Adrian Grünberg's thriller film 'The Black Demon' potrayes the story of Paul Sturges, a security inspector who sets out to decommission a failing oil rig off the coast of Baja California.
After arriving at the rig, Paul discovers that the area is plagued by a murderous megalodon shark known locally as the Black Demon. When Paul's family arrives at the rig, he is forced to choose between killing the monstrous shark and saving his family. Because purported sightings of gigantic sharks are common in modern times, viewers may be wondering if the film has any real-life ties.
The Mexican legend of the Black Demon
The Black Demon (Spanish: El Demonio Negro) is a massive black shark rumoured to lurk off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Recent sightings of a black monstrosity known as "The Black Demon" have been reported by local fishermen.
According to mythology, the shark is black and overturns boats, attacks whales, and devours other sea creatures.
The Black Demon's stories are frequently characterised by the creature's purported violent behaviour, with descriptions of it attacking boats and instilling fear in those who claim to have seen it. Eyewitness accounts frequently describe a creature with more ferocity than any known shark species, adding a layer of danger to this elusive aquatic phantom. It is a massive shark that can grow to reach 20-60 feet long. Until now, the proof for the existence of the Black Demon has been mainly anecdotal, based primarily on eyewitness stories and local mythology.
Is The Black Demon a true story based on the Mexican Legend of a shark?
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No, 'The Black Demon' is not based on true events. It is, however, based on a Mexican mythology about the titular shark, known locally as "El Demonio Negro." While Paul, the other characters, and his corporation Nixon Oil are all made up, the existence of the giant megalodon has perplexed the inhabitants of Baja. There have been multiple reports of humans seeing a shark forty to sixty feet long in the Gulf of California, popularly known as the Sea of Cortez.
Meanwhile, there is no such physical proof of the Black Demon's existence that has been found. The existence of the killer shark off the Baja peninsula is not confirmed by any eye witness reports or photographic evidence. Still, some group of residents of Baja continues to hold the Black Demon’s existence to be real.
The fictional film, based on a story by Carlos Cisco and a folklore from Mexico, was written by Boise Esquerra incorporated the Black Demon mythology into the myth of Tloc, the rain god of the Aztecs of his control over hail, thunder, lightning, and rain, adherents of the Aztec faith feared him.
Furthermore, Esquerra used this legendary element to support Chato's belief that the shark was created by Tlloc as retaliation for humans' destruction of the environment and other living things.
Although the film is fictitious, Grünberg's film attempts to draw the audience's attention to the Black Demon's fiction/legend due to multinational corporations trashing nature and neglecting environmental concerns are in the real world too.