[9][10][11] Jonathan Marsh is a lonely twenty-something, working night shifts at a local liquor store with his friend and shift manager, Eric, “The ERC.” One night at his apartment Jonathan is summoned through his TV by a seductive woman, beckoning him to come “meet sexy singles in his neighborhood” and call the 1-900 number on his screen.

Unable to sleep, Jonathan returns to Jenny's Diner, where he receives a phone call from his friend, Eric, who tells him he's in trouble and to come over to his place immediately.

He makes his way to an occult book store where he receives instructions to meet with Miss Melinda at Blue High Shack.

Still, the suspicious man from earlier continues to deny any knowledge of “Dena," but Jonathan is convinced that what he saw upstairs was real and leaves to seek help.

The next morning, Dr. Ronaldi and staff find him eviscerated and dead in his bed, the ceremonial dagger in his right hand, raising the question—did he do it to himself or was he sacrificed by the witch cult who cursed him?

The denouement finds a young woman waiting at a bus stop when the witch cult pull up to offer her a ride.

[12] Handley and Hanson hired casting director, Jeremy Gordon, who circulated the script to talent agents in Los Angeles, California.

The Black String movie began as a team thesis project for Handley and Hanson during their Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Film and TV training at Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles, California.

Handley and Hanson brought in Sheldon Brigman as producer, whose guidance and support during the project would prove invaluable, particularly later on during their search for distribution companies.

[18] Handley, Hanson, and Brigman had worked together as producers on director Adam Ripp's psychological horror film, Devil's Whisper.

As such, they were able to assess and hire many of the same production professionals from that film to come work on The Black String, including First-Assistant Director, Liam Finn.

Access to this location was made available through its relationship to filmmakers Handley, Hanson, Bunce, and Fortun, as they are alumni and have served as faculty of the university.

Erik was hired to work on The Black String because of his prosthetic makeup prowess shown on a number of other notable films and TV productions, including Devil’s Whisper, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, American Horror Story, Teen Wolf, Fear of the Walking Dead, Paranormal Activity, and for his help in crafting the prosthetic metamorphosis of actor, Christian Bale, into U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in director Adam McKay’s biographical film, Vice.

The Black String prompted multiple interpretations from film critics and audience members alike as to the particular sort of Jonathan's (Muniz) extrication.

[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Hanson and Handley present a two-sided coin with The Black String, allowing viewers to decide for themselves, “Is Jonathan suffering from mental illness or is he truly cursed?” The film has been compared to David Robert Mitchell's, It Follows, Adrian Lyne's, Jacob's Ladder, Eric England's, Contracted, David Cronenberg's, Shivers, and Roman Polanski's, Rosemary's Baby, among many others.

[29] Richard Whittaker of The Austin Chronicle states, “much of the unnerving energy depends on Muniz, who deploys his trademark brand of wired and wiry energy to keep the reality of the insanity ambiguous until the closing moments.”[7] Brittany Witherspoon of Film Threat mentions, “Elevating this script from a derivative and simple one is no easy task, but Muniz does it effortlessly.”[30] The film's soundtrack was composed by Ed Lima and added upon by the band, Devilish Trio.