The Black Demon

The Black Demon is a 2023 science fiction thriller film directed by Adrian Grünberg from a screenplay by Boise Esquerra and starring Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola and Julio Cesar Cedillo. In the film, a stranded family on a crumbling oil rig in Baja faces off against a vengeful megalodon shark. Plot Nixon Oil company inspector Paul Sturges is sent to a small Mexican town in Baja California, to check on El Diamante, an offshore oil rig. He brings his wife Ines and their two children, Audrey and Tommy, along for a vacation. Upon arrival, the family finds the town in ruins. The remaining locals are suspicious and unfriendly, and fear turns to anger when they learn that Paul works for the company that commissioned the oil rig. Paul, seeking to see if the rig is worth revitalizing or decommissioning, takes a boat to it. He arrives to find the rig, dilapidated, hazardous and surrounded by an oil spill, crewed only by two remaining rig workers, Chato and Junior, along with their pet chihuahua. After being harassed and stalked by the angry locals, Paul's family decides to follow in another boat. As the boat arrives, Chato and Junior begin to panic and fire flares as a 70-ton megalodon shark, the "Black Demon", which is prowling the waters, begins to chase the boat. Barely managing to get onto the rig unscathed, the family is forced to watch as the megalodon destroys the boat that brought them to the rig, killing its captain. After witnessing the attack, Chato reveals to Paul that some lucky crew members escaped the megalodon, adding that the radio on the rig does not function and calls made to Nixon Oil for help were ignored. Nixon Oil knew about the oil spill coming from the rig but never cared to fix the problem. Later, Ines discovers the safety reports for the rig and notices that the warnings have been ignored, and Paul signed the documents approving the rig's revitalization regardless of the dangerous conditions. When she confronts Paul about this, he admits his mistakes and adds that he did what he did to provide for his family, stating his job and economic security would be at risk if he did not act according to the company's interests. Nixon Oil developed self-inspections to get away with ignoring hazardous working conditions and threatened Paul when he attempted to confront them over this. Ever since, he has been forced to work in Nixon Oil's self-interest, while the local community suffered as a result of the company's negligence and greed.