"BLACK EYED SUSAN" (2024) Seduces The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival! (REVIEW)
She’s not interested in love, or any kind of relationship. She doesn’t even understand the concept. She just wants you to use her body however you see fit. Her name is Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thalker in her debut feature) and she’s a robot created by Gil (Marc Romeo), an inventor and tech bro who’s going to revolutionize perversion while keeping said perverts away from flesh-and-blood people. “Black Eyed Susan” is the latest film from writer/director Scooter McCrae. It’s an ambitious, low-fi effort with a lot on its mind.
Our main character is Derek (Damien Maffei, without a mask this time), a divorced father and struggling rideshare driver, who used to work in tech with Gil. When their mutual friend commits suicide, Gil asks Derek to take his job: experimenting with Susan so that her AI interface can learn and adapt. Of course, the “experimenting” in question involves beating and raping her, hence her titular nickname. Derek is correctly taken aback by all this, but he needs the money. There’s an indication that a violent past led to his separation, so maybe this would be a large net positive. After all, Susan is literally begging for it. No harm, no foul on something that’s not even alive, right?
“Black Eyed Susan” is full of icky from start to finish, yet it never feels intentionally exploitative. This is an achievement considering Thalker is naked for the entire film. McCrae’s goal isn’t to titillate, so when Gil shows off her realistic attributes and describes her sensors, it feels like we’re in a “Westworld” lab (which is a place where only good things happen). Romeo avoids playing Gil like a scumbag, but something is frightening in the glee he shows when showing off Susan’s bruises. For everything McCrae wants to explore, there’s a whole other film in what is only hinted at towards the end. Thalker walks a fine line as Susan, never leaning too far into camp, even as the film eventually rolls over into it. She and Maffei take their roles seriously, but the film’s melodramatic score threatens to derail the whole thing. Yes, it’s by the great Fabio Frizzi, and no, it gives me no joy to say it doesn’t work with the film at all. McCrae’s lo-fi aesthetic often clashes hard and often with Frizzi’s wall-to-wall synths and piano, causing the audience to laugh in unexpected places. I’m not kidding when I say I thought of “The Room” more than once.
Does it matter how we treat artificial intelligence when the end results can help humanity? Is it even worth it to try? What role does capitalism play in exploiting our sexual appetites? McCrae brings up questions he doesn’t necessarily have answers for, and while that’s admirable, “Black Eyed Susan” feels a little undercooked. Still, it’s impressive that his first film in 15 years, shot in 9 days (over the weekends, no less) feels this modern. He’s got some fight in him, yet.
Viewed at the 2024 Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
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