The Black Phone review

THE BLACK PHONE: 

ETHAN HAWKE GIVES A TERRIFYING AGAINST-TYPE PERFORMANCE IN THIS HEART-POUNDING THRILLER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in The Black Phone

 

            A young boy gets abducted by a creepy man known as The Grabber in The Black Phone, the new horror film from Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, Doctor Strange) based on the short story of the same name by Joe Hill. The film was originally scheduled for release back in January and even had a trailer shown before Halloween Kills before being pushed back one month later until finally being released this June. 

            I’m not familiar with the story this film is based on, but I am quite familiar with other movies with this kind of premise where children are abducted, and the hunt is on to find and rescue them before they’re dead. It’s a horrifying concept because unlike supernatural terrors like ghosts or witches, child abduction (and abduction in general) is all too real and can happen at any moment. 

            Apparently, it also makes for effective cinema with films like Flightplan, Changeling, and the 2013 thriller, Prisoners which was also one of the best films I saw that year proving that the subject matter was terrifying back then, is still terrifying today, and will probably continue to be for years to come. Which finally brings us to The Black Phone. 

            Scott Derrickson is a very interesting filmmaker, while most people today know him best for directing the first Doctor Strange movie, but those familiar with his filmography know him best for horror films like Sinister and the extremely underrated, The Exorcism of Emily Rose…and to a lesser extent, the 2008 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I was intrigued when I first saw the poster and trailer for this movie especially after witnessing Ethan Hawke (Reality Bites, Before trilogy, Training Day) in a very against-time role as a child abductor and serial killer…and it delivers! 

            This is a very well-crafted thriller that gets under your skin while also keeping you emotionally invested in its characters. The best way to describe it is like a mix of The Sixth Sense and The Silence of the Lambs and it works. 

            The film is set in 1978 and follows a young boy named Finney (Mason Thames) who has an unpleasant encounter with notorious child abductor and murderer, The Grabber (Hawke) and is kidnapped and locked into an old, soundproof basement with a (supposedly) disconnected black phone on the wall. When the phone mysteriously starts to ring, Finney starts getting phone calls from the ghosts of The Grabber’s earlier victims and give him clues and strategies to escape. 

            Meanwhile, his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who happens to have frequent nightmares and visions about The Grabber takes matters into her own hands and tries to crack the case, rescue her brother, and bring this neighborhood menace down. 

            The film also stars Jeremy Davies (Helter Skelter, Rescue Dawn, Justified) as Finney and Gwen’s father Terrence, E. Roger Mitchell (The Shield, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Walking Dead) as Detective Wright, and James Ransome (The Wire, Sinister 1 and 2, It: Chapter Two) as Max. 

            Overall, The Black Phone is one of the most heart-pounding films I’ve experienced in a theater in recent years and takes the blood-covered cake as the best scary movie I’ve seen so far this year. Granted, it didn’t quite have the same impact on me that Prisoners did where it gave me an emotional reaction at the end, but I still think it’s a very effective and intelligently crafted horror movie/thriller. 

            What really makes this movie work is that it spends a lot of time establishing the child characters, getting the know them, and understanding what’s going on in their lives before the inevitable kidnapping. That way, when Finney is eventually abducted, it makes a bigger impact and his escape much more satisfying. 

            It helps that the acting is excellent and not just from Ethan Hawke but the child actors as well, especially Madeleine McGraw as Finney’s sister Gwen. McGraw is extremely funny and sassy but also knocks it out of the park during the intense and dramatic scenes too. 

            Mason Thames is also great as Finney and gives the character a ton of humanity and innocence to his character which makes you root for him to escape. His character is constantly bullied, doesn’t have many friends other than his sister, and has an alcoholic and abusive widowed father, the kind of child who can’t throw a punch in a fight but can take one and always get back up which makes him a very compelling protagonist as he discovers his inner strength. 

            Even the side characters are memorable, Finney and Gwen’s father who starts off as abusive but is given a lot of depth and goes through an arc throughout the course of the film, the ghosts of the other victims, and the police officers. No one feels like they’re just there to die, you understand and get invested in every one of these people. 

            The film does an excellent job with the supernatural angle, whether it’s the ghosts of The Grabber’s victims being shown while talking to Finney on the phone, flashbacks, or Gwen’s psychic dreams that look like old film footage, it never feels out of place and matches the tone of the story. 

            I also really like how the film doesn’t shy away from the gritty and dark side of the 1970s and how it isn’t all bright and colorful. All the characters are going through something, kids are fighting on the streets, abusive parenting, the neighborhood itself looks very grim and dirty, etc. it makes the world of the movie seem more realistic and frightening even before The Grabber shows up. 

            Let’s finally talk about Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, he is incredible and could go down in history as a new masked killer icon. A lot of him is shrouded in mystery and you don’t know what he wants from Finney or what his motives or methods are. 

You also know at some point he’s going to try and kill him, but you’re never sure when during the kidnapping is he going to start trying to kill him or what he’s going to do to him before it. Add in some scenery-chewing moments, a mask with interchangeable mouth pieces to express what emotion he’s feeling, which I thought was a brilliant and subtle detail, and some pretty damn unsettling and haunting scenes with him and you got yourself a child killer that puts Pennywise and Freddy Krueger to shame. 

If you’re a fan of Scott Derrickson, Ethan Hawke, or just looking for something that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, then do yourself a favor and make the call with The Black Phone, you won’t regret it.