Ever since Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg released his 1975 masterpiece Jaws and instilled fear into the public consciousness about taking a dip in the ocean, there have been plenty of shark-inspired movies that have tried to capture the same nightmarish anxiety. Now, the killer shark story finds its way to Mexico with the upcoming action-horror movie, The Black Demon.
Josh Lucas (Yellowstone) stars as an oilman who takes his family on vacation to Mexico where they end up trapped on an oil rig by a ferocious megalodon shark stalking them. Along with Lucas, The Black Demon stars Chilean actress Fernanda Urrejola (Narcos: Mexico) as his wife and Mexican American actor Julio Cesar Cedillo (Sicario). Other Latines in the film include Raúl Méndez (Narcos), Héctor Jiménez (Nacho Libre), Venus Ariel (DMZ), and Jorge A. Jimenez (Alita: Battle Angel).
In the first trailer for the movie, Paul and his family take a boat out to the rig, so he can do a quick inspection. He realizes something is wrong as soon as he gets there and finds that the vessel has been abandoned, and the cause is the legendary Black Demon, who has returned for seconds.
“This is not just any shark,” Cedillo’s character Chato says. “It’s a curse brought on not by nature, but by wrath.”
According to legend, a black shark known as The Black Demon, or El Demonio Negro, is said to have been spotted in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez (AKA the Gulf of California) over many years. In 2009, the crew of the TV series Monster Quest went to investigate the legend for an episode entitled Mega Jaws. During Shark Week on the Discovery Channel in 2021, the network aired a special, Mystery of the Black Demon Shark.
The Black Demon hits theaters on April 28, 2023.