small Mexican town in Baja California, to check on El Diamante, an offshore oil rig. He brings his wife Ines and their two children, Audrey and Tommy, along for a vacation. Upon arrival, the family finds the town in ruins. The remaining locals are suspicious and unfriendly, and fear turns to anger when they learn that Paul works for the company that commissioned the oil rig. Paul, seeking to see if the rig is worth revitalizing or decommissioning, takes a boat to it. He arrives to find the rig, dilapidated, hazardous and surrounded by an oil spill, crewed only by two remaining rig workers, Chato and Junior, along with their pet chihuahua. After being harassed and stalked by the angry locals, Paul's family decides to follow in another boat. As the boat arrives, Chato and Junior begin to panic and fire flares as a 70 t megalodon shark, the "Black Demon" (El Demonio Negro), which is prowling the waters, begins to chase the boat.

Barely managing to get onto the rig unscathed, the family is forced to watch as the Black Demon destroys the boat that brought them to the rig, killing its captain. After witnessing the attack, Chato reveals to Paul that some lucky crew members escaped the Black Demon, adding that the radio on the rig does not function and calls made to Nixon Oil for help were ignored. Nixon Oil knew about the oil spill coming from the rig but never cared to fix the problem. Later, Ines discovers the safety reports for the rig and notices that the warnings have been ignored, and Paul signed the documents approving the rig's revitalization regardless of the dangerous conditions. When she confronts Paul about this, he admits his mistakes and adds that he did what he did to provide for his family, stating his job and economic security would be at risk if he did not act according to the company's interests. Nixon Oil developed self-inspections to get away with ignoring hazardous working conditions and threatened Paul when he attempted to confront them over this. Ever since, he has been forced to work in Nixon Oil's self-interest, while the local community suffered as a result of the company's negligence and greed.

While Chato and Junior dive underwater to restore power to the rig, Chato believes the Black Demon to be a herald of the god of rain, Tlaloc, who punishes those who take greedily from nature. Underwater, Paul notices a demolition bomb attached to a leg of the rig. Nixon Oil have actually been aspiring to kill him all along; realizing their practices would be reported sooner or later and that they would be blamed for the oil spill, the company had Paul sign the paperwork so that he would take the fall and die when the bomb detonated. Junior is killed by the shark and Chato narrowly escapes.

Realizing the danger and hoping to set things right, Paul dives underwater (as his family and Chato escape) to seal the oil spill and destroy the Black Demon. Though he seals the leak, the Black Demon forces him to hide in the structure of the rig. Strapping the bomb to his chest, Paul realizes that to kill the Black Demon, he will need to sacrifice himself. Over his radio, Paul says his last goodbyes to his family before letting the Black Demon consume him. The bomb detonates, killing the Black Demon and causing the rig to collapse. While leaving, Paul's family intends to give the documents he gave them to the townsfolk so they can hold Nixon Oil accountable. As they sail back to shore, a fishing boat rescues the group as a rainstorm begins.

Production
Principal photography took place in the Dominican Republic from December 2021 to February 2022.

Release
The film was released in theaters on April 28, 2023. It was released on digital on May 30, 2023, and DVD on July 11, 2023.

Reception
Leslie Felperin of The Guardian regarded the film as, "Daft but fun shark mayhem on [a] Mexican oil rig," writing that, “The Black Demon effectively sticks to [its] well-greased formula.[...][T]he cast commit to it all with evident sincerity, and the banter is nearly as entertaining as the periodic scary interludes." Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting wrote, "The Black Demon only loosely explores the cryptid and instead uses it as a tool to spin a cautionary tale of manmade ecological disaster. But it never builds upon its shallow ideas, resulting in a messy effort sunk by its lackluster human focus."