Returning to the seedy downstairs bar is filmmaker Keith Lakean Powell, who plays Old Man Murphy and tells yet another cautionary tale in Black Smoke Tales: Never Leaving. His warning is to think twice before letting someone live in your home for a little extra cash.
Kimmie (Symerah Scott) is falling behind on her bills, and renting out the spare bedroom is clearly the easiest way to make the math work. She finds her new tenant, Lance Turner (Toda Moyer), and on paper, he checks every box you’d want in a renter.
It doesn’t take long for everything to fall apart. Lance stops acting like a guest and starts acting like the room — and eventually the whole house — belongs to him. He doesn’t clean up after himself; he shits in the toilet and whacks one off while Kimmie showers.
Kimmie has had enough, but kicking Lance out, let alone telling him off, might just be a tragic mistake.
Lance Turner (Toda Moyer) lingers in the kitchen doorway in Black Smoke Tales: Never Leaving.
“Lance stops acting like a guest and starts acting like the room — and eventually the whole house — belongs to him.”
Like the last episode of Black Smoke Tales I reviewed, Never Leaving has all the charm of an ultra-low-budget horror story. Nothing about it screams Hollywood-studio cinematic…nor should it. With Never Leaving, director Powell has the freedom to push boundaries, including the use of what I hope is a large fake black penis.
Symerah Scott is amazing as our damsel in distress, and Toda Moyer is more than up for the task as the evil squatter. Sure, I could probably suggest acting classes, but then that would ruin all the fun Powell injects into this series.
It appears that Keith Lakean Powell is developing an entire series of Black Smoke Tales. As fun as they are, I can’t wait to see how the series evolves over time and how Powell’s guerrilla filmmaking style grows right along with it.
For screening information, visit the Black Smoke Tales: Never Leaving official website.
