The Black String— My take on the movie with spoilers!

Plot Summary: A one night stand turns into a nightmare for Jonathan who believes he's been targeted for something sinister and supernatural. 

As a kid, when you read stories, you probably took everything it had to offer literally. Stories for kids are simple and have a basic message.

Then you grow up, go to school, and in Literature class, learn that not everything is as straightforward as it seems. You are taught to analyze, to see everything from a different perspective.

Now, if you go back to those children stories, would you still think they had a direct message? If a baby is looking for his mother, is she playing hide and seek, or trying to catch a quick nap while the baby goes all around the house searching? It’s a baby, they’re not going to catch on that the mother was tired after being up all night and tricked them into thinking they were still playing with them. Because guess where the baby usually finds the mother at the end of the book? The bed. 

Regardless of how you see it, at least these stories had some simplicity about them. They had fitting endings and definitely weren’t ambiguous. There are no two ways about it.

Watch The Black String and you will realize that there are stories that have two possible versions. Depends on what you believe fits and satisfies you.

THE BLACK STRING Movie Plot 

The story is about Jonathan, working at a convenience store. He is socially awkward, doesn't have much going on for him, and spends time reading self-help books.

His only friend is Eric who has given him a job at the store.

When two customers approach him, Jonathan fumbles through at the checkout, causing the guy to believe he’s being mocked.

Jonathan barely does anything but still manages to garner enemies.

What he truly desires is a girlfriend and since he can’t find one on his own, he calls the number from late-night TV.

He picks up a girl the next day and takes her to the diner. She notices how awkward he is but lets him take her home.

Jonathan sketches her but she gets on his lap and tells him to say that he wants “this”.

Jonathan does as she says and the next day he wakes up with an ugly, burning rash on his torso.

He thinks now that the girl was referring to the STD he thinks he has. He goes to the doctor who fails to diagnose him.

Jonathan tries to track down the girl to find out what she infected him with so he can get a cure but is shocked to discover there is no trace of her. When he goes to the house he picked her up from, the couple tells him to get lost and when he forcefully enters, he sees a man in a bowler hat. He is sent away, more confused than ever.

Meanwhile, all this has taken a toll on his mental health and he keeps having nightmares.

He goes back to the diner but the waitress doesn’t remember seeing the girl. Jonathan sees a woman with tarot cards watching him with concern. He receives a call from Eric asking him to come over to his house. 

Jonathan rushes over and discovers that the infection has spread to his arm. At Eric’s house, he is attacked by a dark figure and Jonathan defends himself by punching it repeatedly.

He falls unconscious afterwards and awakens to find himself being arrested. At the police station, he discovers that he had assaulted Eric. Jonathan’s parents remind their son of his violence but Jonathan believes he’s being lied to.

Eric says that he had never called him and found him in a catatonic state and when he approached him, Jonathan hit him.

Jonathan is taken to the psych ward where no one still believes him or can diagnose his infection. Three days later, he is let out but his parents are ordered to take charge.

Jonathan wants to go back to his house, but his parents refuse. He runs away after suffering more nightmares but can’t get into his home because he doesn’t have the keys. He takes shelter in an abandoned house with a homeless person.

He goes to the psychic shop and is told that he would have to take a drug and that Melinda would meet with him later.

The Black String Ending Explained 

Jonathan takes the medicine and when he meets Melinda she tells him how he’s been a target for witches.

Because he had nothing going on for him, he was being used as a portal for a demon to enter through a black string that is inside his body. He is put in a circle and given a book to inform him of what has happened.

He uses a knife to lift his scabs and tries to pull out the black string, but the pain renders him and he faints.

He awakens and decides to find the girl at any cost. He enters the house of the couple again when they are out and finds the girl in bed, infected badly and pleading to be saved.

The couple arrives with the man in the black bowler hat. Jonathan accuses them of being witches but the police are called again and Jonathan is sent to the psych ward again.

He keeps telling the doctors of the black string but they don’t believe him because the drug tests show a long list of drugs in his body.

Later that night, the demon appears, but as Jonathan is shackled, he can’t protect himself. The demon mounts him and starts to pull the string out of him.

In the morning, the nurse opens the door and screams. The doctor calls Jonathan’s parents. Jonathan has disembowelled himself with the knife.

In the last scene, the couple picks up a girl, promising to help her as it would be their one good deed of the week.

Thoughts about The Black String

Okay, so what really happened?

There are two ways about it and both make sense.

Version one: Jonathan was delusional. He was an outcast and read too many books to help him. He was probably drugged and did get an STD from the girl. One of the reasons why none of the doctors seemed to give priority to the rash that was spreading through his body.

This makes sense because Eric has no reason to lie to Jonathan. When he was attacked he was also quick to forgive his best friend. Clearly, there was no indication that Eric was helping the witches.

Melinda must have given him drugs that caused the hallucinations. There were drugs found in his body after all. In his drugged state he must have imagined seeing the girl in the supposed witches’ house.

Otherwise, where did she go?

In the end, we do see his intestines spilt over and Jonathan did believe wholeheartedly that there was something sinister in his body.

Version Two: The witches were real. They did pick up lost girls and asked them to find suckers like Jonathan to infect and create gateways for demons.

Jonathan had dropped the knife when he was being arrested toward the end. How did it get back in his hand?

The witches probably put it there and used sorcery to make it look like Jonathan was crazy enough to kill himself.

In the end, they were looking for another girl to use in their deranged witch games.

Then again, once the demons enter and attack the victims, what happens to them? Are they roaming about?

What possible reason could the witches have to invite demons, let them tear people apart and then what, just leave?

For some reason, the first version seems to make sense. Perhaps Jonathan was delusional after taking so many drugs.

Scare scale: 3.5/5