The Black Phone (2021)
June 23, 2022 2:22 PM - Subscribe
Finney (Mason Thames), a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer (Ethan Hawke) and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer's previous victims... and they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn't happen to Finney. Based on a story by Joe Hill (Locke & Key). Written by the duo Robert Cargill & Scott Derrickson (Sinister). Directed by Derrickson (Doctor Strange).
Now playing in theaters in the US.
Rated 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
...an Amblin adventure drenched in R-rated fear. -- Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle.
"The Black Phone" is at turns breathless, terrifying and crowd-pleasing, but always feels authentic to a time when the streets were prowled by real life boogeymen, whose legends were bolstered by the children who whispered their names. -- A-, Adam Graham, Detroit News
Underpinned by emotional performances across the board and a commanding atmosphere, The Black Phone aces its foundational qualities and allows its nuances to take control. -- ****/**** Peyton Robison, RogerEbert.com
Now playing in theaters in the US.
Rated 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
...an Amblin adventure drenched in R-rated fear. -- Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle.
"The Black Phone" is at turns breathless, terrifying and crowd-pleasing, but always feels authentic to a time when the streets were prowled by real life boogeymen, whose legends were bolstered by the children who whispered their names. -- A-, Adam Graham, Detroit News
Underpinned by emotional performances across the board and a commanding atmosphere, The Black Phone aces its foundational qualities and allows its nuances to take control. -- ****/**** Peyton Robison, RogerEbert.com
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The plot is all telegraphed in the trailer. Heck, you can get it all from the logline. Doesn't matter. Still great.
That review above, the one about this being an Amblin horror film? Pretty much dead on. This is a movie about kids trying to care for each other in a world where adults are between useless and dangerous.
Setting this in the 1970's was ideal, for several reasons. It was peak "Some bad man in a van is gonna grab you!" The grainy aesthetic of the kidnapping scenes made them like something out a Gen X kid's nightmares. It was also part of the era where kids fighting and being violent to each other was still normalized, which is important to the story.
Really, this is like the perfectly executed, stripped down, fat free version of IT.
Hawke is great as the Grabber. My kid noted that it felt like every sentence he spoke came out of a different voice. And the sibling relationship was about as convincing of one I have seen onscreen in quite some time.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:42 AM on June 24 [4 favorites]