Mercy Black (2019) Horror Children

Mercy Black (2019) - This film is next up on the Zombiegrrlz podcast : Stream Queens and can be seen on Netflix. So go watch it, then listen to the pod when it comes out. Those two amazing women doing the pod will give you a very entertaining, insightful hour and a half. And when you have done your homework you can argue with them even though they can't hear you. What better way to spend your time sitting in traffic on the way to work. You got that Rachel? "Stream Queens saving your morning drive!"
Three girls head out into the fields and streams on a beautiful sunny day but only two come home. The mystery of the opening scenes which seems to show two of the girls killing their friend is seen only in short snippets. Those snippets are enveloped by a scene of Dr Ward (Janeane Garofalo) talking to young Marina (Jamy Lentz) trying to find out what happened that day. That is just the setup and we very quickly move to 15 years later when now grown Marina has been convinced that she was imagining the entire thing and was close to becoming schizophrenic thanks to 15 years with good doctor Ward. Let talk for just a minute about every time we have a mental health professional in a horror movie. They are either evil, crusaders or incompetent. Many times they are two of these things at once. Like the evil orderlies and non caring doctor Silverman in Teminator 2 : Judgement Day. Or a crusader like Dr Loomis trying to get people to understand just how dangerous Michael Myers is in Halloween. Or just incompetent like here in this film where because the therapist can't believe in the supernatural, then the patient must be ill. All of these instance make mental health workers look bad. I have something against that having worked as a counselor for eight years in my glorious past I know the majority of people in the field are in it for benevolent reasons. Because of the history of psychology and its really ill formed start as more punishment than a helping profession, mental health professionals get short shrift when it comes to morals. Often just mean people throwing straight jackets on patients and medicating them against their wills it has not been portrayed in a positive light. Ever. My pet peeve and soapbox. In this film Ward is seen as a logical smart professional but since she has no ability to connect to the supernatural aspects of the girls story, she just creates a diagnosis that covers what happened to Marina (Daniella Pineda). She sends her home after 15 years.
  Picked up by her sister we learn the parents are dead and the house a bit run down. Sister Alice (Elle LaMont) lives there with her son Bryce and the setup is what? Marina kills another child maybe Bryce? The creepy starts right away but in a very safe way. What could go wrong? Back in the house you lived in when you were traumatized. A kid creeping around while you are sleeping and having nightmares. A true crime friend Will Nylund (Austin Amelio) who comes over and want to talk about the murder of their friends in the name of Mercy Black. There really for some exposition we learn that the two friends didn't just kill a little girl with a rock but also stabbed her seven times. It widens the story letting us know that the story of two girls killing a friend has gone viral on this new invention called the internet. It also leads to a townie coming and scaring Marina with an effigy on the front porch. It also leads to the boy, Bryce finding out about Mercy Black, a guardian angel who seeks out sad kids and will take the hurt away if she receives a pure offering. "A perfect offering that will make her flesh and blood."
  The teacher, Lily Bellows (Lee Eddy) is suspicious letting Bryce get all kinds of information and trying to make it a bit of a mystery. This is not going to end well especially when she leaves the kid on the internet by himself. Just beside I get the we will see this woman again vibe so maybe the actress if foreshadowing her character a bit too strongly. At this point it is all innocent enough but I have a feeling about this one.
  A black feather to remind Marina about the crow they killed for their sacrifice. Will shows up to get Marina to consider getting on TV with her story. We also get more exposition where we learn Rebecca Kline the other little girl, was let out before Marina. Rebecca is the one who thought up Mercy Black and Marina portrays it as her idea to do those dastardly deeds. Will is a bit of an ass and can't keep his Mercy Black fandom contained when he talks to Marina making her really uncomfortable. She kicks him out of the house and he threatens the dog. So when they find the dog in the trash dead that night Alice is all in on blaming Will. When she confronts him she learns he has been researching stories of Mercy Black killings from around the world. The character does not make great sense as a friend but as a nutjob looking to profit off of Marina's history.
  Will is an antagonist who gets a bit of creepy himself. As it happens we see a frames image of the five of spades on his wall. Which a quick internet search reveals "The five of spades refers to your qualities and invites you to be careful. ... As a bad omen, the five of spades announces betrayal and the end of a romantic relationship or friendship, despite your implication and attachment. Playing on emotions and memories, this card refers to a sad time you will find hard to cope with." This plays right along with the myth they are building and it is time for the "monster" to start getting peopl so he is not a bad victim.
  Marina starts questioning her years of therapy and now in a quick reverting to crazy has to find out if  Mercy is real. Not calling back to the hospital for support but instead looking for Rebecca. We learn that after a suicide attempt that Rebecca is just a spaced out shell of a person. Well mostly. I like how everything even if a bit on the nose pushes the story forward. Mixed with the flashbacks of the children we get to see that the desire for Mercy to exist, even if made up by delusional kids may be enough to create the fiend out of imagination. We are really well set up in this movie. The mercy story has spread to Bryce and his imagination takes over while at the same time Marina is seeking to find out if her childhood trauma was just in her head. Both things are hopefully going to culminate with either a realization that it is a mental health problem or a real Mercy Black doing some serious damage. I would guess that since Marina is still the main character that she will be the one saving the boy from himself.
   Well constructed to this point we have all the pieces we need for a very creepy climax. We end up with Bryce and Marina in the house alone together and Mercy on her way. There is a great little twisty twist concerning the librarian who has been noticing Bryce's behavior. They do this thing though where they show a bit too much too soon and it cuts a lot of the tension out of the last quarter of the film. Still I think it works in a way. I am not sure it is the route I would have taken with the story but in the end it all plays out as a story about faith in what you believe in. Will there be time though for Marina to face her demons and still save the day? Again the ending was a bit stunted and not totally unforeseen. So overall I am saying this film is not so bad, a very passable little film which makes the recent choices on the Stream Queens like 3 for 3.