We all know Nick Frost. Maybe from his break out role in Spaced, it could be from his roles in the Cornetto Trilogy, or it could be from my personal favourite as DJ Dave in The Boat That Rocked. The thing is that nearly every part you remember Nick Frost playing, they are usually comedy roles. So it is quite something to see him stepping outside of his comfort zone, especially considering he got into acting because he was a friend and flatmate of the up and coming actor/writer, Simon Pegg. In that way that friends do, Nick and Simon used to make each other laugh. Thanks to this comedic symbiosis, Simon Pegg wrote the part of Mike Watt especially for Nick.
Director Edgar Wright was originally skeptical of casting Nick Frost in the role of Mike as, at the time, Frost was a waiter in a Mexican restaurant with no prior acting experience. In fact, the character of Mike was born out of Frost making Simon Pegg (his flatmate) laugh, and Wright later said that Frost was brilliant in the part. From then on Nick Frost landed many parts either in straight up comedy roles or as light relief in ostensibly non-comedic productions such as Doctor Who or Tomb Raider. So I think it is fair to say that Nick Frost’s acting chops have never really been tested as far as I was aware.
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What’s He Talking About?
So, what is Black Cab about? Anne (Synnøve Karlsen) and Patrick (Luke Norris) are, allegedly, in a relationship. Patrick is particularly obnoxious towards Anne; he is domineering, misogynistic, threatening, and a bully. They have a meal with friends Ryan (George Bukhari) and Jessica (Tessa Parr) during which Patrick manages to make a particularly horrid marriage announcement. Afterwards they get into the titular Black Cab and, after that, things start to go wrong. It turns out that the driver is Ian (Nick Frost) and he has plans that mean a speedy and safe ride home won’t be on the cards for Anne and Patrick.
But what does happen? Well, trying to keep to what you see in the trailer, Ian picks up Anne and Patrick for a reason. He manages to subdue them using cable ties and a taser. From here the journey takes a turn into the supernatural. There’s a ghostly woman (Tilly Woodward) who, thanks to an earlier incident, has taken to hanging round on a bit of remote road and tends to target passing cars. Ian has picked Anne before…from a maternity clinic and he wants her for a reason. Apparently, the ghost wants a baby and Ian appears to be setting himself up as some sort of foster care organiser.
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He Doesn’t Know, Does He?
Now the thing is that I saw the film before reading the press release or seeing the trailer. And my first impression was that I was going to be watching a totally different film than what Black Cab turned out to be. At first I thought Black Cab was going to be story of a couple being kidnapped by a psychopath who then spends an hour or so torturing them while they try and escape. There are hints as to the supernatural nature of the story but I thought that was a dream sequence put in to indicate some sort of psychological idiosyncrasy of Anne. Instead, Black Cab very soon establishes that it is, in fact, a ghost story.
Was this the right move or would my original idea have been more entertaining? Obviously, speaking as a genius, my idea would have been far superior but the ghost story still worked. The most important thing is that Black Cab was a reasonably low budget (<$2million) project which gives Nick Frost a chance to spread his wings. And this is no ego trip which, with Nick Frost being and executive producer, it could have been. Nick Frost earns his place as an actor here. He can switch from jovial and upbeat to threatening and sinister in the blink of an eye. Black Cab arrives on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital 7th April courtesy of Acorn Media International.
Independent Film Grade: B+
Former teacher, lecturer, homelessness administrator, pharmacy dispenser now happily retired, happily married, and a very happy granddad. I live next to the Mersey but on the side Daniel Craig and Taron Egerton come from rather than the side the Beatles came from!