Mercy Black Menaces Netflix

Daniella Pineda and Miles Emmons in Mercy Black, the new locally shot horror film directed by Owen Egerton and produced by Blumhouse

Who says no one knows how to keep a secret any more? Not only has local polymath Owen Egerton stealthily completed his new film, Mercy Black, under cover of night, but distributor Blumhouse (yes, the genre powerhouse behind Us, The Purge franchise, and so much more) unleashed it on Netflix over the weekend.

The release was teased late Saturday night in a Twitter back-and-forth between Blumhouse and Netflix’s dedicated genre account, NXOnNetflix, and the Austin-made horror officially dropped at 2am.

The low-key release really reflects the movie, which deals with the sinister side of viral news. In it, Daniella Pineda plays Marina Hess, a young woman who has been confined to a mental institution since she was a 13 because of a horrific crime – of which she was a part. While she was away, the internet has embraced the idea of Mercy Black, the mythical figure that she and her friends invented and then blamed for their actions. Now, she has to wonder whether what she helped dream up is real, either in form or figuratively.

Head over to Netflix now to catch it. Unless you’re in Austin, in which case there will be special, exclusive late-night screenings this week at the Alamo South Lamar (check out the details here).

Oh, and make sure to pick up the new issue of the Chronicle, on stands Thursday, for an interview with Egerton about his latest film.