Frightfest 2023: ‘Black Mold’ Review

Stars: Agnes Albright, Andrew Bailes, Jeremy Holm, Caito Aase | Written and Directed by John Pata

Back in 2021 Terror Films released a small horror film called Apartment 413, which explored mental illness through the genre of horror, using black mould in the air conditioning unit as a driver for the breakdown of the protagonist’s mental state.

Now Black Mold explores similar territory as photographer Brooke and her pal Tanner sneak into abandoned, off-limits buildings for the sake of their art and also the adrenaline rush. But when the daredevil pair break into their holy grail – Franklin Hill, a large facility with a history – they encounter a volatile threat that holds them captive. The longer their attacker keeps them there, the more it becomes clear there’s something else profoundly wrong with the place…

Whereas the aforementioned Apartment 413 used the toxic traits of mould as a driver to explore the horror of mental illness, Black Mold does very much the same – only here it’s an exploration of childhood trauma, unresolved PTSD over an event in our heroine’s past that brings the horror. But it’s not just a microbial menace that terrorises our protagonists but also a hulking brute of a man, played by Jeremy Holm, who has been holed up in the building terrified of “they” who would come for him – mistaking Brooke and Tanner for people who would harm him, with his paranoia made worse by the titular mould.

And that’s the thing about Black Mold, there’s nothing “real” about the terror we see on screen or that the protagonists go through, it’s all driven by the mould – but the sheer sense of terror that they experience translates to a real sense of overarching dread for the audience; a dread that gives Black Mold more tension than one expects, driving the fear further than the story itself.

For the story is pretty basic – urban explorers get trapped in a building by a paranoid “resident” and are slowly poisoned by mould. Basic. But what writer/director John Pata creates from that simple premise is an effective, small-scale fear flick that is held together by atmosphere and a brilliant central performance by Agnes Albright.

***½  3.5/5

Black Mold screened as part of this year’s Frightfest London.