Frankie Muniz in The Black String Makes Total Sense

Frankie Muniz seems like the kind of guy that should have shown up in horror movies on a regular basis, but in case you were wondering, The Black String isn’t his first foray into horror. A little known gem titled Stay Alive that was released back in 2006 cast him as a geeky gamer that was caught up with his friends in a supernatural thriller centered around the legend of a vengeful spirit that was killing people in the same manner as their avatars died in the game. Of course he was more of a supporting character in that movie, while in The Black String he got to play the lead, a young man that was the stereotype that we’ve seen so many times in movies as a loner, someone that doesn’t have a lot of drive or luck in life. As the story goes the young man goes on a date, has a sexual experience, and thing begin to unravel from that point on. Despite this well-known and very well used story line Jeremy Dick of MovieWeb is right to be optimistic about this movie since Muniz puts in a great performance, in fact he does so well that it’s hard to see why he hasn’t pursued this genre as a rule.

If you know who Muniz is then you’ll know that he hasn’t been completely idle throughout the years since he’s shown up here and there in one movie or another and has even made TV appearances. But his claim to fame as Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle was a hard role to shake since it was what made him famous and gained him a great deal of attention. Like a lot of TV star or anyone that’s been typecast in the history of movie and TV he carried around that persona for a long time, at least until he started dropping out of sight for a while. If you’ll recall though he did show up for the Sharknado movies, where he was taken apart literally piece by piece until his final death scene. Throughout his career thus far Frankie has been kind of a hit and miss prospect given that he was great as a TV star but as a movie star he’s left a little to be desired. In The Black String though it was likely that this part was created with him in mind since he plays it so well that one can imagine that it was in fact a part that he felt he could embrace without any real difficulty.

What’s funny to hear comes from Alexia Fernandez of People, and that’s the fact that Muniz was actually nervous to audition for the part. That’s kind of amusing but not entirely out of character since a lot of actors apparently have the jitters when it comes to the audition process, but once on screen they’re completely poised and ready to go. Hearing this from Muniz however is kind of strange since he’s a veteran of the screen and has been since he was just a kid. His time on Malcolm in the Middle no doubt did a lot to give him this confidence since the show was one of the best on the air for a while when it was still popular and managed to draw in a lot of viewers during its time. At the moment though only Muniz and Bryan Cranston really seem to have moved forward in a big way since the others have either shown up in bit parts here and there or have almost disappeared from the show business scene. Frankie has shown up in other movies and even in TV shows throughout the years, but each time he does it seems like a nice return that could see him come back to prominence, but is shut down since he disappears almost right after he pops up. In The Black String though he plays a man that has seemingly no life that calls a dating hotline when it seems to be targeting him by name, only to have a one night stand with an alluring woman that leads to a stunning and twisted series of events that leaves him wondering just what is real and what is in his head.

This seems like a movie that was made for him and one that could hopefully bring him back to the big time if that’s what he wants. As a leading man he doesn’t seem like the biggest prospect in the world, but as a familiar face he’s definitely someone that people would likely respond to in a very positive manner. Whether this will happen or not is kind of hard to say since his M.O. seems to be to show up and then leave once again to pursue other interests. But it’d be great to see more of him since he is a pretty decent actor.