There is no such thing as a bad creature feature. Trollhunter, Jurassic Park, and Alien are very fashionable examples of the subgenre, but what about movies with lower budgets and more ambitious plotlines? Avant-garde canons like The Birds, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and Pet Sematary deserve more recognition for their absurdity.

These kinds of movies satisfy a latent desire to see humans get what they deserve from oppressed forces of nature. Whether velociraptors, seagulls, or GMOs dole it out, there’s something strangely gratifying about seeing flora and fauna fight back: the more ridiculous, the better.

White Privilege and Environmental Destruction

The Black Demon is deceptively coherent. It touches on rarely discussed disparities in the offshore oil industry, like its exaggerated economic benefit, dangerous working conditions, and corporate ponzi schemes. By redirecting operations outside the U.S., fictitious “Nixon Oil” is able to hire Mexican employees, pay them less, and treat them worse without consequence. From the beginning, audiences can’t help but wonder who the real monster is supposed to be.

It’s hard to tell if this was intentional, but the Sturges family is almost unbearable to watch; even the most understanding audiences would start rooting for the megalodon within the first five minutes. Oil executive Paul (Josh Lucas) and his wife Ines (Fernanda Urrejola) are poster children for new money after a shotgun wedding. The insufferable pair oscillates between disproportionate anger and impassioned affection for each other, often when there are much more serious concerns.